Spring is always a nice time of year. Along with the fall season spring also tends to be a very busy time of year for us. All of a sudden all of those projects we were putting off until the weather was nice . . . well that excuse is no longer valid these days. In the next week I need to body clip my usual suspects. I always like to start with Lily and get the big clip job out of the way first so one day in the very near future Lily and I will be having a date with the clippers. Last year it got so warm so fast I had to start clipping in late March, so I am hoping some of the big jobs will go a little more quickly since the horses have had some more shedding time.
Another project that I need to do is to sort through all of the blankets and relabel all of them. They get sorted and separated into two piles: those that just need to be cleaned and those that need cleaning and repair. I'm sure that doesn't seem like it should be such a hard job but when you need to relabel and closely examine well over 100 blankets that takes awhile. It is no secret how much I dislike handling dirty horse blankets and as such this is not a job that I eagerly anticipate.
Jason already had to get all of the various lawnmowers and weedeaters ready and they have been in regular use for a month now. Next up will be getting the bushhog ready to go and doing the spring service on the tractors and utility vehicles. Jason will log plenty of hours on the tractor mowing the pastures and spraying for weeds.
Every year at some point in the spring the horses begin to ignore the hay in their hay feeders. That started happening last week. This means we get to add another job to the list of spring jobs, cleaning out the hay feeders. This is another job I don't really enjoy. We do this a couple of times during hay feeding season as well. This is one of those jobs where it is impossible not to get dirty. Someone has to stand the big hay feeders on their side and roll them out of the way while the other person uses the front end loader on the tractor to push the old hay out and add it to the compost piles. Whether you are on the tractor or the one manhandling the hay feeders it is guaranteed that you will be covered in hay. It can be a perfectly still day without a hint of wind, but as soon as we start this job it is a sure bet that the wind will start whipping things around.
These are just a few of the glamorous spring jobs that will be occupying our time these days. With the exception of schlepping all of the dirty horse blankets around I really don't mind any of them. And I would rather be sorting through dirty horse blankets deciding what needs to be repaired than dragging them around putting them on the horses, so even that job has it's silver lining! I hope all of you are enjoying your spring jobs as well!
____________________________________
Cuffie and Norman are All Pony, All The Time
Homer and Moe
Jason being the Pied Piper and leading the way in; he is carrying a feedbag for enticement. Now that the grass is going strong we have to beg the horses to come at meal times.
Sebastian, Africa, Lighty, Johnny, Sam and Wiz
Baby and Tony
Clayton surveyed his kingdom while Stormy grazed
Noble, Lightening and Thor
B-Rad and Alex
Posts
5 comments:
Not a blade of grass here! Still too cold and we need heat!!
Glad you're clipping Lily and not me . . .
And blankets - yuck - I'm dreading dealing with mine and I only have less than 10 to deal with - Princess Dawn has a large wardrobe of 4 different weight blankets and sheets, since she's always cold . . .
At least spring chores mean the end of a long and chilly winter!
That is a lot of chores that don't sound like much fun!
I am wondering about something: I read your post about clipping Lily the Yak last year. Quite a job. My friend's horse, who is borderline Cushingoid, is as bad if not worse. I have tried to help her clip him and it didn't go very well, largely because he was so dirty. Friend is not big on giving baths (worries about the horses getting cold) and having to bathe, wait for horse to dry and then clip is a two-day project. I saw that you clipped Lily wet - well, I had NO idea that was even possible! I guess it works, though, because Lily looked great afterwards. I will report this to my friend and maybe things will go better next time!
Still not a lot of grass growth here but the horses are starting to move away from the hay feeders.
I "only" have 4 turnout blankets, 2 coolers, a Baker and a stable blanket to clean/repair and I'm still putting it off!
As for the rest of spring chores...they are going well, except we started seedlings way too early. I did them 2 weeks later than the last 2 years and we are still re-starting everything. My forsythia still hasn't bloomed!
Post a Comment