Muddy Mares Who Rodeo

Yesterday when I arrived at the barn, the herd was galloping around, circling each other, snaking in and out and around. Clearly they were playing, although I gasped when I saw Two Socks rear up and then Abby and Sultanna kick up their heels and buck. (For the most part, Hokey ignored them, although he was in the middle of all that circling and did shake his head at the girls a time or two.)

I grabbed my camera as I got out of the car, hoping to catch the action and then send it to Tim (who is on a cruise with Loni) along with a cheeky note about how "the herd is fine, nothing happening here, don't worry about a thing."

Abby's head snapped around as she realized I was there, and she came storming up, slowing to a trot as she rounded the corner and hit some ankle deep mud.

If you turn your volume up, you can hear her softly nickering to me as she approaches. She talks to me a lot, something that never fails to make my heart melt. (Sharp eyed readers may notice the head bobbing for a few beats as she slogs through the mud. That can be an indicator of lameness but I checked her out and she is fine.)

Sultanna and Two Socks followed Abby up a few moments later and crowded her at the gate, still snorty from their little rodeo and hoping for some attention.

Rodeo? Whatever do you mean? We are cool as cucumbers.

That didn't last very long!

I am not sure what caused that little rodeo I witnessed. Sometimes when there is a loud noise from the agribusiness next door, that startles them into galloping around and kicking up their heels, but the place was calm and quiet. Perhaps they sensed the coming storm and the change in barometric pressure and were reacting? 

Whatever the cause, I enjoyed watching them have some fun together.

And later, to see my Christmas lights shining under the first layer of snow as it began falling after dark.

A sales post will be coming around 10:00 this morning. Stay 'tooned!

Not Even Gonna Try

It's taken a while, but the ground is drying out despite all the snow melt and then heavy rains we have had. There is still some standing water in the lane to the trough, but it's almost drained away.

Abby looks good - from a distance.

And from head on, she looks fine. But when she turns to the side,

you can see that this girl has been wallowing in the mud.

Trouble and Hokey roll at times, but not like Abby. I know that if I were to knock that mud off her, she'd just go wallow again, so I am not even gonna try.

Ah, the joys of spring and horse ownership!

Melting, Mud, and Meteorological Spring

We've had a warm up here in western Indiana and the snow is finally melting away.

Take a look at the high drift on the left side of the new barn. See it piled up almost to the roof?

It's still there but it's disappearing. I couldn't get into the barn through either of the doors there so I had to go in through the lounge door off the veranda at the front of the barn.

Melting snow means that you have squishy ground and lots of mud.

I'm not fond of mud, but I am glad that our heavy snow is melting and that I can once again visit with the horses instead of doing a drive by and trying to gauge how Abby is from the road.

I hopped puddles and muddy spots and was able to walk out to the west pasture where Abby, Hokey, and Trouble are.

She was so glad to see me and munch on her peppermints.

What a muddy mess she was! Tim has always joked about her fondness for rolling in the mud and calls mud her "spa."

Looks like Trouble and Hokey tried out the spa, too.

Sultanna is still over at the blue barn keeping Diablo company.

She'd been rolling in the mud, too.

Diablo came over to say hello while I was chatting with Sultanna. Another one who had a bit of a spa day!

Astronomical spring is March 20 but I prefer to follow the meteorological seasons and meteorological spring starts today, March 1.

Happy first day of spring everbody, mud and all!

Feeding Time/Crazy Time

There was a big hay shortage in Indiana last fall and horse owners everywhere were scrambling to find enough to fill their barns as winter approached. With four round bales left and more stored in the hay mow of the old barn, we are in good shape, but we are still being careful as spring unfolds and the pastures begin to green up.

Tim says we will be okay until the pastures can support the horses again, but since Sultanna is also in foal, Tim has begun giving a small amount of grain to the horses. A week ago or so, he told me that I could go ahead and put some out for them when I was out, too.

It's a mix of oats and pellets, and Tim told me to just spread a few handfuls for each horse on the ground along the lane to the water trough where it is dry and grassy.

Clearly, the horses like getting grain - they were in the far corner of the northwest pasture when we rolled in by the new barn, but the entire herd thundered up when they saw our car. (Lisa and her dogs, Millie and Molly, came with me.)

Trouble, Diablo, Abby, Sultanna, and Hokey lined up and ready to eat. Millie on the left, Lisa, and Molly.

 Hokey eyes the feed pan of grain I have carried out.

Chow time!

With spring finally here, the grass is greening up but there have been heavy rains and so the lane is a muddy mess. I am a little surprised that Abby is not muddier than she is - she loves rolling.

 Millie has been out to the barn many times, so we took her leash off and let her explore. 

 Awww! Just like her mama! Lisa is my horsey child. 

She's got that "I am in my happy place" smile that all horse lovers get when we are around horses. And we need our happy places right now.

What with the risk of getting COVID-19, I have been staying at home for over two weeks now - I'm not even going to the grocery!  The barn is a different story. Tim is the only other person out there and since we go out at different times, our paths rarely cross and there is little to no risk of exposure. 

You can bet that I am grateful for this bit of normalcy during a very crazy (and scary)  time. 

A Cold, Dreary Day for a Visit

Tim has been in Arizona all week and I have been doing the daily barn checks (something I am very happy to do.) Even on a day when the temperature is 35, it's raining a very cold rain, and there is melting snow and mud everywhere, my heart is at the barn.

This morning I chose to alter my usual route and drive past Hadley Lake, a kettle lake  just a mile or two from my home.

There is a bald eagles' nest that I like to watch. (You can see it as the upside down triangle in the tall tree mid left.) Right now, the eagles are working on the nest and should begin laying eggs in just a few weeks.

Abby saw my car arrive and she came up from the far west pasture to visit and to get a nice, long drink. There's nothing like fresh water in the tank!

See what I mean about the mud? But better this than when the mud freezes and you have deep holes that the horses have to negotiate. They don't like to walk on that and neither do I. 

 Sultanna and Diablo came up to say hello, but I just gave them cursory pats and got back in my car as I filled the trough. That rain was so cold!

Abby got a little sassy and showed Sultanna her place but then let her drink. To my surprise, she also pinned her ears at Diablo, and Diablo backed off. Diablo has been the herd alpha for years; have things changed? I'm going to keep an eye on that. 

I made sure that Trouble and Hokey were doing okay, walked through the new barn to be sure no pipes had broken and that everything was in place as it should be, and then headed home.

A little horse therapy goes a long way on a cold and dreary day!

Muddy Waters, Muddy Field, Muddy Girl

Last week's -18 temperatures are gone and we hit 55 yesterday. Nearly every last bit of snow has melted away and the mud and puddles are everywhere. Everything looks so bleak and dreary and just plain UGH.

Yesterday I went out to check on Abby and as usual, she came right up when I called. But first, even though she was already encrusted with mud, she had a good roll and added more goo to her coat. (Girl, I am not petting you anywhere there is fresh mud!)

And then, she stopped for a drink.

Oh, Abby! Really? Could you not walk over to the stock tank and drink? I just checked it, and it is full of clean water and ice-free! (The puddle is bigger than it looks - she is uphill from me and so the camera angle doesn't show it well.)

I did have to laugh as I saw the ring of clean hair encircling her tail like a donut ring.

Good grief, she even put her head back as she rolled and got the mud almost to the tips of her ears! Perhaps there are some porcine genes in that mare. She's not just rolling, she's wallowing!

I did end up getting some goo on my hands during our visit, but there's a bathroom in the new barn and I keep wet wipes in my car for situations like this. Not that I like winter, but I hope that things will freeze again to get rid of all that mud.

Sneak peek for tomorrow's blog post...

 Nancy Kelly's latest book!

Mud

Winter thus far has been a bust in my part of Indiana. Every snowstorm seems to split in two and go north and south of us. Or, we get heavy rains and warm weather. Last winter we had record breaking cold; this winter we are having record breaking warmth!

And all that makes for mud, mud, and more mud.

That can make Abby think a bit about coming to visit with me when I call her up.

 "Me? Walk through all that mud for a peppermint?? I just don't know..."

She always comes, though, carefully picking her way along the very edges of the lanes and pathways between the pastures to get to me.

 Peppermints, apples, carrots, pears, even leftover candy corn from Halloween all make it worth slogging through a bit of mud to get a treat.

Besides, the evidence shows that Miss Can't-Get-My-Hooves-Muddy is rolling to her heart's content every day!

More Fun at the Spa

Late in the afternoon today I cut up some carrots and an apple and headed out to the barn for a visit with my girl. 

The herd was lined up at the main gate, but as I counted noses, one horse was missing - Trouble.

 I'd seen Tim's car parked in front of the new barn, so I assumed Trouble was with him.

I was right - Tim had saddled up his favorite boy and had headed out on the trails. I got a quick snap of them on the far edge of the hay field just before they disappeared into the woods.

Hokey, Trouble's best buddy, was missing his friend.

He visited with me a short while, and then walked away and called to Trouble a few times.

Abby had been giving herself spa treatments in the squishy spring mud.

 She rolls daily year-round, but seems to especially relish the mud.

I'd thought I might brush her down, but she was absolutely encrusted. Plus, I knew she'd simply go roll again as soon as I finished, so I let it be.

She enjoyed her carrots and apples, hung out with me for a while, and then it was time for me to leave. I may not ride any more, but you don't have to ride to enjoy horses. I find them wonderful companion animals and so barn visits, with or without mud, are highlights for me. 

Mud Bath

Um, mom? I, er, need to tell you something.

 I decided to have a little fun today.

 It was a sunny day and the pasture was drying out.

I just couldn't resist that last mud puddle. You'll brush it out of my coat, right?

Muddy December

The weather in Indiana has been dreary this December - cold, overcast, rainy. Not much fun to be outside. 

The horses are faring well despite the damp chill, and yesterday when I arrived, they were out in the north pasture grazing.

I usually whistle for them, but they saw me and came up without being called.

 Diablo, as usual, led the herd.

 Trouble and Persuasion were coming, too, but where was Hokey? I found him later - he'd wandered over to the west pasture by himself.

 Would you give a candy cane to this muddy mare?

 And what is it that she is always sticking out her tongue??

 "Please, please, PLEASE may I have a candy cane?"

There's that tongue again. Look at the mud on her muzzle!

Abby ate a couple of candy canes before I headed back to the warmth of the barn and car - it was chilly! 

Abby left gifts for Tim in his barn workshop. Hope we get some snow so he can hook up that sleigh in the background!