We’ll have hay, beautiful hay! I think, I hope, I pray. Its tall enough to hide a poodle and a St. Bernard! We aren’t there yet, though. The most stressful part of having grass fields is the haying process itself; most notably, finding a few days in a row where it is hot, but not humid, and there is no rain in the forecast for several days in a row. Sounds simple enough – especially since we’ve been in a drought, but it really isn’t. I could never be a farmer. The stress would kill me.
We’ve been blessed with rain. Not as much as some areas but enough to change our drought classification to show some improvement. Our ponds have filled up. We left the horses off the pasture as long as possible and the fields have grown. We should be able to bale not only the hay pasture but the horse pasture, too. Granted, we have our fair share of weeds, since so much grass died last year. But if we get the perfect weather days to get it cut, we should be sitting well for next winter. From my fingers to God’s ears.
It’s vacation time! This month we plan to go to South Dakota and ride in the Black Hills again. We have not been there since 2008 and what a trip that was with our crazy Hi-Ho Silver truck. (Look at how little my boys were!)
This year, we are heading out with friends – some who have never ridden there, so that will be a treat to see it again through their eyes. The boys are staying home and working. It will be weird and sad not to have them along this time.
Windy is not able to wear back shoes. The only time a farrier put them on was for South Dakota in 2008 and we fought them coming off all week long. Our next farrier wouldn’t shoe her hind feet at all; said she has too thin of hoof walls to hold shoes. So for mountain riding, I shoe her fronts and boot her hind feet when needed. These are EasyBoot Gloves with gators. (The orange tape is to help me find them if I were to lose one.)
We decided to try the same thing with Fancy for this trip. Although the Gloves work well for Windy, their downfall is they are pretty unforgiving with fit. They work best on a freshly trimmed hoof but after a few weeks of growth, the fit is compromised. I like the EasyBoot product, so I decided to try a different style for Fancy. These are the EasyBoot Trail. I worry some that they don’t have gators but they come up higher on the pastern so hopefully the will stay on as well. I have heard good reviews from some of the CTR crowd, so I’m optimistic that they will work for Fancy. I’ll let you know how it goes.
I had to give up my beloved iPhone 4S! The phone that survived my plunge into the Platte River and the quick sand episode. No, it didn’t quit working but McCain needed a new phone and didn’t have an upgrade available or the cash. So I “loaned” him my 4S since I was due an upgrade. I got the iPhone 5. Until I got a case for it, I wasn’t in love with it like my 4S. It didn’t feel right. And I worried that the pictures wouldn’t be as good. And disgusted that I have to buy all new cords for the car, truck, office, bedroom, etc. But after a week, I think I’ll survive. It’s grown on me. The barnyard pictures look good. The big test will be seeing pictures from vacation. Stay tuned.
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I am riding in the backcountry gloves by Easyboot and love them so far. My only complaint is that it is shaped to allow gravel to fill into the back of the pastern. (I think this is operator error in how I am tightening them up.) My farrier was kind enough to give me an old rasp so I can shape the edge of his hooves as they grow out. We have had an extremely wet spring and all the horses hooves are thin and sensitive.
ReplyDeleteEnjoy South Dakota