Summer Days

Summer has arrived and we've been hot and humid this week. In addition to scrubbing and filling water troughs the afternoon ritual now includes water games with the horses. Some of the horses love to be sprayed down with the hose while others seem to take offense to it. Some of them, when I am trying to spray them along their bodies keep re-positioning themselves so the spray will go right in there faces. They will even open their mouths to catch some of the water. I see a lot of the horses hanging out under the trees napping in the afternoons. What I never understand is when I see them standing out in the sun baking themselves, and if they just moved about twenty feet they would be in the shade.

For the most part the horses ignore their nice, big run-in sheds in favor of the trees and wooded areas. However if you are going to see the horses using their sheds this is the time of the year to see it. They don't use their shelters at the same time we would. We would run to the shelter in rain, thunderstorms, cold weather and wind. The only time I see the shelters in anything halfway resembling regular use is in the summer for shade. For the most part though they do tend to prefer the woods over the shelters for shade.

In the colder months I spend a lot of time blanketing and unblanketing the horses. In the warmer months the water troughs need constant attention. The troughs are filled twice a day to make sure the water stays fresh and cool. The troughs are dumped and scrubbed almost every afternoon to keep the gunk out of them.

On another note I can't believe how out of shape I feel after 10 days of being away and not working around the farm! I rode my two girls yesterday, although very lightly, and was going to ride again today. I decided not to after seeing how I felt when I got up this morning! I didn't want to over do things with them and make them sore as well. Isn't it funny how considerate we are to our horses but not to ourselves?

Asterik is one that doesn't like playing water games. Ogie is waiting behind him though and he moves himself around to make sure I get him everywhere.

Traveller loves playing water games and he prefers to have the spray going right at his face while he holds his mouth open

Of course he has to repay my kindness by immediately rolling in the dirt and turning into a brownish gray horse when we're done

Bonnie and Lexi looooove water games. They will spend hours playing in the water trough, putting their front hooves in it, and tipping it over. The cuteness factor of this wore off a long time ago. I have given up hope that they will ever leave the water trough alone. I am sick of constantly having to turn their trough right side up, scrub the dirt out from their hooves, and then re-fill it. During the summer this usually has to be done about three times a day. If anyone has any suggestions on how to stop this I am all ears. I've tried several things to no avail.

The sparrows hatched while we were away

Annie says "where's the beef?" She can joke about that since she is one of our pet cows and has lived here for several years (she was born on the farm)

Buster napping in the shade

Lexi

L-R Asterik, Faune (in the back), Sebastian, Ogie

Elfin was napping and letting the fence hold his head up; mostly what I see when I look at this picture is his mane. I think that it seems like I just pulled his mane a couple of weeks ago and it is already in dire need of being done again.

Bear playing in a puddle after a rainshower. I took this before we left for the beach. I think that was the last time it rained. We tend to get dry in the summer.

MyLight

The Don in mid crow