New friend and forever home

This is my friend Bunny, meeting her new horse for the first time.  It was love at first sight.   I have been along "for the ride" while she looks recently, having lost her previous "horse partner" to old age, she has been horse-less for the first time in over 40 years.  Although we have looked at some very fine horses, THIS was the one.  He is a 9 year old Quarter Horse gelding that is trained in western riding.  He has good feet, nice balanced bone structure and is a complete gentleman - all of that with pizzaz and eagerness to move out.  I took  several photographs, and each time I raised the camera and clicked, he POSED.   Someone wants to be a parade horse.......   We go to pick him up tomorrow.

A week of more sub -30C weather

It is a good thing that when the thermometer dips below -30C, that there is typically no wind.  Not the smoke from the wood cookstove is wafting straight up - Bob is in there warming things up, note that I am NOT.  This morning I had flash frozen fingers while watering the horses....

Harley the Wonder Dog even tried to piddle on the porch columns in preference to going for our planned walk.... this was averted but he shows the displeasure in his face.  By the time we finished our chores and came in to warm up, he already had frosted frozen eyelashes (as I did too!).

Out and In

The horses and Princess are treated to some small bales of hay with a little tasty alfalfa when it is very cold, this in addition to their free choice supply of large bales in the feeders at the background.   A couple of days left and they will be refilled, hopefully at a little warmer temperatures for the tractor operator (Bob) and gate/twine handler (me). I have to hurry when I give them their hot mash suppers every day so that they are still warm when they get into their stalls to eat it.  Not a bad life for a horse in the winter!

Although the horses are fluffed up and not shivering at all, George (left) and Ivan (right) snuggle together for maximum warmth.   It appears that they feel we are being too frugal with the heat?

Plunging to -35C

Sure enough, La Ninja temperatures arrived through Saturday evening to give us -35C on Sunday morning, the cold point of the year to date.   The trees in the forest are snapping with the cold, this majestic old and spreading oak is next to where I am making my manure pile from cleaning the barn and paddock.   It will nicely compost away from direct contact with the tree and may help to promote some strong acorn growth for the next generation.  

Window and door trim

We add white pine trim to the interior sides and bottoms of the windows and sides of the doors in the log walls.  The top is dressed temporarily with a strip of neutral colored canvas, this covers the "sausage roll" of insulation, vapor barrier and Tuck Tape sealing, which is held in place by a settling boards that are periodically narrowed to accommodate the log wall compression.  Over the first five to six years, we can expect 6% or 5-1/2 to 6 inches of reduction in the height of the log wall. After this period, we can permanently fill and cover the top gap areas of the windows and doors in the log walls.  Now to finish sanding and staining these areas....

Frosty Morgan mare

Angie (short for Angara Tranquility) is normally bay in color, but is frosted at the tips for the season.  She has just had her hooves trimmed and is visiting from nibbling hay to see if I have any horse treats in my pocket.  This is a likely bet, since I usually carry pelleted hemp seed pellets for just such encounters.  Following doing some yielding to touch or signal, she earns a treat.   Angie is a Morgan and so a very "easy keeper"- the hemp (not the hallucinogenic variety) is a healthy treat because it is tasty plus contains no sugar and is packed with omega 3 and 6 oils.  Even Harley the Wonder Dog likes them (maybe just because he sees that the horses like them?).

Re-opening the snow machine trail

Maurice drops by on the groomer to notify us that he has reopened the snow machine trail.   This is great news and a sign that the local (and "resident") ski trails will soon be ready for gliding as well.

Snow arrives - better late than never

 Finally some snow arrives this week, mid January but better late than not at all.

New snow and morning chill create a mantle of glitter and heavenly shafts of sunlight.

Brrrrrrr..... dipping to less than -20C at night!

This week we used the tractor to move some small bales of hay to the new barn so that we could store large round bales in the available sea container space.   We picked up two loads of four bales each, giving us eight big bales and so for this time of year, about eight weeks of feed for the ponies.  That should take us through the first week of March.   While the freezing weather holds, we will free up a little more space within a month - then we can pick up eight more bales, taking us through to early May when it is less muddy.

Princess comes for a drink of warm water, she is normally solid black with a tiny white star on her forehead - this morning she is tipped with white frost all over.   Happy as a clam and warm under all that fur.   The bucket holds 16 quarts and although it needs topping up three times a day from the freeze proof hydrant, it only consumes 260 watts of energy.  All in all a good investment to prevent dehydration and colic trouble!

Brilliant sky and white birches

 There is something ethereal about the sunlight from a brilliant blue sky, filtering through white birch onto white snow.   Harley the Wonder Dog waits while I commune with the "standing people.

Equally lovely is the pink and blue evening sky through the maple and ash trees.   A symphony for the eyes, vision is indeed a gift.

Toy retrieval - for Mago naturally

The three Morgans (Angie, Belle and Mago in the foreground) are pictured with Princess, the Shetland Pony (on the left).  They watch me with Harley on toy patrol - retrieving Mago's balls and throwing them back into the paddock.   He also has a big blue ball that he kicks around, it had to be pushed back in the paddock too, along with sticks that he throws against the fence.  Hopefully the future will bring constructive harnessing of this creative energy.   The big blue ball was purchased from a zoo supply place and is meant for lions, tigers and rhinoceros...... or Mago.....

Harley looks into the ridge which protects the paddock and house from the westerly winds.

What a difference a day makes

 The day after New Year's brings snow and a group of bachelor bucks, six in all.  They brush away sections of snow to enjoy the green grass underneath.

Harley the Wonder Dog squeezes his nose against the door glass and wheezing breaths, not able to understand why he cannot smell those bucks.  He remained quiet so that I could take my photos.

New Year's Day melt

 New Year's Day 2011 brings the melting of the little snow that had accumulated.

The putting green (septic bed) behind the house looks almost ready for golf clubs and a few practice swings.   The warm sun causes the mist to rise in ghostly wisps along the trail that leads to the lake.

Mago comes for a visit, he does not seem to mind the mild weather.

Finishing Princess's stall

Bob is shown giving Princess a treat while she enjoys a hot mash supper and explores her new pony stall.  Mago feels left out and offers his dish to be filled with treats.  He really caught on quickly to the notion of retrieving things for a positive response from his human friends.

Mago's Christmas wreath

Mago wears his own Christmas wreath, noticing that it is a tasty transportable feature.   Now that he has finished growing (after being rescued several years ago) and that he has a clean bill of health from both the vet and equine chiropractor - we'll start putting miles on him under saddle.  I think that he would enjoy going in the annual Community Days parade in July - that is our objective!

Christmas tidings from the fur gang

 Harley the Wonder Dog reluctantly masquerades as a reindeer.

 Mago, the ever busy Morgan gelding, enthusiastically hands us a stocking in the hopes that Santa will fill it with apples and carrots.

George rests after playing in his favorite thing, Christmas paper.  

Preparation for Christmas

 It is the week before Christmas and technically the close of fall, we prepare for the season by putting up colored lights, Harley the Wonder Dog stands by in the foreground.

Instead of cutting down a tree, we elected to decorate the permanent tree shape in the future living room area.  Perhaps this will become an ongoing tradition, by next year with more greenery and tree-like look.

Horses settle in

 Belle is shown visiting as she settles into the new barn.  This is the loafing area, which they share for snoozing in the sun or sheltering for inclement weather.   There is a bucket of loose free choice Buckeye Grass Plus mineral on the wall, alongside it is an iodized salt lick.   The footing in the area outside the barn and the run-in area is pea gravel, the BEST footing for high performance barefoot trimming - it massages and toughens the feet and has been shown to be chosen by lamanitic horses in research work by Dr. Bowker (U of Michigan) and Pete Ramey (www.hoofrehab.com)

Bob gave the stalls a "ranchy" look by putting  elbow braces on the stalls and installing the nameplates.  Princess's stall remains to be built.   Note the snow coming down!