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!