Kindness makes a Happy Barn!

Those of you who have been out to the barn over the weekend may have spotted the new board in the barn aisle-way. It's titled, "Be Kind and keep a Happy Barn!" Or something like that.

Why is it there and who does it apply to?

It applies to everyone, and clearly these are principles that should be upheld in life, not just at the barn. But I slapped 'em up on the wall as a reminder because I know we are all so busy and often forget about the important things - being considerate!

Let me be clear. No one has been directly negligent or rude. This silly little dry-erase board is simply a reminder in our barn setting.

So, that is who it applies to and that's why it's there.

What does it say?

In a nut shell it screams, "BE NICE! BE THOUGHTFUL! BE CONSIDERATE! BE COURTEOUS!" But more specifically:

(1) If your horse drops a pile in a high traffic area (barn aisle way, wash rack, the pavement, right outside a pasture gate), consider the other boarders and grab a pitch fork.
There are 4 plastuc buckets and 3 wheel barrows outside the barn doors. Toss it in there. If you're in the middle of something then just be sure to come back to it and clean it up. No one likes a big steamy pile of manure in their way when they go to hose-off their horse.

(2) If you move it, be thoughtful and put it back when you are done.
This goes for pretty much anything - saddle rack, chairs, mucking tools, blankets, hoses, etc, etc. Not only do these things get in the way, but some items have been ruined as a result of being left out (either getting chewed on by a horse or donkey, getting knocked over and broken, getting rained on, run over by a vehicle...). I have run over a plastic bucket that someone left out and damaged the undercarriage of my car. A wooden saddle rack was left in the rain and knocked over and broken. Blankets left in reach of 'naughty' horses have been torn. Rubber buckets go missing and I am left rushing around to find where it ran off to. We are on hose #3 at the wash rack because it is left unraveled and horses are left tied at the hose and the metal end is squished. We are also on hose-nozzle-sprayer-thing #3 for the same reason.
So, if you move it from its safe place, put it back in its safe place.

(3) If you borrow it, treat it like GOLD and put it back the way you found it.
I love sharing equipment because I know how frustrating it is not to have something. Being able to borrow someone's equipment with prior permission makes life more fun! But make sure to treat it well (treat it better than you would treat your own gear) and put it back exactly the way you found it. Some people like their girths removed after riding. Some like halters clipped back together and hung. If you find it that way, be sure to return it that way. This shows that you care!

(4) If you have any suggestions, requests, or concerns, please let us know! We want to make you happy, not just because we are providing a good service, but we are nice people! We want to help you in any way we are able. Need us to babysit a dog? Trim a cat's nails? Notice a bulb is broken in a stall? Fence down in your pasture? Let us know - that's what we're here for!

We love our horses and their parents! If you have any suggestions to make our barn a happier place for everyone, do tell :)

Shifting Horses

Some of you heard about Satin's recent injury. In light of the growing tension between Satin and Shellie, I have moved Satin in with JW and Tie.
This is the best switch possible for a few reasons - Satin is not "bondy", so JW shouldn't have issue with being separated from her (JW is typically very mare-bonded). Also, Tie probably will not expend enough energy to bite Satin, so I think she's safe. And although many of you are familiar with Satin's crabby expression and pretend nipping, she has never actually bit or kicked another horse. She is very anti-conflict.

This morning was the first time we tried them together and it was incredibly uneventful. Very good news!

I am sure Shellie is happy to have that "lazy, unresponsive" horse out of her pasture =P

You'll notice that sometimes your horse is not in his or her usual pasture. Maybe you wonder if we forgot who goes where! But actually this is a strategy to reduce hay wastage. JW and Tie eat round bales very slowly (Tie doesn't really eat the hay) and the mares eat hay very quickly. So when the girls' bale is very low, we'll switch them in to JW's pasture to eat down his bale. JW and Tie have plenty to eat even when there's 1/6th of a bale left of the girls' round bale. We may keep them switched for a few days until JW finishes off the last of the girls' bale, then we'll put a new bale in, put the girls on the new bale, and by the time we put JW & Tie back in their pasture there is just a little bit left. Once they finish that off they will get a new bale, and the cycle continues.

We'll be seeding several pastures with Bahia and one, possibly two, pastures with millet once Spring is officially here. We should have grass growing long before we re-seed & fertilize (I will eventually write a post about how we choose our seed, fertilizer, and herbicide and the safety issues involved). I expect that we will be able to stop purchasing coastal round bales by the end of March! This will save the farm over $900.00 a month!

Let me know if you have any questions or concerns. Feel free to comment!

See you at the barn!

The cold remains

Shellie and her boy friend ^. As I near them Shellie wanders off and JW is left standing there ,blaming me for scaring off his lady.
Besty looks good in this picture! I can always tell when her mom comes to visit because her stall is filled with hair! This girl is shedding already!

Here is Shellie carrying on. She's galloping over to shoo Dancer away from her man on the other side of the fence, JW.
And in the picture below she's running Satin around for no apparent reason.


Shellie is a "roller". She always has dirt and mud all over her!
Dancer loves her Shellie, and in the image below it's hard to see where the first chestnut ends and the second begins! In the summer Shellie is more of a liver chestnut and it's easier to see their differences.
I tried to get Pokey and Tav playing their games, but as usual, as soon as I bring out the camera, even when I'm stealthy, they quit! :(

So, yeah, it's been cold.
When the temp dipped a few days ago everyone got hot wheat bran mash mixed with their grain. Everyone typically receives about 1/2 scoop of this delicious slop.

The rain has been on and off for the past few days. When it was rainy AND cold, I kept blankets on and was able to stay home on those days to monitor the horses with saturated blankets. Everyone stayed warm despite the awful weather. When the rain stopped, blankets came off, ponies' fur dried, and dry blankets went on. The horses usually tell me when they want their blankets on or if "they'd rather not". And for the past week everyone has been happily accepting their additional warmth!

With highs in the low 50's and the sun shining away I've been taking blankets off in the morning (or I should say that I instruct John to take them off - he deserves the credit for morning feeding these days!). We almost always bring the blankets back to the barn for safe keeping, but on the rare occasion that we are in a rush and don't plan accordingly, the blankets have been left out and subsequently rained on! Good thing we have enough blankets around for back-ups.

Yesterday it was sunny with just a little wind so blankets came off. This morning, however, it was frikkin cold (to put it nicely)!!! So we left blankets on. The high is expected to be about 50, so we thought this would be prudent. No one is going to sweat under their blankets at this temperature, but I hope none of the tougher horses are grumbling under their breath that rolling doesn't feel so nice with this 'thing' on.

Hope you enjoyed the pictures! Today's images were from a few days ago and apparently Shellie was the focus of my camera. She's always doing something worthy of snapping a pic!

Can't this rain wait until Spring?

It's been raining for 15 hours here at the farm. This morning it was a frigid, wet 30 degrees. Luckily the barn was about 45 degrees inside - 7 masticating, blanketed horses tends to warm things up a bit! It rained through the night, through morning feeding, and all afternoon. I checked on the horses periodically, making sure they were keeping warm under their wet blankets. It appears that a few of the blankets are waterproof and a few are not, but either way the blankets are keeping them warm.

The horses are still in the barn. I can't bring myself to toss them out into the miserable, cold rain to slop around in the mud. The horses may disagree! Betsy and Shellie are trying to tell me that I forgot to let them out!
I brought Tav into a stall since he looked so lonely out in the pasture, hiding from the rain under the trees.



Dusty was covered in mud.

Wet Magic face.


Pasture 5 looks like a lake at the gate! I checked under everyone's blanket to see how damp they were and then decide whether or not to take them off. Everyone was warm underneath their blankets - some blankets kept the water off their fur completely, and some didn't. But even the damp-furred ponies were warm. Since it is 45 degrees outside I think it's best to keep the blankets on! Magic and Dusty have dry blankets for back-up. I have a dry blanket that's pretty big, so Cas can use that one. Bodhi's back-up is soaked, so we'll have to dry his.



Cas smudged my camera lens. He's a cutie.


Shellie watching the rain fall from the safety of her stall.


Bodhi has droplets streaming down his long forelock.

Cas's curious ears.

Quite the downpour

For about 30 minutes this afternoon we had a pretty heavy rain. It came on so quick that I didn't have any time to bring the stall horses into the barn. The the weather is warm and they have some tree cover, so they are probably enjoying it. I can barely see through the gray rainy-ness, but a few horses are still eating hay!

Messy Barn!

The barn has been a disaster lately and we're sorry!
John's mother was diagnosed last week with ovarian cancer. After the diagnosis everything went super fast. She saw cardiologists and anesthesiologists in preparation for surgery to remove the huge mass. She went in for surgery on Tuesday and has been recovering at Shands. Needless to say, John and I have been spending quite a bit of time at the hospital, not to mention the emotional stress involved. So we've been slacking on barn duties.

But don't worry! Your horses' stalls are getting cleaned as usual and everyone's needs are being met. We just haven't had that extra time to tidy up the barn and property like usual.
A round bale exploded at one end of the barn, nearly blocking the entrance. We lost the keys to our truck last week - the key chain also contained the key to the storage barn where our new mini fridge is waiting. We were able to purchase a new key (nope, we didn't have a back-up truck key!) from the dealer. After a heavy rain the keys finally did show up in a pasture! Thankfully we can now get the mini fridge out of storage and into the feed room so your carrots don't mold!

Everything should be back to normal soon and you will start to see swept concrete and raked barn aisles.

I am scheduling a "Work Day" for THIS Sunday, February 7th, from 10am-6pm. We will have to limit it to 3 hours per person (unless you are already doing board exchange, then you can do as much as you need). If you can't make it, don't worry. I will schedule another day in February.

See you at the barn!