Pretty, But....

Our newest storm has come and gone, leaving behind some beautiful scenery. What was originally supposed to be 2 to 3 inches off to our west, turned into just a tad under 8 inches here. It was a dry, powdery snow. Not at all like the wet, heavy stuff we usually get when do get any snow at all. Only problem was, late Monday and most of that night we had light freezing rain that compacted the snow and left an 1/8th inch of ice over everything. It has now been three days and we are just now seeing the normal drab, brown grass starting to return to view. The horses have not been happy with the crusty mess at all. Our Boxers loved playing in the snow, but once in crusted over and re-froze, they quickly became obviously tired of having to negotiate through it. As for us, it was pretty, but we are tired of frozen pipes and transporting water. I promise to be a little bit more tolerant of this coming summer's heat.

Global Warming?

Last winter was tough. Overall, it was the coldest winter we could remember in quite some time around here with some periods of bitter cold as well as a six inch snowfall which is an exceptionally rare event in these parts. We lost our entire water system in the barn last winter, due to damage from frozen pipes. This winter has started off to be even worse. December closed out as the coldest on record for this area. We have already had a mild icing event as well as a four inch snow and are now bracing for a new storm late tonight, to be followed by a week of frigid weather. We have taken temporary (and expensive) measures to insure our horses have access to drinkable water but this summer will be spent putting the entire water system underground and installing frost proof hydrant style spigots. We will also be completing our electrical overhaul of the barn which will include underground service to all of our water troughs to allow easy use of trough heaters and/or heated buckets. Hopefully this will be our last winter of ice busting and water toting.

A summer at the Farm

Wonderland Farm, that is. B spent most of the summer working at Wonderland Farm in Leland. She served as one of their horse camp counselors and helped with the day to day workings of the farm. Mike and Karen have a really nice farm with excellent facilities and a love for all things equine. The summer job was terrific for B. She learned alot about caring for horses, equipment and facilities. As the summer wore on, the things she was learning were relected at our own farm as she began keeping our own things better organized and cared for. As a manner of payment for the work they performed, the young ladies working the camp got free lessons. The lessons have already made a marked improvement in B's riding. All in all, this experience has been a huge positive for B and has paid dividends for us as well. Many, many thanks to Mike and Karen for the opportunity.

The 4th and the Firecracker

As we have done for the past several years, the 4th of July weekend was spent in Williamston, NC at the Firecracker Jubilee/Liberty Bell Classic. The Senator Bob Martin Horse Complex in Williamston is a superior venue for an equine event of any sort. Due to limited lessons, practice, the economy, or just plain penny pinching, we submitted a very limited class sheet. Very limited. In fact, B showed in but two classes and C in only one. This was our first trip with our new horse trailer, other than brining it home from Alabama last January. It was a relief to make a trip without having to worry if the left rear brakes were going to melt the tire off the rim due to locking up. Or how many leaks there would be if it rained.


Anyway, I can do a piece on the pros and cons of the old dinosaur at another time. Just suffice it to say that the new trailer was great. Anyway, once again, the results for the weekend were pretty decent (JMO) despite limited practice. C brought home a double 4th place finish in her lone class and B captured a double 4th in one class and a 3rd and 5th split in her other. Again, not a bad outing. With regards to the practice/lesson issue, the current state of the economy, fuel costs, etc. has forced us to begin looking at several options for a closer to home solution.

First Show of '09 Under Our Belt

It was a long time in coming, but we finally got enough clearance on our calendar to actually sneak in a horse show. Our first of 2009. School and travel basketball as well as rec and travel softball have dominated our "free time" since last fall. Friday evening we visited Wonderland Farms for a quick practice warmup. Saturday we kept to a simple class sheet with only four entries. With very little practice or lesson time in recent months, B and Apollo came home with a 3rd, 5th and 6th place finishes out of the four classes. Not too shabby, all things considered.

A Sight Seldom Seen

Anything more than an occasional flurry or a light dusting of snow is a rare event in southeastern North Carolina. Since moving to the farm some three and a half years ago, I cannot recall even an honest dusting. This week we got an legitimate snowfall. We love it, the horses, I think, don't.

Starting Our Arena

After talking about it a lot and dreading it even more, we finally got started on our riding arena. The tractor upgrade and purchase of the PHD attachment will prove to be a lifesaver, I'm sure. Longer range plans will include, hopefully, installation of lighting and running a water line to the arena. Materials will not be a challenge for the project as all of the rails will be constructed from the materials recycled from our stables that we disassembled when we moved to this location. I'm sure my back will give out long before the substantial pile of 2X6's runs out.

Any port in a storm......Not

It has been an unusally dry and typically hot summer for our area. Our annual rain deficet has been gradually increasing each week. The numbers will show we did a lot of catching up today. The truth is, most of it wound up in the river. I was off today, babysitting one of our house horses, Lexi, a 65 pound boxer fresh off of surgery. In the early afternoon I passed off a few distant rumbles of thunder as yet another summer shower that come close but yet so far from our dry pastures. In a surprisingly short period of time we were beset with the most severe thunderstorm we have had in this area in some time. Frequent (and close) lightning, heavy rain and hail prevailed for almost four hours. Under the conditions, it was some time before I could bring myself to wade out to open the barn and bring the horses in to what would surely be a most welcome respit from the unrelenting rain and hail. Whether it was the deafening pounding of the hail on the tin roof or the sensing of my uneasiness, the almost unanimous concensous was the world was a better place out n the storm. The only decenting vote was from Captain, our eldest Walker who was probably confused and beleived it to be dinner time. Soggy, I returned to the house, more convinced than ever that the term 'horse sense' may be a bit overstated.

Coming up to speed....slowly

Never been here, never done this. Bloggin' that is. I'll start things slowly and keep it simple for my own sake, as well as that of anyone who may stumble in here. We are located in the southeastern region of North Carolina. A year and a half ago, we purchased a farm which had been used for horses and donkeys, mostly. Quite a bit of history got us to this point, but I'll work through most of that in forthcoming posts. Although the place was a dream come true for us to purchase, it is a place which is in need of much repair and upgrading (pics forthcoming). At present, we have five horses. Three Tennessee Walkers which are my Wife and Daugther's show horses, a pushy Arabian which has much to learn and a Halflinger who is basically retired in place. Our learning curve for all things horses is still a steep climb. Pasture care has been a focus for this spring and summer as our pastures had been left to their own resources for about two years. Barn renovations, shed recovery and arena construction are the major projects of priority at present. Each has been getting only token attention to date but we have settled for concentrating on the arena as the lack of one is having a detrimental affect on our show training and preparation. That said, the biggest challenge of all is probably that time management has never been one of my strong suits.