It's been a long week for me. I've been working for what feels like non stop at the store and also getting some much needed work done around the house. My project this morning before I went to work was to fix the horse fence so Miss Gypsy the Marshmallow couldn't sneak out of the paddock and into the back yard to eat all the grass she wants. I re-enforced the wire fence that's ment to keep the dogs in the back yard and the horses from nibbling grass under the electric tape with some metal t-posts and re-ran the electric tape fence so it's not shorting out. I've misplaced my fence tester and am in dire need of a new one so I can test the amount of power the fence has without getting shocked myself. I hate getting shocked and would rather not do the "touch test". Though Mr. Moe did hit the bottom line today and yelped, so at least I know the fence is working there. I'm trying to slowly adjust the horses to grass because of Gypsy's high risk of laminitis. I just want to make sure she doesn't get too much but she hasn't made it easy with her escapes under the fence. I put let them into the lower pasture today for 20 minutes while I was cleaning their stalls and of course had to fight with them to get them back in the dirt paddock. The lower pasture is still a little too wet for them to be there and I'd like to see a little more grass growth before I unleash the hoofed grass killers onto it. I tried Gypsy's grazing muzzle on her today. As expected, she HATES it. She couldn't figure out how to get it off (it doesn't come off the halter easy) and then couldn't figure out how to eat all that yummy grass with it on. She kept coming over to me begging me to take it off. Tough you fat mare, you are forced to wear it. I think I need a bigger size though, it seems too small. Seeing as I got it at a yard sale last fall for $2.00 I'm not supper upset that it doesn't fit. It will do for now anyways.
I found the time last week to take a moment and ride Gypsy bareback around the farm. She threw a few bucks and hops in but once she realized I wasn't going to put up with it she settled down. She's the kind of horse that's used to trying to (lazily) scare her rider into getting off. I'm not falling for it. I could tell she felt good though and that makes me happy seeing where we were 2 years ago. It makes me happy to see her running and playing when not so long ago she couldn't even stand for long periods of time. I want to keep her on the upward swing and not go back to where we were because of some grass. I'm so worried about too much grass with her.
Doodles is a hot mess who needs to get back to work, only I'm dreading (and putting off) working her. I just need to swallow my fears, get on her and hopefully have an uneventful ride to boost my confidence. Maybe tomorrow before I go to work I will try. Worst case, she dumps me and then I can't go to work since she broke me. Then I will get a much needed day off to lounge and read every one's blogs I'm so behind on.
I picked up some guinea hens at the feed store. They are something I've wanted to try for a while now and when I saw they had them, I figured why not. Worst case, they get eaten by a fox since they are dumb.
They are cute and little right now. I hope they do well, I think they are pretty birds and they'll help keep the ticks and bugs down.
I still need to get my truck worked on, it needs an alignment and a new tire and I need to get new tires for my trailer. I also need to get current coggins tests done on the girls so I can go places with them. First step, getting the truck and trailer set. Then I will call my ever so awesome, yet expensive vet to pull blood for the coggins tests. Damn you money! I need more of you! It will all be worth it when I'm doing fun stuff this summer. I'll keep telling myself that.
Anyways, that's all for now. I'm excited to see I picked up a few more followers to this blog. Welcome! I'm coming up to 100 posts soon so that's exciting I guess. Maybe I'll do something special. Stay tuned! Now I'm off to catch up on every one's blogs and drink some Maine Made Mead. MMMmmmm, honey wine....
2 comments:
Hi! I found your blog via Spinster Jane's and couldn't resist checking it out. I'm some sort of freak, not essentially Goth, but do often get interesting responses when people find out that I'm a homesteader. Apparently shaved headed, tattooed women are supposed to only live in the cities?
I can relate to the laminitis-prone escape artist. We inherited four Mini horses from my father, all with some form of metabolic disorder. Both of those who we know had Cushings have gone on to the otherside to be with Dad, but the other two at least have Insuline Resistance. And one is really good at getting through the fence, which as we live in far northern NH and on a mountain, is now becoming a bigger issue than it was just a couple of weeks ago. I've been thinking about trying the muzzles, but as they are pretty good at getting out of things (the other for some reason is stumped by the fence, but does get himself and others out of stalls regularly) I'm thinking they'll figure out how to get them off of each other even while wearing them. But I might still give it a try.
We've not tried guineas yet, but it might be our future. Right now we've got our hands full trying to keep up a consistent breeding of Dorking chickens.
Thank you for sharing these stories of your horses and your life as a farming Goth.
Ah! Fences! That reminds me... Do you still want our fence for goats? I can safely say there'd be at the very least 50 feet, possibly more like 80-90. Maybe not all in one piece, (I need to inspect it for damages) but altogether, it's a tidy bit o' fencing. And, if so, do you want to pick it up, or have us drop it off? Us dropping it off would have the advantage... For me!! I'd love to snuzzle your ponies! :D
Post a Comment