Sunday, October 31, 2010

Blankets and Visitors

As always Jason and I were not looking for things to do this weekend. We had fun visiting with MyLight's people and Wiz's owner over the weekend. As always I think Bear gets as much attention as any of the horses. I say it over and over on here but we have been so fortunate over the years to attract both wonderful horses and wonderful people to the farm. We're truly blessed.

My other them of the weekend was blankets. It feels weird to be thinking about blankets when it is in the high 70's and sunny outside but unfortunately we can't enjoy that weather 365 days per year. All of the blankets were sent out for cleaning and repairs and they have been piled up in a mound in the barn for three weeks. It was starting to look pretty redneck around here so it was time to address the pile. I've been remarking names, spraying on more waterproofing for any blanket I feel might be questionable in that department and then distributing blankets to their various storage locations. I'm now two thirds of the way through this project and hopefully will be done in a couple more days.

I hope everyone had a great weekend!

Hoffy, Chance, Ivan and Apollo waiting for the farrier
Traveller was having fun on the gravel pile
Noble, Spike and O'Reilly
Lightening and Teddy
Winston, Chimano and Romeo
Darby and Ogie coming for breakfast very early one morning
Harmony and Missy having some quiet time
Sebastian, Gus and Asterik (apparently you had to be a somewhat dirty gray horse to be in this picture)
Justin trotting through the pasture with Bella
Maisie and MyLight hanging out nose to tail in the shade
Cinnamon and Bonnie waiting for breakfast

8 comments:

cheyenne jones said...

All ways a pleasure to look at these pics!

Anonymous said...

And I think dealing with my few blankets is a pain! Maisie's tail is sure looking nice!

EvenSong said...

Is that the new barn in the first photo? Looking good!
Is it still just the "big boys" that have moved? What's your timeline for the rest? I hope you're not going to have to deal with both locations over the winter...

Melissa-ParadigmFarms said...

EvenSong, that is the new barn and for now the big boys are the only ones there but that will be changing shortly. And although I complain about cold weather we don't really have much "winter" here. To me anything under 55 degrees qualifies as winter though . . .

Vivian, Apollo's Mom said...

The new barn looks beautiful! we will be up there soon after the middle of the month. I will let you know. I can't wait to see Apollo!

Gunner said...

This is way "off topic" for today, but still within the area of horse care - horse feeding habits are always "on topic" in their minds!
We have two old "gummie" Arab mares aged 30 and 32. They look great on full rations of Equine Senior mash twice a day with a couple of handfuls Timothy Chop thrown in. With a lifetime of dental care there are not enough teeth to manage hay or grass. My concern is the long hours between evening and morning feed...do you have more colic problems with your gummies since their stomachs are empty so much longer than the grazers? Ideas?
Thanks

Valentino said...

Melissa-

What do you use for waterproofing spray?

I have heard that regular old hardware store spray was just as good as specialty horse brands and more affordable...

Thanks :)

Melissa-ParadigmFarms said...

Gunner if we have a horse who truly cannot eat any grass or hay they get more than two feedings per day so I can't answer your question from the perspective of just 2 feedings. If it is at all possible I would give at least a third feeding of well soaked hay cubes (even toothless ones in our experience can eat cubes no problem if they are WELL soaked) or chopped hay or dengie or something.

Valentino I have used Aqua Armor, Nikwax, Camp Dry and Thompson's Water Seal. They all get the job done but honestly the Thompson's works best. I guess the big ding against it is over time it can damage the fabric but that doesn't really matter to me. If the blanket is in perfect shape but not waterproof it is useless here anyway. I prefer to get a few more years of use out of the blanket then throw one away that is fine except it has lost some/all of the waterproofing. That said this year I used Aqua Armor on them which is what I used last year.

If I have a blanket that has really lost pretty much all of the waterproofing I will use the Thompson's, it seems to be the only option that really works at that point.