Red Pony Farm: A journey in motion

Willie's Hair

Shedding season is in full swing now. Willie started about 3 weeks ago but is now dropping hair like crazy. Willie has Cushings. It has upset the natural "ok you can stop growing hair now" signal in his little brain. So shedding Willie takes literally months to accomplish, since he won't be clipped.

Willie has an issue with things that make noises like clippers, spray bottles, plastic bags, the dentist power tools(I can relate to that one). He just moves away from them,even with enough tranquilizer to almost knock him over, with his 1800 pounds he can make a hole in a barn wall and leave. Willie doesn't see quite as well as he used to and my trying to take pictures up close this morning was not making him real comfortable. Picture 1 on the left was fine. Then I moved in to get a close-up of the hair coat that is still semi attached to him. Of course the camera had to make some whirling and clicking sounds which made Willie head out into the deep snow beyond the path. I turned and walked away a few steps so he could return to his hay. The I turned around towards him to find he was looking at me rather suspiciously. I told him it was just a camera and wouldn't hurt him. I rubbed it on him. But low and behold every time I snapped a picture the darn thing had to make another whirling sound.So Willie and I walked slowly around the little clump of trees where he previously made a path. I took hold of his tail and asked him to stop please. He did. As I started to move around his massive behind,

I stepped off the packed track and sank into a hidden puddle. I'm glad I had hold of his tail, I might have been sitting in it.

 

He finally let me snap a picture up close to his flank. Those are my fingers outstretched disappearing into his hair.

Balls of Willie hair fill up the long fingered rubber groomer and get tossed to the ground. Where they are discovered by nest building birds. This is a picture of a robin from back in Standish carrying a ball of Willie hair. I don't know how he/ she managed to fly with it. But fly she did, presumably back to a nest where some Robin chicks would later hatch onto a very soft foofy bed.

Winter is hanging on

Still nearly 2 feet of snow on the arena. We have had a couple of good rains but with the temps staying at ~30 degrees F each time it doesn't take much snow with it. It gets cold enough at night to make the snow solid enough to walk on. Some days, like the last time I had to drag the hoses out to water it get warm enough to soften up so that I sink to my knees or higher in some spots.

RPF Spring Tip #1

DON'T Wear Lip Gloss to the barn during shedding season!

Happy grooming!

OK, THIS IS the END of the crazy Snow on the Hill Photos

  . . . unless they relate to something useful or interesting. Oh Maybe some photos of other folks animals in the snow or skiing.

This is the only shed I haven't shoveled off yet. It's getting pretty deep up there.

This one I shoveled completely off last Tuesday!

This one I shoveled off Thursday night.

Willie had a couple of inches of snow on his back this morning. most of it tumbled off when he moved his bulk to the feed bucket. He has a shed, but has has so much hair he just doesn't ever care to be in. I put his last round bale in there to encourage him to hang out inside, he popped on it.

My Hay guys had a mix up; One loaded the delivery truck with mulch to go one way and the other thought the first had been nice and loaded it with hay coming to RPF, so hopped in a brought it over while I was at work. He was nice enough to come back and get it pretty quickly when I called and he investigated what had happened- but the Ponies got their first round bale of the season in the mean time. The Fjords just love dirt piles to climb! They are so interesting. Fences are getting really short!

The cabin roof never needs shoveling. Snow slides nicely off the slippery metal roofing. and piles up in front of the porch which is nearly 3 feet off the ground. Yes it's much taller than the truck now. Tomorrows weather calls for 40 degrees Fahrenheit-- Tuesday and Wednesday near 50 degrees and rain. There may be pictures of river flooding coming soon. Oh and the grand babies are coming to build a snow fort with caves and everything tomorrow. There will have to be pictures of that!

I'm going back to church tomorrow. This is a momentous occasion. and not just any Church, the little Free Will Baptist Church around the corner that I grew up in. When I first arrived in Hollis last year Becky Hanson called me to welcome me home and invite me back to church. It felt good! And I have been thinking about it since. It's time. I'll let you know how it goes.

I'm getting so attached to this wild bucking pony! I really didn't want to. She is worried, she is pushy, She is dangerous, she rears and bucks, she is opinionated, she is stand-offish, she is amusing and full of personality,she learns quickly and repeats her lessons with ease, she is bold, she can take care of herself, and I find myself learning just being in her presence. We have little impromptu halter-less training sessions while navigating the very cool labyrinth of paths she created through the snow, as I bring her grain twice a day. She has learned to respect my space. Today I tested her patience by stopping, setting the grain bucket down, getting my camera out of its pouch, taking off one glove and trying to get a picture of how high the snow is beside the path we are on. As I bent over to point the camera at our legs she reached from the spot where she now knows she needs to stand behind me and lightly tickled my back with her upper lip. She once in the beginning took a good solid bite at my back while following me to her feed bucket. She didn't much care for the outcome. She went to just trying to push me over or run me down. That didn't work so well for her either. Now she knows her limits and though she still needs to let me know she has an opinion she is respectful. I respect her immensely for that! I turned around and snapped this photo of her today:

She has begun to speak to me. Did it take her four months to decide that I was worthy?

Or did I just start listening?

It's still Winter on Lithos

More february Snow

Not cold enough to make them Seek shelter. Only 3 of 6 sleep inside on their dry shavings at night.

The tractor couldn't get through last night to get this round bale all the way into the shed. We will have a snow blower next season.

The fence between Willie and Lucy is getting short again! We were close to bare ground before February came with all its snow. I moved the lower strand to the top. I'm as high as I can go on the T-post now.

100 gallon water tank. The ice layer on the top actually insulate the tank. Descending layers of ice are thinner.

Scooping snow out of the ponies feed dish is becoming a morning ritual this month.

Note: I have been waiting to speak to a particular trainer about a question I am answering. I will give up tonight and just post what I have. So check back.

Coldest night so far this season

It was -10 Fahrenheit on lithos this morning.

Can anyone tell me why the manure piles pop off the packed snow / ground so much easier at -10 than they do at +25? I find it fascinating--but I'm odd, and I chip up lots of little poop piles from the snow each winter keeping the areas around the sheds clean and neat.

The pony's and Lucy all wore blankets to bed last night. 4 of 6 slept outside near as I can tell from the indents in the snow versus packed spots in the shavings. There was a mild wind at 6 but at 10:30PM when I fed last the air was calm and it was just below 0 F. The night was lovely and the stars seemed so big and many were sparkling like diamonds with the colors of a light prism. I love the night sky in winter. I feed up to 1/2 bale more per horse on night like that (grain stays the same).

One of the pony's has been coughing since Saturday morning. She is not off her feed nor behaving any differently. I have taken her temp each day and she has no fever. But the coughing continues. The Vet is coming Friday morning.

News Bulletin:

This weekend I will be interviewing several horses and their care givers for an article: Wintering Horses in Maine. One of them is a 40 year old Retired Competitive Trail Horse.

Breaking Ice

I've added a new category. Wintering horses in Maine. This means two things. 1) I have to now go through my posts and find relevant ones to assign to it. 2) I need write at least a couple of posts about it. Sunday may be another stormy day and good for writing and organizing posts. Watering without heaters is one thing that I am dealing with at the moment. So I'll post on that:

I hope to not be dealing with it all winter. We have gotten and stayed cold earlier that last year by at least a month and I worry that the horses are not drinking as much when the water temperature is so cold.

I have 100 gallon tubs for water. Two of these service separate paddocks (1/2 on either side of the hot rope fences pictured here). It actually helps reduce the thickness of the ice layers when I maintain just face sized holes as the horses drink. The ground beneath the tubs is not frozen yet so no ice is forming on the bottom so far this fact makes getting the ice out to refill the tubs a Little easier. This picture was taken a couple of weeks ago. I have to carry a hammer with me now to break the ice. I have one layer in the one of the tubs that is over 2 inches thick. We have been dipping into the single digits Fahrenheit every night and only into the 20s during the day. So I break ice 3 times to let them drink. Every night I tell them, "Drink soon and drink often of you'll be waiting till morning". Last winter K the original bucking pony  would use her hoof to break a hole. I saw her do it many times. She wasn't nearly as neat and tidy about it as I am, but she waited for no one to arrange her drink for her as the other do.