Warm, cold, rain, clouds

Dear Florida, please make up your mind. This every-other-day cold spells with rain or heat in between is... annoying!

The horses with furry coats, like Betsy, are not tolerating the warmer days. Poor Betsy was even sweating in 70 degree weather yesterday because it had been 40 degrees the night before. A cold front came through on Thursday, dropping overnight temps to 35 degrees! Friday stayed incredibly chilly with a high of 49. Friday night wasn't so bad and stayed at 50ish. Now it is Saturday - cold and rainy! It's been raining all morning. We got blankets off just in time and brought them to the barn to keep them dry. Tie, Pokey, and Goose are snuggled up in their stalls to keep dry.

At feeding time this morning, Molly was Ms. Brave and came trotting up all excited. She even tried to steal some of Jedi's food! This is quite unlike submissive Molly - but it was a joy to see her all full of herself!

We still have not moved Bodhi and Cas in with Magic, Tav, and Dusty. We want to be less busy when we decide to make the change so that we can be here for long periods during the first few days, just to be sure all is well.

The name plates for the stall horses arrived and are super nice! I especially like Satin's: "Satin, Mommy's Brat"
They are currently just resting on the stall window until we attach them to the stall doors.
If anyone else would like to purchase a stall plate - hey, even pasture horses can have name plates, too! Just let me know and I can send you the link. I got them off ebay for about $9.00 each (includes the name plate holder) plus shipping. Fun!

The pair of red shouldered hawks are still around which means they must be nesting nearby. They love the jump field and can be seen perusing the pasture for tasty critters atop the standards. If you have a moment, take some time to watch them. The thicker, slightly larger one is the male. The lighter-colored, more petite one is the female. It's neat to watch them swoop down and land on something (they seem to miss most of the time. Or maybe they are practicing). Then they proceed to dig with one food at whatever they think they caught. It's like they are stomping on it. Fascinating!

All the horses appear to be in good spirits and have been taking turns galloping across their pastures. Yesterday, the four mares, Betsy, Dancer, Satin, and Shellie went for a run around. Shellie is almost always the instigator. She runs with crazy in her eyes. Dancer follows close behind because she can't be more than 5 feet from Queen Shellie, and she usually looks like an anxious mother running after Shellie. Satin runs, rears, and spins, just for the fun of it. She really enjoys a good buck. And Betsy mostly trots behind because that's the thing to do. I think I hear her saying, "Girls, do we really have to do this again?" And Shellie replies, "YES! It's good for the soul!"
Yes, I talk for the horses ALL the time!

I hope you are enjoying the winter weather! Feel free to bring some holiday decorations for your horse's stall or for the barn!

Cheers!