Spring ... not Vermont's best season

I've been waiting with an increasing sense of desperation for the warm temperatures of spring. Once the snow melts in our neck of the woods, especially when we've had a bunch of it as we did this winter, the mud sets in. And unless the temperatures warm up, the muds stays ... and stays ... and stays. We're at that stage now. There have been a couple of warm days scattered here and there over the last few weeks, but for the most part we've had lots of rain, gray skies, cold days and even some sleet (today).

Due to the weather, the horses have had some stretches indoors, which I completely understand; I certainly don't want them tearing around in the mud and hurting themselves, and the horses and I are definitely in agreement that we want the grass to grow. Right now, when they do go out, they're being turned out on the low end of the paddock area, which tends to stay the muddiest. The paddocks on the higher end of the slope are being saved so that the grass can come in.

Yesterday the sun was shining so I took off from work a few hours early to enjoy the blue skies and relatively warm (50 degrees) weather. I rode Dude out to the outdoor arena with barn owner Julie on her horse Sky, and it was really pleasant. The path to the outdoor was fairly dry, and it was super nice to feel the sunshine and see everything greening up.

Then today we woke up to the sleet and wind. Yuck. I went to the barn mid-afternoon to take care of Dude and Bestie. There were two jumping lessons going on so I couldn't get them into the indoor for a roll, and because of the wet weather the path to the outdoor (and likely the outdoor arena itself) was really muddy. Our options were pretty much limited to grazing along the path. It was fairly windy, and Dude was hyper sensitive to every little bang of the barn door, so I didn't stay out with him too long. There's not enough grass to distract him from being crazy, and after his third leap sideways I decided to save my right arm from further yanking and marched him back into the barn. He pranced the whole way, snorting at all the invisible scary things outside. Sigh.

Bestie was fine when I took her outdoors, so she hit the jackpot - a walk up to the top of the ridge where there's a patch of growing grass, and a graze for about 20 minutes. She definitely was on alert with the wind, but she seems to process stuff more than Dude, who goes into reactive "the mountain lion's after me" mode. Bestie heard the banging sounds, looked up, and I could see her determine that it was the arena door. Splashing and clunking? Just a car coming down the road. No drama. Love it.

Ahhhhhhhhhh

That was today ... an ahhhhhhh day! Sunny, temps in the 50s, just one of those days after a l-o-n-g winter when you feel GOOD to be outside. Unfortunately, the fields are a mess with mud, so the horses didn't get their own ahhhh moment. Too bad, because I had left both of them unblanketed, and they would've enjoyed a nice muddy roll.

I decided to ride Dude, who was very fidgety on the cross ties. It didn't help that the hay cart was making its way through the aisle. Our ride didn't start out too well. While I was tightening his girth outside the barn he moved, one rein slipped down, and he stepped on it and snapped the leather up by the bit. Sigh. I took him back in and changed him into Bestie's bridle. Then we headed down the road, only to meet Scary Man with a Chainsaw working in a yard about two houses down. Dude was having nothing to do with that; in fact, he spun and headed in the other direction.

The good news was that as we pranced by the barn, another boarder came out with her horse and we headed out together, which pacified Dude quite a bit. Considering he hasn't been ridden since December, he was really very good. He had a few little spooks at random things, but nothing major.

The only sort of unsettling portion of the ride occurred as we approached our turn-around spot. We had decided to turn around at a property that has goats, horses, and miniature donkeys. I had just finished filling in my riding partner with details about Dude's unfortunate past history with miniature donkeys (he tried to attack one at a show; can't remember if I've written about that debacle) when the goats came running up to the fence. Dude was definitely eyeballing them nervously. Luckily the donkeys were not in a pasture with road frontage; they were set back in another field (thank goodness for small favors). And they didn't bray, which is what provoked Dude in the first donkey incident. Apart from some nervous snorting and a significantly quickened pace, he tolerated the goats fairly well. I'm pretty sure he wouldn't have made it by there if we hadn't been with another horse with a "Goats, so what?" attitude. Or he would've made it by, but not in a way that would've kept me in the saddle :)

The nice thing was that all of the vehicle traffic that passed us was very respectful and slowed way down. I'm always so grateful for that, especially because it doesn't always happen. All in all, it was a really fun ride. I haven't been on either horse in so long, and this was a great way to start the spring season.

Blankie shopping

Back to talking blankies; actually, turnout sheets. I feel like I go through this every year about this time ... in winter the temperatures usually stay cold enough that the horses don't get wet - the snow might collect on their turnout sheets but it is generally easily brushed off and doesn't soak through. But now that we're moving into spring, it's become very clear that the waterproofing on the turnout sheets is shot. This is actually round two (and maybe even round three) of waterproofing, because I've had these sheets at least four years and have sprayed each at least twice with tent waterproofer after the original waterproofing seemed to wear off.

So I've been combing the catalogs, looking at "denier" and weighing closed versus open front, and of course the all important thing ... color. Is there a perfect turnout? Everyone seems to have their favorites. I really prefer the turnout sheets over the insulated turnouts because our barn is warm - I like being able to get that top layer off of them when they're inside in the winter, but still leave a layer on.

I was told in a tack store that the higher the denier, the more durable and waterproof the sheet is. Both Dude and Bestie need waterproof horsey wear, since they're out all day (although not when it's absolutely pouring) and when the weather is cool I don't like them to get wet. And Dude needs durability since his friends like to goof around with the blankies - he's got a tail flap on one sheet with a row of bite marks neatly imprinted along the edge, and a few little nibble holes on the rump section of the sheet that are bound to become bigger. I'm leaning toward Rider sheets for both of them: Bestie's first sheet was a Rider and it lasted well, in fact, she still wears it as a back-up when her main turnout is in the wash. So, 1200 denier for Bestie in a cute girly plaid, 1680 denier for Dude in a no-nonsense masculine gray/forest green combo. The pages in the catalog are folded down, ready for the call to place the order tomorrow. Whew ... I feel like I've spent an awful lot of time thinking about this. Fingers crossed that they're in stock!

Learning experiences

I had a conversation yesterday with a girl whose horse has been experiencing lameness issues for quite a while now. She said a recent diagnosis indicated that the lameness would be a continuing problem, and that surgery was possible but would be expensive and might not be successful. Her family opted not to do the surgery and to try to find him a good home to hang out at. She has owned the horse for less than a year; I could only imagine the disappointment that she must be feeling.

It made me think of the trying times - big and small - that we've experienced with horses over the years. Buster, Katie's first lease horse, was sent back to the farm he'd come from when the stable we were riding at decided they couldn't use him. It was a sudden decision, we were not informed until the last minute, and he was basically loaded on the trailer immediately after she had a lesson on him, and off he went. Lots of tears of disappointment after that event (and a private vow by Horse Mom never to be at the mercy of someone else through a lease!).

There was Dude's hip injury. A prognosis that a year's time off would heal the injury, which for the kid meant an adjustment in plans, with no show season for two seasons, lots of hand walking, lots of time doing the care end of things.

Then there were the little things. Like the horse deciding to act up in a class, the horse losing a shoe right before a show, the horse going lame before a show.

In thinking about these situations, I considered how much my kids learned through all of these experiences, and really, how wonderful it was as a parent to watch that learning process, even though it was disappointing or heart-breaking at times. Compassion, responsibility, patience, flexibility, leadership, and invaluable "people skills" developed through interaction with other horse-crazy kids, and adults in their roles as boarders, barn managers, trainers, farriers and veterinarians.

While it was sad news about the horse in our barn, I definitely admired his young owner's ability to talk knowledgeably and confidently about her horse's condition and the plan the family had been considering for him.

Spring? Winter? Make up your mind, Mother Nature!

It's been one of those weeks. We started off with a H-U-G-E snowstorm that blew in over Sunday and Monday, depositing about two feet of snow in many northern Vermont areas. Welcome to March! Then we had beautiful crisp, blue skies on Tuesday and Wednesday, blustery winds on Thursday and Friday, sprinkles on Saturday, and rain/sleety snow on Sunday.

The horses were in on Saturday and Sunday due to the rain; the temps had dropped back into the low 30s and it was kind of messy. Not that either said, "Hey, thank you for thinking of how chilled we might get standing out in that freezing drizzle." Uh, nope. Both Dude and Bestie looked at me pretty darn expectantly when I arrived at the barn Saturday and today. I think the message they were trying to send was more like, "There's been a terrible miscommunication, we've been stuck in our stalls all day, and we want you to make it right."

My "making it right" involved letting each of them roll and wander around the indoor for several minutes. Not too exciting. But the roads are slippery mud and the path through the paddocks is ankle deep in slush, so we didn't have a lot of options. Luckily, having that roll and strolling around the indoor seems to take the edge off. That, and a flake of hay upon return to their stalls.

Play time with the ponies

The horses didn't go outside today because of the weather. I actually missed the worst of it because we had gone to Boston for a hockey game. Apparently it rained here in the morning, and then right about the time we were heading back north, the rain turned over to snow. Now the forecasters are calling for anywhere from 13 to 30 inches! (This is a bit hard to take because it was 60 degrees in Boston!)

After we got home I went to the barn to check on the horses. No one was around, which was great because the indoor arena was empty and I could let them (one at a time) drop and roll and walk around.

I always find it kind of funny to watch them with this opportunity. Dude's routine is to roll first thing, then get up all full of himself and prance around for a bit. Next he'll try to get me to play with him by trotting up and sort of tossing his head around and looking at me expectantly. What he thinks I'll do, I don't know. He doesn't really recognize personal space too well, so I always shoo him away, telling him, "You're way too big to play with." After about 15 minutes of wandering about and sniffing things in the arena he gets bored and goes to stand by the door to wait for me to put his halter on and take him back to the barn.

Bestie wanders around sniffing the ground, looking for the perfect spot to roll. She's a much more leisurely roller than Dude is, and when she's done she stands up and looks at me for the next step. A lot of times if I start walking, she'll walk right alongside me like she's on a lead rope. It's hard to get her to romp around like Dude does.

The short walk from the side barn door to the indoor arena was pretty soupy with about 6 inches of snow and water running underneath the snow. With temperatures in the 40s earlier in the weekend and the rain, there's some flooding going on in the area. I'll be surprised if the horses go out tomorrow - things need to firm up a bit. Can't really complain though; they've only missed two days of turnout this winter - that's got to be some sort of record.

Day off ... earlier arrival at the barn

I took today off from work and boy was it nice getting to the barn in the sunshine, after a week of arriving in the dark. Never mind the fact that it was 19 degrees, it was still nice seeing the sun. The horses had recently come in from outside and were quite occupied with eating their hay. Well, except for the horses like Bestie who seemed to have vacuumed it down already.

I pulled her out of her stall to groom her first since Dude was still eating. I had good intentions of riding him (had the insulated pants and everything), but when I looked outside, the path down through the paddocks seemed to only go as far as the last paddock. The snow is probably a good two feet deep and pretty challenging to plow through. And it was getting a bit too close for comfort to the end-of-the-workday traffic surge for me to feel good about venturing out on the road. If I had gotten there about a half hour earlier I could've headed out with a couple other riders; bummer.

So instead we had a leisurely grooming session. They are both shedding quite a bit, so much so that the curry collects a mat of hair that can be pulled off in a solid clump. Hard to believe they're losing that much hair, because it has been pretty cold. But now's about the time of year when we start feeling the sun more and don't get as many of days in the single digits or low teens (yay!).

Not working tomorrow either, and looking forward to another day of more time with the ponies.