Nothing Going On Here

Status Quo

The weather outside is frightful and had I the fireplace lit, the fire would be delightful.  Still snowy outside, still cold, and today, cold and gray.  Not much sunshine, that's for sure.

I've been giving the Boys lots of hay so they have something to do during the day. Now I am worrying that it's supposed to warm up a bit tomorrow, and then rain and sleet.  My fear is that we will get a coating of ice which could make the footing treacherous. If so, The Boys will have to stay in the barn. That makes twice as much work, more bedding, stall cleaning, and monitoring of water buckets.

But, what will be, will be. The weather is out of my control.  I do have the manure pile by the barn so if worse comes to worse, I can spread that around the front paddock to make a small exercise area.  Trouble is, that just makes more mess to clean up in the spring.

Then again, the forecast seems to hint that temperatures will be moderating a little over the next week or so, which may mean a bit of a thawing trend.

It's really amazing how having horses gets you in tune with the weather. Most non-horse people I know have a different perception about the weather. Driving conditions matter, but not much else. Shovel the walk, get the driveway cleared so you can drive out, and then it's off to work or off to the mall. If the ground freezes, no big deal.  Frozen water tubs. snow banks to the manure pile, carting the hay across the yard, or changing a blanket just don't figure into their equation of life.

Do I have enough hay if there's a storm?  When should I go pick up more feed?  Do I need more bedding?  It's easy enough to go to the convenience store to pick up a bottle of milk or a loaf of bread, but 50 lbs. of fortified horse pellets takes a bit more planning.

So far, this winter hasn't yet beaten me down, but it hasn't been fun.

Here's wishing us all some sunshine.