Then set up the hay outside under the shed roof.
As the horses finish their grain I let them out of their stalls.
I'm done Mom....let me out!
On Saturdays and Sundays Gary helps me....cleaning stalls, doing water...dumping wheelbarrows.
OK, I'm out here....where are we today?
I opened the gate to the back pasture...
They go on a different one each day....(there are 3 choices).
Then, I picked the pasture they were in yesterday....
Not a piece of manure in site.
When all the horses are out, it's time to finish cleaning the stalls.
Had to throw down some hay from the loft to the feed room.
Time to sweep out the feed room....
and set up the beet pulp for the night feeding.
I have a little tv and radio in the feed room....listen to the Today Show in the morning and news at night.
sweep the aisle....
and clean out the buckets that Target and Pony had their hay cubes in....
Gary empties the wheel barrows....
The horses are in the pasture and chowing.
Back in the house...had a glass of OJ and a piece of multi grain toast with PB and J.
At 10:20 Darrin and I loaded up Abbe and headed out to Glen Darach Farm for a lesson.
Kathy P. was there with her mini (Eldorado).
When I got Abbe off the trailer, instead of leading her, I line drove her into the indoor. She was ok....not great.
She was really off today and we tried to figure out why. The reins were sticking on the green pad under the saddle....so we removed it to see if it made a difference. I don't like the saddle directly on her....she was falling in, falling out, messing with her head...and some of the time would not walk on when asked. Needless to say, she was not hooked. Very discouraging as I need some driving time.
We took her home, and at 2 Darrin had a lesson with Winnie. We are still trying to find a saddle that fits properly.
I let them try my cotton pad, the Mattes pad and my Albion Dressage Saddle (below). The fit was good for Darrin and his position, but only ok for Winnie.
She did not seem bothered by it, but it's not quite right. What are we to do????
This is a very sweet horse. Andrea recommended riding her with a hackamore and will continue to give them lessons.
These are some of the gardens outside of the horse barn (Glen Darach).
At 4:30 I called Roger and Tina to see if they had started making dinner. We were supposed to go out with them the night of the tornado warnings and didn't make it.
Tonight we went to Carlton's Four Seasons Restaurant. A beautiful evening and we all had very tasty meals.
Starting to get dark when we left. A full day. I am going out to put the horses in...it's 10:44.
Night All!
You sure pack a lot into a day. I love how organized your barn is. And everything looks so clean. I also like the pasture setup. I wanted my pasture split in two ever since we moved in here so I could rotate but couldn't get it done so I have to pull them completely off pasture and put them in the dirt paddock every other week to try and grow the grass out again. Right now I can here the vinyl fence creaking as they try to reach underneath it to get at the pasture grass.
ReplyDeleteMy day is so very similar to yours, with the big exception being that I only have two big animals to tend. But, that being said, my routine is quite similar, and I am able to finish my barn chores in about half the time it takes you. I don't know if I could keep up to six or more horses a day. My hat is off to you!
ReplyDeletePhoebe is beginning to look like a winner after seeing what sweet Gucci did to defenseless froggy.
ReplyDeleteYou work area is a hoot with TV amd radio...you didn't mention wireless access??
O.K. and in the Army I thought we did alot before 10am, you got me beat by a mile..:-)
ReplyDeleteYou do an enormous amount of work to care for your horses. You seem to be very efficient and are quite the role model.
ReplyDelete