Serene Sunday

Their debut album cover:

Daenery's and the Eunuchs

Seamus

I am so happy that we went to Kentucky to find this beautiful gelding.  He's going to be such a great partner!  He arrived this past Friday the 24th, earlier than expected.  We had him shipped from KY since another trip to KY would mean another weekend for us and we still need to get the barn and workshop rewired so we are still without power out there.  I may not have mentioned it in this blog but yeah, we cut the power 4 months ago since there was a short and my hubby is working tirelessly to get everything rewired and we are also updating the lighting.

Anyways......my new horse we've decided to go with the barn name of Seamus.  It just fit him.  I'd dreamed of getting a horse named Brego (Aragorn's mount in the LOTR movies) or Rhaego (the unborn child of Daenerys in GOT) or even Tybalt (Shakespeare "Romeo and Juliet").  Rhaego would have been really fun since I have a horse named Daenerys.  But low and beyond he just seemed like a Seamus to me, I like Irish names. Names often just happen.

The first day he was just in the barn yard with the other two horses across the fence from him.  Squeals galore from my mare and even a few from the gelding.  Oh my poor neighbors!  Our little neighborhood had just enough hilliness to make some fun echoes. When they all seemed to be doing well I put them all in the Shire, our northern pasture.  Only for about an hour though since I didn't want Dani getting too much of the green grass with her issues.

The second day I let the horses be together in the Wormhole which is the area between the north and southwest fields and includes the smaller barnyard.  The horses can come and go from the stalls and they also have access to the run-in shed.  They all seemed to be doing very well, Dani was mostly chasing Chance and Chance on occasion made Seamus move. I was inside to let them do their thing but could see the barn yard from my seat on the sofa.  Seamus came galloping through the barnyard and jumped the wood fence, knocking out the top rail.  OMG!!!

I went outside to find him between our two sheds grazing some grass, a little freaked out but seeming fine.  I went into the barn to get a halter and Steve had come out to prevent Seamus from getting to the road.  We got him back to the barn and I checked him over.  Thank goodness he was unharmed.  Not a single hair scraped off.  Chance had jumped this same area back in September when he got his tail caught in the spring gate and he was all banged up.  I was relieved. 

Later we had an incident after feeding.  We were trying to figure out the best way to feed everyone since Chance has to eat 3 lbs of grain each sitting since he'd been losing weight last summer. It takes forever.  Anyhow, the horses were done so I released Seamus from his stall and we went to the bucket where there were still tidbit of food left.  Chance came over a little aggressively and our old dog Loki got in the way and Seamus turned around and struck at him.  I flung my hands up and Seamus backed off so I could grab my poor dog and get him out of there.  Loki is always under foot with the horses but I should have known better.  This is a new horse who is scared, in a new place with new routines, new horses and new humans.  I felt bad for both him and Loki.  Luckily Loki has a thick head and aside from a scrape by the eye seemed to be alright.

Those two events were enough for the weekend.  Things have calmed down and we have come up with a good routine to move the horses to the two stalls or barnyard in a certain order for feeding.  We also then release them in a certain order too.  With two horses it was easier but with three we are using a catch halter to quickly grab one at a time (Seamus and then Dani) into a stall and then leave Chance in the aisle to eat their grain. Why I've never heard of these before a Stacy Westfall podcast I don't know but this thing is so handy and better than just a lead rope to quickly maneuver a horse.

Seamus is settling in and is already proving to be a very in your pocket horse.  I was racking old hay, and he wanted to help.  Mucking the yard, he wanted to help. I entered the barn yard, he came up to sniff me and say hi.  So far we've just done work on the ground, his front feet aren't as easy to pick up so we are working on that. I'll be getting a saddle that fits him this weekend I hope. 

I just hope Dani isn't too jealous!  I love her dearly but I'm so excited to have a young horse that I'll be able to go do things with and meet other horse people.  Welcome to Geek Acres Seamus!

The Future of Horsing for me

Looking back at the past few years I see my neck surgery that prevented me from riding for a year really set me back, only physically for a period of time, doctor's orders, after that it was mental.  Once I was back and able to ride I'd honestly been out of the habit of riding regularly. It was too easy to just fall back to not riding and prioritize other activities.  We have more than enough projects at our house and on the property that I've done more with those items than riding Daenerys. Why?  That's the hard part...lack of motivation, tired from work, the gosh darn humid hot summers I hate....who knows.  

Chance is officially retired due to his degenerative suspensory ligaments (DSL) in his hindlegs.  We are trying to manage his heaves and Cushings and hopefully not riding him will keep him comfortable in relation to the DSL.  He's a sweet horse to have a around and for Dani to boss around. But Dani, she'll be good to go I hope in a few months.  She never was going to be an eventing horse but well, I'm not an eventing rider either!

The evil equihaler

What do I want in the future of horsing? That's a tough one, I feel like there is often stuff in my life I want to do but then I just get tied up with other stuff.  I have to stay set on my priorities; that's always been difficult for me.  What I always wanted to do is go on trail rides, go to clinics about doing trail obstacles and fun trail competition (ride and tie, small endurance type events etc). I love riding Dani but there will come a day when she can't or shouldn't be ridden just like with Chance.  

Then there is the trailering issue, I have not had success with trailering Dani. She has gotten on a trailer and has been a good girl at times but swinging the dividers or closing the door, that's when she really puts up the fight.  I haven't been able to deal with that as someone not experienced with trailering horses.  Adding this complexity to it had been a bit much and moving to NC I lost my horse network that helped me with these types of things. Here I have to trailer my horse to events to build that network but I can't trailer my horse....chicken and the egg. My fearful mind would wonder "what if I successfully trailer her somewhere but then can't get her back on afterwards and I'm stuck in a parking lot with a silly horse that won't load?"

Dani is a homebody and that's okay.  I love her to pieces not matter what.  She is my first horse, the horse that I could trust after having some fearful falls, the horse that I knew was a great match for me.  She had some challenges but is a perfect partner to play around with; my crazy chestnut mare.  With the new pasture design we are working on there is an area in the difficult slopping pasture that is flatter; I am going to make this my dedicated riding area.  Maybe someday it will officially be like an arena with good footing but for now it will work as a dedicated pony work area.  This was going to be the area for Steve's workshop (my riding area was then going to be where we tore out an older shed). We priced buildings and were floored so he's altering plans and now I have too....that's how it goes.

I'm starting to research a future horse.  A younger but well trained horse that I can cart all over the place and do clinics, trail rides etc.  I've been wanting to learn about some gaited breeds too.  This next year I'll be looking at some Kentucky/Rocky Mountain horses, Paso Finos and maybe Peruvian Pasos, I've already reached out to breeders where I can come meet their horses and ride some to help decide if I want a gaited breed and if so what kind.  If I have a horse that I can trailer with no problem I'll be able to start to build a horse friend network here that I haven't thus far; not being able to bring Dani to events has been a little isolating. When I boarded her....I met people, I rode with people and there was a shared good time by horse people.  I loved that about boarding.  

Steve is not really a rider.  He really needs a horse that he can just get on every once in a while having not ridden in 6 months...so probably no horse for him.  He'll go for a trail ride at a trail ride rental place with me but he doesn't have the time or desire really to learn to ride and do it regularly.  That's fine.  He really wants a donkey, so we'll get him a donkey someday I guess. In Colorado we'd planned on getting that 3 horse trailer and then another horse and perhaps a mule or donkey and going on trips, and overnighters with the riding club.  Obviously that never happened.

I was hoping the venture of horse riding was going to become a thing Steve would enjoy.  He loves the horses and loves caring for them but riding and getting out on trails isn't really a draw for him. For me I need to truly understand that and continue on my own.  Sure he'll come to some events and hang out.  Maybe I can get him involved in a ride an tie type event since he wants to get back into running....so do I actually. If we get a horse that we can cart around we can do an event like that and maybe have a ball together!  And when it's just me and that horse we can do other events.

So the next few months I plan to get into better shape, just like Dani I've had a bit too much grass!  I may ride locally at a place I found that rents horses for trail or arena work. And then I'll work with Dani once I get the vets okay and play with her around here. My neighbors ride in the woods nearby and if I get Dani back up to speed we could go too I hope. My neighbors are nice but I'm not sure how comfortable I'll be riding with them since even after 6 years we are still the new kids on the block.

Dani's a good horse that you don't need to ride often to keep their head in the game, that's one of her great qualities.  She could be a horse Steve could hop up on occasionally if I keep her ridden some.  She's my special girl.  I love her to pieces and I really hope that she will be long lived. I will do my hardest to figure out how to manage Cushings and insulin resistance in her. I won't give up on trailering her either, with a future horse that can be trailered why not try and see if Dani can come too?  That would mean getting Steve to come out to ride....I have to just concentrate on me.....going off on tangents and the same dream as before.  This is my hobby, my love.  I have to do what is right for me.  Steve's supportive but not a cowboy.

I'm reminded of Colorado, me and skiing. I went a lot with the man I dated before Steve.  This man was passionate about skiing.  I loved it too and went with him and we really enjoyed skiing.  When I started dating Steve I continued to go skiing and he occasionally went with me and we had fun. I started going less and less though since I missed hanging out with Steve and I didn't have ski buddies to go with, it was fun but I was becoming bored honestly.  It wasn't a passion, so it didn't bother me that much that I went less.  Then I started leasing a horse, then I bought one.  Weekends were now pony time! 

Since horses are my love I can't be held back by wanting to do other things with Steve or by all the house projects I have on my to do list.  I have to dedicate time to riding and I know he understands and encourages it...it's the voice in my head that wants to hang out with him or do stuff together and feels bad that I'm out in the barn or what not.  There is time for hanging with the hubs, I just have to prioritize my interests too.  I have to cut out the time for myself and my pony friends, pen it in on the calendar. It's important for me.  

But now I have a thought, perhaps it was easier to plan this time out when it wasn't a "daily out the back door gotta muck and feed everyday" kinda thing. When my horse was a car drive away and I didn't see her everyday, each time I made the trip I was there to ride, I groomed, I played! It's been too easy to fall into the idea that I see my horses everyday and I muck and feed everyday, pick hooves or clean up a silly beast that rolled on poop...that's good enough. It's great I get that time, don't get me wrong.  I love having horses in my back yard. Going outside to grill or get a tool from the shed I'm nickered at; that will never get old. I have to block off time to do the really fun stuff, the riding and training stuff!

With time being so limited on this earth I need to make the time to do what I love.  Dani will heal and I hope I will be riding her early next year. I also hope to find a horse that I can load, trail ride and go out and meet horse people here. I miss the comradery that is "horse people". 

It's very alien to think about buying another horse.  I knew logically I would eventually get another horse as Chance was aging and Dani is only one year younger. This laminitis episode has made me really assess my horse life. I will ride Dani when she's better, I'm confident that will be a possibility. And I will begin a new adventure with another horse too, that can expand my horizons some.  In my head I feel like I would be abandoning Dani but that's silly.  If you only have a Fiat but you need to haul things because hauling things is how you make a living, well you buy a truck right?

I knew buying Dani that she didn't load or haul well.  I accepted that, she was perfect for me in every other way and I've grown and learned so much with her and continue to learn!  She is my heart. I shouldn't feel weird about getting another horse to do more with right? 

So this is the future of horsing for me.  I miss being fully immersed in the horse world with other horse people.  This coming year I have breeders to meet and horse breeds to learn about. This world is full of noise that pulls you in so many directions.  Don't forget your center.  What is your center, what makes you calm, whole, happy? Is your center painting?  Is it skiing? Mountain biking? Hiking? Writing? Horses?

...

...

...

...

...

...

Horses.

Daenerys Update

Dani has been doing well.  She foundered on Oct. 10th but luckily we caught it early.  She recently had a hoof trim after thanksgiving and was maybe a little tender still but doing much better.  I hand walk her when I can with her Cloud Boots on. It's difficult now that it gets dark so early. My farrier is having me apply Hoof Armor to help protect her sole from wear.  I'll have to make a post about that this weekend when I put on the next application.

Both her and Chance are now on Prascend (Pergolide), the medicine for Cushings.  Chance was tested and had a higher reading than Dani!  She most likely foundered due to insulin resistance which she also has. I probably won't be riding her until March or April but I am hopeful that she will be healed well enough to do riding around the property.  Obviously I don't trailer her since that's never been a success for me....

Older ponies, Dani will be 23 and Chance will be 24 in early 2022. Since Chance has COPD and his leg issues he's officially retired.  Steve never really rode him much which is a bummer.  Overall they are both doing well right now being doted on and loved with no work in sight!  Chance is having a flare up of his COPD or Heaves.  We have an inhaler ordered from the vet to give him a 10 day treament.  The syrup he normally is on is on back order now, thanks Covid for the supply chain issues!

We are managing as best we can and will be turning our two connecting pastures into a pasture paradise track system.  I will have to post about what that is but it's a system to make horses move more naturally, meaning more often, since they don't normally sit in nice rich pastures in the wild. It's hard for our pastures to not be green here in NC!

Laminitis

This has been a hard year for many reasons and this one is at the top.  My 22 year old Morgan mare had laminitis with founder (aka rotation of the coffin and pedal bone). The vet thinks we caught it early but I'm very quick to blame myself and wonder if I missed subtle signs. I noticed her walking very tenderly on the Oct. 10th and we had the vet out asap.  We'd iced her hooves and had a two week regimen of pain killers and other laminitis drugs.  I got her snazzy cushion boots and bedded up a stall to keep her on soft ground.  She's recovered well enough and walks around fine without pain or limping.  We had her tested, yet again (but with a more sensitive test) for Cushings.  She is positive for Cushings and insulin resistance.  So she will be on Pergolide (Prescend).

Dani has always been an easy keeper and never been slim in any sense of the word.  She's been in a grazing muzzle often.  This year has been a crazy year with my Stubs having a kidney issue, Chance having a strained branch of a tendon in his hind fetlock, then my carpal tunnel has gotten worse so I had injections which helped but were painful for the first few days.  I also had to go out to Colorado for two weeks to help my parents, my mom had three major spinal surgeries and my dad was her care giver but right when she got to a rehab facility in early September he gets admitted to the hospital with a major colon hernia. He nearly died and has been recovering since then, he's still not fully recovered.

There has been a lot going on and I feel like I must have missed something, must have slipped in my care.  I didn't get the horses off the pastures when we started having cooler nights (always something to worry about since this causes spikes in sugars of the grass). I did delay in getting weight off her this year, I didn't ride, I didn't, I didn't, I didn't.  I will beat myself up forever but it all comes down to one thing.  I'm human and if I missed something I can't be too hard on myself.

My farrier will be out in a week for the first trim post founder.  It will be many months for her to fully grow out any issues that develop in the hoof wall.  Trimming can help to realign the hoof to the bone inside and hopefully continue to keep her comfortable.  

She's a trooper.  Even in pain she had enough spunk to put up a fight about taking her medicine.  I had to pump a large syringe of ground Bute, aspirin and another med into her twice a day.  She is stubborn for sure, I love her though.

Looking at her 1 month after the beginning of the laminitis event she is doing well.  She's bossing the gelding Chance around (hopefully not too much where he restrains his tendon) and begging for food constantly.  They are both in the dry lot of the property, two of my pastures will be converted into a track system (Paddock Paradise - Information on how to create it (all-natural-horse-care.com)) since we were needing to redo the fencing anyways. I'll post more as we progress.  We have some planning and a small section of woods to clear out for this project.

I don't know the timeframe for healing Dani, I'm currently hand walking her when I can, have her on a Laminox supplement, and changed the ration balancer to one with an even lower rated non-structural carbohydrate ratio.  I'll have to consult with the vet in a couple months as to when it will be safe to ride her and then progress to other types of exercise for her as well. I also will be testing Chance for Cushings, he is 23 and has kept his coat some springs a little longer than normal.  He's been negative in the past but I don't think he was tested with this more sensitive test.  He already has heaves (COPD) and his tendon....man, old age sucks for ponies just as much as humans!

Snowmageddon 2018 NC

We received more snow in NC than they have had in years, at least in the Piedmont area.  Our snow measured about 10 inches on average.  Coming from Colorado I was thrilled!  I was working the day it started snowing and was able to leave early as soon as my husband texted me that we already had 7 inches.  Bernini, my little Fiat 500, did fine in the snow until I got to our unplowed road.  I basically drove and pushed the snow in front of me until it made a wall and then the little car was stuck.

Steve was home working so I could call him to get the tractor out and rescue us, otherwise I would have had to walk to our house and do it myself but I'm glad I had the option either way.  He came down with Kevin, the Kubota, and plowed the snow from around the little car.  Then I followed him home as he made a path for us and a path up our driveway.

Once home I had the pleasure of watching the ponies play in the snow.  I don't know what it is about snow but they love it!  Chance was running around while Daenerys was nuzzling me in hopes of treats.

Chance loves to put his lips on everything!  He plays with water and hoses, humans he tries to groom etc.  It wasn't a surprise that he wanted to lick the snow off the nearby pine tree, he was so cute and acted surprised when the branch eventually dropped a ton of snow on his face.

Dani like to roll in the snow but also just followed me around while I was out there.  She was very much wanting the love.  It was still pretty warm considering so later that night we had to dry the horses and blanket them for the colder temperatures that were to come that night.  Leave it to NC to have rain and then snow fall followed by very freezing temperatures to make the roads lots of fun!  Luckily I was done at work for the week so I could just stay home and enjoy the pretty snow.

The next day was gorgeous!  The sky was so blue and the barn was it's pretty red color, I love where we live!  

The barn roof had some neat patterns on the snow from the wind.  Look how pretty it is!  I'm so glad we finally painted the barn since it looks so nice!

Loki had fun helping us take care of the horses and he enjoyed bounding in the snow but also keeping to our path out to the barn.  You can see how deep it was!

The ponies were toasty in their blankets and looking for their morning feeding.  After a couple days the snow did mostly melt away and we have been enjoying the mud and muddy ponies.  What fun.  I'm glad we got the moisture, it will be good for our pastures.  I always enjoy horses in snow though!

Trailer maintenance

My trailer was parked by the barn for the past nearly two years since moving here....has it really been that long?  In that time gunk has grown on the paint and simply made the trailer very dingy.  I didn't know how much until I moved the trailer away from the barn where it received more full sunlight on both sides.  I took the power washer out and began working on the trailer.  WOW.  You've got to be kidding me!  Many shades of ick came off the trailer.

I have some more work to do on it, the interior got scratched up in the move and a lot of paint is peeling so I'll need to power wash that, sand some and repaint some areas.  You have to do this with older trailers anyways but my plan will be to freshen it up and then get a good cover for it.  I should have done that to start with but after moving and all the stuff that goes with that it was far from my mind!  We are continually doing work around the place or just maintenance but at least it's slowly settling down.  Ponies are happy and I've taken some more lessons on Dani but lately it's been sporadic with rain and my schedule.  

Spring trimming and Riding Lesson.

I'm getting my butt in gear and back in the saddle.  I've enlisted an instructor that my neighbor utilizes to train and ride her horses.  Erin is awesome!  My lesson was amazing and having not been on Dani in a while and being really rusty and nervous in the new location (just my neighbors arena) she was very calm, methodical and put me at ease.  I plan to take lessons every other week and hopefully get hubby on board with Chance.  I need to ride Chance some too.  

My lesson was mainly Erin trying to see where Dani and I are in our communication etc.  We trotted most of the lesson and I was worn out!  We did get pretty good work done with getting Dani to respond to slow downs, speed ups and turns.  She's no ballerina but she did quite good for being rusty herself.  Now that it's been a week I'm at a loss for more description of the lesson.  It's good to have someone push me some again and getting that trot done was great, I need to work on posting the correct diagonals though!  The plan is to eventually get this mare on the trails around here and for me to not be a woos about that.  I'm nervous and that's not a good thing to be when I need to support her!

As to Chance, I'm going to give the Australian saddle another try with a cushy pad I bought for the seat.  The problem I found on the first ride was the over girth that these saddles have and the location for stirrup attachment.  Not the best design in my opinion but people swear by them.  I'm going to give it a few more rides before I break down and get a western saddle for him.  Steve can ride in which ever one he desires.  I'll keep everyone posted.

So why does this post have pictures of Dani's feet?  Well spring time means trimming of the fetlocks.  My horses have both gone from goat beards and bell bottoms to a much more horse like clean cut look.  Always nice to have a good look at their heels before the mud starts up in the spring.  I have to be on the watch for scratches and the trimming helps.  

The spring clipping has led to excess hair that I just don't want to toss.  I think the birds will appreciate it.  Looking at the saucer I placed out for the birds I can't help but think about Donald Trump.  Hmm....hopefully there won't be an angry tweet from in the future....wait what am I saying.  LOL.  I've since picked up the hair and placed it in a cute barn shaped suet feeder, sans suet of course.  This way birds can pick it out and bring to their nests.  I need to get more bluebird houses and other critter houses for that matter but that's another story.

Pony Shed Rebuild

Last August we discovered that termites had returned to an already severely damaged pony shed. So we disassembled the shed.  Then we started to rebuild some of it but it was hot or rainy or we had other things we needed to do and then the holidays!  Seems like it takes forever to complete a project around here but we are always busy to something!

Well we finally decided to "get er done" and rebuilt the shed.  It took several saturdays with some weekends in between when it was bad weather.  Luckily the horses have the barn so we weren't worried about them not having shelter.

Each step caused the ponies to be wary about the shed; sniffing and blowing commenced and finally ended with licking of lips and a final satisfied sigh.  Ponies are funny.

I did most of the painting of the outside of the shed.  We chose a nice rusty red called colonial red.  I'm thinking our front door to the house will eventually be this color too.  Dani examined the paint and seemed to approve.

Chance also like the paint color so proceeded with giving his muzzle and whiskers a nice rusty red tint.

The south side...

The inside divider where we place the hay nets

The long back wall....that will take a lot of paint!

Eventually the inside will get painted too, we just needed to get the outside done first.  I also added an insect repellent to the paint .  We'll see how that works with the carpenter bees and such.

Awe yes, nice and red!

Still have the top beams to complete but my fear of heights is now delegating that job to my husband!

Yippee we finally have the pony shed again!

New year and freezing rain

Happy new year!  It's been a busy year and I'm sure the next year will be too but we are better prepared and know what to expect...plus heavy equipment purchases this spring will assist greatly!

I write this as the freezing rain and sleet begin to pour outside with hope for snow to come later making my Sunday morning work commute potentially crazy as we won't have much melting until Monday.  NC is not known for their winter weather preparedness but then again, they don't get much snow.  I groomed my very muddy ponies and got them set to wear their blankets to protect them from the freezing rain.

I tend to be conservative with my blanketing now, unlike when I first got Dani.  I think nature makes them well prepared for the weather and since they always have access to shelter they tend to take care of themselves.  Generally if it's cold I'll tend to throw them a little more hay.  If it's rainy but not too cold their coats have ways of shedding the moisture quite well.

Even snow is no biggie really but freezing rain, sleet and ice.  I would rather keep them dry and warm when it's really icky like that.  I also have to restrict them to the barn yard and shire since there is an area that is deeper mud and will freeze hard, I don't need a twisted ankle in a frozen hoof hole.

Staying warm and relaxing with the hubby and critters.  Wish I could have the ponies on the sofa too!

Moldy Tack!!!

I've been absent from the blog for a while but certainly not from the barn and Geek Acres itself.  Been busy.  I work 4 days a week, 10 hours a day or more so am tired at the end of the day and don't blog.  When I am off I'm always running errands or doing projects around the farm it seems.  I hope things slow down soon now that the holidays have passed.

Near the end of the summer when there were some pretty humid weeks I noticed some mold on my lovely saddles!!!  OMG!  I read up really quickly on what to do.  First things first is get the tack out of the tack room to clean so you don't spread the spores.  I sprayed them with a vinegar/water mix and let them dry in the sun.  Then I ordered Leather Therapy wash and Restorer.  This product is one of the few that lacks glycerin that mold will feed on and has a fungal preventative.

I sprayed the crap out of the saddles, mainly the western saddle stirrup leathers where most of the mold was but I got the entire leather of each saddle.  The Aussie saddle only had a bit of mold on the flaps and I suspect it was mainly on the dust not so much the leather.

Then I took apart the saddles and rubbed in the therapy conditioner.  This stuff is good!  I sure hope it prevents issues in the future but I also plan on sealing up the tack room better and then using those desiccant products to absorb moisture.  It's so humid and hot out here that the tiny window in the tack room doesn't do much for ventilation so I need to work on getting the tack room dry without buying a dehumidifier....though I could do that too.  I have to make sure to seal up the room or I will be trying to dehumidify the entire outdoors and I doubt that will work.  A barn that I would have built would have a larger tack room with much more ventilation and light as that is the key to prevent mold growth....oh and cleaning tack more regularly in this environment apparently!

I wish I'd thought to take pictures of the moldy tack but honestly was so horrified and panicked that I was rushing to remedy the problem instead.  Never had to deal with that in dry Colorado!!

Thanks all for still read this blog!  I guess I shouldn't be surprised that having a mini farm/stable means I have less time to blog but  you know.  Shout out to Mrs Shoes!!

Please review the video below and share if you can, this child Kaydance was abducted, please read story here and we would like to share in case there is someone it reaches that can help or knows any information.  You never know.

Serene Sunday

Apple Picking Season!!

Yeah, not that kind of apple.....  :-(

The horses are now going to be kept in the Wormhole and The Shire for the winter while we work on the rejuvenating other two pastures (post to follow).  Since we cannot rotate pastures because of that nor let manure dry out for a couple weeks after being harrowed (dragged) we have to resort to picking the field again to prevent parasite issues in our ponies.

This means we get to pick the field every week!  We've gone a couple weeks without doing such and it took us a while to get The Shire cleaned up today.  It was a gorgeous breezy fall day so I can't complain.  We need to do a final mow too so it will be easier to rake the piles and spot treat any weeds until we can let this pasture rest and reseed next spring.  

Unfortunately our apple trees are still too little to get edible apples so we must be satisfied with pony apples. We are going in two weeks to get four more apple trees and a couple pear trees!  Can't wait to have our little orchard fully mature!!  I'm sure the ponies will benefit from it as well!

It's been a few nice weeks of fall-ish weather here in NC, some hotter than others and many trees are starting to change. We luckily avoided the flooding and other issues further south and east of us. The grass is becoming dormant despite the rains and I'm switching to hay...which means I am now able to get back into the feed room.  Two weeks ago the hay was right up to the door so the ponies had the task of eating our way back into the feed room.

It seems our house and property are unending with projects.  We have discovered mushrooms in our house windowsills so we need to replace our wooden windows, NOW.  The same company is going to put gutters on the barn so we will finally get working on our drainage project.  The shed still needs to be finished too.  We are in it for the long haul so it's good to get all this work done now and we can enjoy it sooner.  Being this is the second house we've owned with wooden and difficult windows to open I'm really excited about vinyl energy saving windows!!!  The ponies are happy and healthy and don't seem to care about any changes we make to our house or property. Fall is a busy time (like summer wasn't?)

I am happy with the weather being much more tolerable for outdoor work, fall has always been my favorite season.  Next summer I will have to just bite the bullet and arise early to avoid riding or working in the heat of midday. Even though I wish I had more time for the ponies I love having a property where they can be in my backyard and I can love on them whenever I desire.  Nickers in the morning is the best way to start my day!