My horses are probably finding their weather-induced vacation delightful. In addition to prepping for the holidays, I sat and dreaded the oncoming weather with great anxiety. Why? Because it's been utterly freezing since Christmas eve!
My Smartpak blanket app has descended into adding + signs behind heavy weight turnout blanket instructions like it can't even believe that I'm keeping horses in this frozen hell. My non-horsey family are utterly shocked that everyone - including the donkey - are going outside during the day.
Christmas eve I popped all of the animals into their warm coats; I'm still indecisive about my choice for Arya, but my fingers were freezing and the Shires 400gm looked oddly short on her, so I defaulted to Foxie's heavy weight Weatherbeeta. The mares are rocking 360 grams of fill currently, and feel pretty warm under their blankets. The donkey, who thanks to a recent thehorse.com study, has been confirmed to have NO winter coat (why did I get a donkey?!) is wearing 500 grams, her Horsewear foal blanket (which honestly... I really don't like) with her new Country Pride stable blanket underneath. I'm planning a mass blanket review post sometime soon, since I have had such a huge turn over this year with blankets. I'm basically a hoarder.
Speaking of hoarding, I have all sorts of stuff to review; I have lots of new toys! I'm sorry it's so cold I can't even tack ho properly... it's torture.
Bailey and I made it over to the indoor again last week for a flat ride, and I rode Arya once with the lights after work and once on Saturday before the cold really set in. Bailey also got out on Saturday; hubby lunged her and let her run her silly pogo stick self into a nice sweat, ugh. Arya got a bit sweaty during our night ride but Saturday she kept her cool, despite Bailey leaving her and then screaming from the barn (ANNOYING.) and Hubs spooking the donkey so hard she jetted off across the paddock, which in turn spooked Arya. She's a good little nugget on the flat these days, though still is very forward while simultaneously being sucked back from the contact, especially at the canter. I got a new, fatter 3 piece loose ring and a fulmar snaffle for Christmas, so once we're back up to a temperature I can stand, we will try experimenting with bits to see if I can find something she's willing to touch a bit more. Once we have more contact, and thus more straightness, I can start on lateral work, as she has absolutely no concept of sideways under saddle.
So it's been a dull dull couple of weeks on the farm front; I do my chores, I stick my hands under the blankets of my ungrateful creatures to ensure they are warm and then I go inside. Knock on wood, everything has been uneventful and I am grateful for that. I guess I should use and value this time for what it is; a chance to recharge, reflect and make plans for the warmer weather.
A belated, but heartfelt Happy Holidays to all of my readers; tell me, did you get anything fun??
My Smartpak blanket app has descended into adding + signs behind heavy weight turnout blanket instructions like it can't even believe that I'm keeping horses in this frozen hell. My non-horsey family are utterly shocked that everyone - including the donkey - are going outside during the day.
Christmas eve I popped all of the animals into their warm coats; I'm still indecisive about my choice for Arya, but my fingers were freezing and the Shires 400gm looked oddly short on her, so I defaulted to Foxie's heavy weight Weatherbeeta. The mares are rocking 360 grams of fill currently, and feel pretty warm under their blankets. The donkey, who thanks to a recent thehorse.com study, has been confirmed to have NO winter coat (why did I get a donkey?!) is wearing 500 grams, her Horsewear foal blanket (which honestly... I really don't like) with her new Country Pride stable blanket underneath. I'm planning a mass blanket review post sometime soon, since I have had such a huge turn over this year with blankets. I'm basically a hoarder.
Speaking of hoarding, I have all sorts of stuff to review; I have lots of new toys! I'm sorry it's so cold I can't even tack ho properly... it's torture.
Bailey and I made it over to the indoor again last week for a flat ride, and I rode Arya once with the lights after work and once on Saturday before the cold really set in. Bailey also got out on Saturday; hubby lunged her and let her run her silly pogo stick self into a nice sweat, ugh. Arya got a bit sweaty during our night ride but Saturday she kept her cool, despite Bailey leaving her and then screaming from the barn (ANNOYING.) and Hubs spooking the donkey so hard she jetted off across the paddock, which in turn spooked Arya. She's a good little nugget on the flat these days, though still is very forward while simultaneously being sucked back from the contact, especially at the canter. I got a new, fatter 3 piece loose ring and a fulmar snaffle for Christmas, so once we're back up to a temperature I can stand, we will try experimenting with bits to see if I can find something she's willing to touch a bit more. Once we have more contact, and thus more straightness, I can start on lateral work, as she has absolutely no concept of sideways under saddle.
 |
| It's too cold for life or exposed skin rn |
A belated, but heartfelt Happy Holidays to all of my readers; tell me, did you get anything fun??
Barn chores and blanket checks are my life for the foreseeable future. HORSES ARE SO FUN.
ReplyDeleteMOST FUN EVER.
DeleteAlso fun? The auto waterer that froze out of spite hours after I wrote "everything has been uneventful".
happy holidays to you too! gifts of horsey interest include extra warm socks and a small mountain of those hand warmer packs lol -- things to be grateful for indeed! this cold weather is killin me too
ReplyDeleteThose are the best gifts! I stocked up on both from costco (because who doesn't buy wool socks and hand/foot warmers in bulk?!) this fall because my family refuses to get me sensible things. Bah humbug.
DeleteOMG and here I am dying in 6 degrees... Agree though, it's just too cold to horse. Really, I think it's too cold to life. Why can't I hibernate?!
ReplyDelete6 degrees is totally dying weather also. I thought the mares had given up on life but they were out running and bucking earlier, so apparently they haven't given up hope. I might go climb on one on top of their blankets just to remind myself what riding a horse feels like XD
DeleteLOL about the app and the + signs! I bet it would say the same for me if I was better about using it. Mostly just stuffing my horses faces with more hay and praying they've got the fortitude to survive the cold like years past haha.
ReplyDeleteIt's probably much more useful for people who don't live where it's this cold, but if anything it provides comic relief! Hay is the key to warm, so fingers crossed we all come out the other side :)
DeleteJust so glad that it's not just me dealing with this, although now that I read that it sounds mean haha. Hoping it warms up soon and sending lots of happy warm weather thoughts.
ReplyDelete