Snow, Cold...

Gitta and I have taken a break.  I have thrown a lot of new things at her quickly over last 6 weeks so thought to give her time to absorb and just review all the previous work.

We are having lot's of small snow storms and it has been very cold.  This makes more work just with horse and farm care and less time for training anyway. 

I have changed turnout again as I have been worried Cody is not getting enough exercise in the paddock.  So I get more exercise taking Cody up to the top field.  Theo is in the lower field and Gitta and the donkeys are in the paddock.  She is a big fan of the donkeys and all 3 play together and share their hay like BFFs.  Cody seemed much happier tonight when I brought him in.  He did not finish all his hay in the field which means he was busy doing other things during the day in his 2 acre field.  In the small paddock he had not much to do other then eat hay, drink water and hang on the fence.

I brought Gitta and the donkeys in first tonight and Theo decided to go on a tear and was really showing off.  He is taking seriously my instructions to do his homework or Gitta would be getting more points!

Getting ready for each storm is a little time consuming but I am getting enough practice!  The large square bale in the lower field gets covered with a tarp and weighted down with old fence posts.  Small bales need to be taken up to the top field fence line and tarped as well.  All 3 electric water tubs get filled to the top. The barn gates get propped open so the plow can get in.  I put down salt on the sidewalk and the barn apron to help keep things from freezing and melt the snow a bit as it falls.

We are expecting 2 - 6 tonight but I think we are south enough to get just 2.

Tomorrow I leave for the weekend to help MALA (Mid-Atlantic Lipizzan Association), at the Maryland Horse Expo  at Timonium.  It is a vacation for me from the winter farm work.  What they call a busman's holiday.

I am very much needing March 1st to arrive.  12 years with the farm and the winters are getting a bit old.  The adventure wore off last winter with the blizzards and this winter is just a pain in the butt with all the little storms one after the other.  I love this place and am not moving, but boarding out Theo and Gitta each winter and just having the donkey's here and Amy's horse sounds like a good plan.