Then, it melted and rained on top of the snow. Rained hard. This turned the corrals my horses were in, which were completely dry before the snow, into lakes of what I like to call "poop soup." They had a shelter with a tiny islands of dry land here and there. But worse off was mama and baby Howdy, their smaller corral was completely flooded. I needed to get my horses out of there and open the whole corral to them. So I made the decision to move them from the ranch back to our place. (These corrals are designed for summer use by horses, not permanent residences or winter usage. Mama and baby have to be separated from the herd until weaning/gelding which is why they are housed there. And my ponies were housed there out of convenience of the riding season since the barn and my tack were there.)
My Boy's spring pasture is about half an acre in size. There is no shelter yet, we will be working on that soon! He hadn't been there since July. What he'd chomped down to nearly dirt last summer had nicely grown in with short grass and weeds and held the snow melt and rain well. Ranch Boy and I walked Loretta and My Boy to their new (old) pasture. After walking Lo around the fence line of hot wire, we set them free. I thought they'd take off running......nope. Heads down to chomp on the little grass that was there.
We are going to expand this pasture in the next week or so, as we have difficulty getting trough heaters out that far without running too many extension cords. The new section will come up further into our backyard. So while my horses are now in my "backyard", in a few weeks they will REALLY be in my backyard! Soon this wet transitional weather will be over and we'll have colder, more frozen and snowy ground most of the winter. I'm sure that "poop soup" will be back in the spring!
I am visiting some family this week!! See if this photo helps you guess who..... sorry about the blur.
Yes, this is Paint Girl's wild Mustang pony! Chance came running down to the fence when I took my dad's dog out for a potty walk. She was snorting and wild, thinking this strange dog might possibly be a coyote!! You see, around 10:30 the night before Paint Girl's dogs were wildly barking in the garage. Paint Girl heard coyotes yelping nearby and a horse running in it's pasture. Armed with a lantern and pellet gun, we strolled out into the dark night to check on the horses. They were fine, but Chance was trotting the fence line nervously (she was closest to the howlers.) The coyotes stopped once we ventured out there. It is an eerie sound, listening to those pesky canines do their thing!
Her other ponies were happily eating their breakfast this morning. Keep an eye on Paint Girl's blog next weekend or the early part of next week, she has a vet appointment for Fritzy on Friday as the mysterious hard lump has returned on the side of her neck (under the mane.) I am interested to hear what this is as I felt it myself and can't imagine what could be causing this condition. Keep your fingers crossed she will be okay!!
Have a great rest of the week everyone!
Ranch Girl
3 comments:
Looks miserable there, we have snow, but thankfully no rain on top of it. It freezes hard here so we should be good till spring mostly.
We get so many coyotes and they are right in wit the horses and they are not worried about them anymore. (or the deer and antelope that graze by them)
we are in the thick of a real blizzard today , I would far rather cold and snow that the rian /snow mix you deal with . But at the end in spring I think we all wind up with Poop soup for a time
Horrible mud! I'm so grateful that we rarely ever have to deal with mud here in New Mexico. Even after it snows, which is more like powder, or rains, within 24 hours all the mud dries up and the ground is hard and dry again.
Of course this also means we rarely ever have grass either.
Wow! Chance is such a big girl! I can't wait until your sister starts riding her and sharing all their adventures.
Sure hope Fritzy's ok, though.
~Lisa
Post a Comment