Signs of Spring

For horse owners, a real sign of spring is when the pastures are once again able to support the horses. I got the call from Tim this weekend that he was discontinuing hay and that the horses would be on pasture until next fall.

The horses are very happy with that decision! Tim has moved them into two separate pastures that have been recently connected.

He has an ingenious way of rotating horses through the northwest pasture, the northeast pasture, the nursery paddock, the new barn paddock, the southwest pasture, and finally, the southeast paddock. 

Go here to see a satellite tour of the property. 

Using a gate system that he devised, the horses have always been within fencing during a pasture rotation except for when they were put into the southeast paddock.

It was disconnected from the others and the horses had to be haltered and led into it rather than simply opening a gate and letting them walk in by themselves.

Not any more. Last fall Tim fenced in a connecting lane between the new barn paddock and the southeast paddock, expanding the size of the southeast paddock at the same time by enclosing part of the lawn around the new barn.

The blue lines show how the new barn paddock (top rectangle) is connected with the southeast paddock (bottom rectangle) by a tunnel alonside the new barn that leads into a new pasture area which then leads into the southeast paddock. (Ignore the red pin and circle.)

The horses are able to walk back and forth between the two now and no longer do we have to halter them to move them.

Having the horses there made my visit yesterday much easier than it has been for a while. The horses were close by where I always park and I didn't have to call them all the way up from the northern pastures. (Or hike out to them.)

Sultanna gazes out from the connecting lane to the new pasture that's been added from the lane to the southeast paddock.

I visited with the horses and then decided to do a "mama check" on Suntanna. She is due to foal in early May.

A good way to tell when foaling is getting close is if the mare is bagging up. (The udder begins to fill with milk.)

Things still looked pretty normal, but then, she's not due for a few more weeks.

When we finished visiting, the horses meandered down the lane and then out into the southeast paddock.

I think they like being able to walk back and forth through the lane. And I am glad that every time Tim rotates pastures, everyone is safely enclosed throughout the process. Win-win!

Bonus Spring Video

Last night after dinner, Craig and I were sitting on the patio with the dogs and enjoying the weather. The Wabash River is just through the woods on the other side of our neighborhood, and that woods is very old and chock full of wildlife. Listen to the spring peepers in them! (Also sometimes called tree frogs because they live in trees.) They were so loud last night!