The Rhythm of the Day

Yesterday morning, a white haired man and his wife were walking their dog up the dirt road behind the pasture where I was picking up manure.  The man says to me: " Do you pick up manure every day?"
I replied, "Twice a day."
"Really? That seems like a lot of work."
I explained that it controls the flies.  He noted the funny masks the horses were wearing -- "those are fly masks; they keep the flies out of the horse's eyes."
He asked if we rode the horses often.  I laughed.  "Not as much as we would like."

During the late summer, we start chores at 6:30 when the sun comes up.  By the time we finish, it is too hot to ride.  We could ride first, but by the time we finished riding, it would be beyond miserably hot doing chores.  This is not an uncommon temperature during the summer here -- and we hadn't even hit our high for the day yet when I took this picture.

The first priority of the day is barn chores.  Together, we can knock them out in about an hour in the morning and again in the evening.  Alone, it takes much longer.

In the morning, we open the henhouse and feed the chickens scraps.  We add a scoop of chicken feed to the hanging feeder and check their water.  Right now, I am also shoveling out 10-20 scoops of bedding from the henhouse.  Once it is cleaned out, I will add in fresh shavings for the winter.  Cleaning out the henhouse is a hot, dusty, stinky job.

Next, Kersey is fed her breakfast and we make up the horses' vitamin bins, with a few carrots on top.

The trash can contains vitamin pellets.  On the table: a foil bag with Lucy's joint supplement and a small container of her thyroid meds, Flash's arthritis pain supplement, Psyllium to prevent sand colic, Buggzo for the flies, and syrup to mix with bute and other nasty tasting meds.  (not required for Lucy but appreciated by Flash and a must for Jackson)

Lucy gets a joint supplement and Thyroid medication

All the horses get the bug supplement

I carry three out to the oak pasture while Brett loads up the hay cart and heads to the boys' pasture.  Lucy is waiting for me at the gate with Jackson standing close behind.  Pistol stands further back and waits until Lucy is busy eating her bucket before coming over to get hers.  While the horses eat their buckets, I put on their fly masks, and then grab the muck cart and rake.

While I am getting the girls set up and mucking their pasture, Brett does the same with Mufasa and Flash.  He also feeds hay to all the horses, the donkeys and the goats.

Horse hay to the left; donkey and goat hay (not as rich) to the right.

After finishing up in the oak pasture -- a full wheelbarrow of manure twice a day -- I go back to the barn and wash the horses' vitamin buckets.

Then we have breakfast.  Today and yesterday, the sun was already beating down before we finished. With triple digit heat in the forecast, we won't be riding today.

In the evening, we repeat the same process minus the vitamin buckets.  We do not grain our horses; we feed just hay and vitamins.  They are all either retired or in light work, and are all easy keepers.

This Place is Hard Work

I didn't expect to have a difficult time taking care of the barn chores while Brett was recovering from his knee replacement surgery.  After all, we've done this before -- five years ago when he had the other knee replaced.

Five buckets of supplements for the horses; filled and toted out to the their pastures.

Of course, at that time we lived on 2+ acres; now we have eight.  The animal count was similar although we've added a couple more horses to the mix; they get older; they retire; it happens.  So now there are five horses instead of three.  But, still two miniature donkeys and four goats, chickens and a dog.

The goats need hay and water.

The days are hot; the goats seek the shade and it takes three trips with a bucket to refill their water every evening.

Another difference is the division of labor.  Down in SoCal I telecommuted two to three days per week.  The days that I was home, we shared the feeding and mucking chores.  Even on the days I went into the office, I was able to shift my hours to avoid traffic -- and allow for chore time.  My new job does not involve telecommuting.  I am in the office Mon-Fri from 8-5.  There are occasions when I work from home -- such as when it snows -- but I am normally at the office; a 50 min commute from home.  So, I'm typically gone from 7am until 6pm.  And, typically, Brett does all the chores during the week.  I help on the weekends, of course, but my mucking muscles were not very well developed and hay slinging skills were non-existent.

Hay; they all want hay; horses, donkeys and goats.  

I took on the job of total ranch care on Monday when Brett had his surgery.  Monday and Tuesday, I took vacation days.  The rest of the week, I worked from home so I could assist Brett.  By Wednesday evening, I thought I was going to die from fatigue.  But Thursday, I started hitting my stride; feeling stronger as I slung manure into the cart and pushed it up the compost pile to dump.  For all three pastures.  The smallest pasture is twice the size of the one we had all the horses and donkeys in down south.  It's a lot of ground to cover.  And in the late afternoon/early evening when the temperatures are in the 90s... its pure misery.

 

The mare's pasture gets a lot of sun; the worst one to muck in the afternoons and evenings.

The donkey pasture; fortunately this one is pretty shady in the afternoon.

The boy's pasture; nice and shady with many oaks and pines but, oh, so dusty.

Friday, Brett was getting around well enough that I was able to go directly outside and start working instead of first getting him settled on the couch with the ice machine.  I even had time to ride!  It was short; just 20 minutes, but it felt great.  And I did all the barn chores afterwards with no trouble.  Next week, its back to regular office hours although I will getting in closer to 9am to give me time to do the chores.  I timed myself on Friday and I think I can do it.  All of it.  I'm feeling very studly and proud of myself.

And don't forget the chickens.  They need to be let out into their run and given any scraps

from last night's dinner.

Even Kersey gets exercise.  I make her leave her comfy crate and come with me.  She dragged herself around the first few days but she's getting more energetic now; sticking her nose down squirrel holes and sniffing along the fence while I work.

Happy Fix

Going down to the barn in the grey of dawn before the sun peaks over the mountain, while the fog hangs in the orchard and frost covers the barn roof, isn't the most exciting proposition when I open my eyes in the morning. But, really, it is a wonderful thing.  I put on my jacket, my muck boots and my gloves and head outside.  Sedona and Kersey meet me outside the garage door.

The dogs are happiness incarnate.  Sedona smiles from ear to ear with her tail doing a slow wag.  She stands with one paw on my foot and leans into me for attention.  And more attention.  Kersey runs in a piggly wiggly squirming panting blur around us.  As I start down the walkway into the orchard, they race ahead of me, checking on the chickens (safe in their pen) and looking for squirrel holes.  I stop at the chicken pen and dump the contents of my pail of scraps for them.  They attack the pear core, apple peel and extra waffles from yesterday's breakfast.

As I reach the barn, I see Jackson standing in his turnout with his head over the fence, watching me.  His ears are pricked forward, his eyes are bright, and he is happy to see me.  I call out a good morning to him as I step into the rabbit pen.  They are waiting for me, front paws resting on the block that serves as their breakfast counter.  I scatter a handful of treats on the cement block and they go to town, climbing over each other and the block in their eagerness to snag the choice pieces of dried fruit. 

Then it's into the barn.  Jackson and Flash both have their heads out their stall doors watching me head to the feed room where I will prepare their buckets of vitamins.  I stop and kiss Jackson on the soft spot at the base of his ear.  Normally, he has a wonderful horsey smell but this morning he just smells like the manure he uses as a pillow.  Yech.  The cat pokes her head over the top of her bed as I go into the feed room, and stretches.  She won't actually get out of bed until I'm done with chores and have taken the dogs back up to the house. 

When I take Jackson's bucket into his stall, he nudges me with his head towards his grain bin.  Flash is even ruder.  The minute his apple rolls out of the bucket into his bin, he dives down and grabs a bite of apple.  I haven't even finished pouring out the contents. 

Moving right along, I push the hay cart into the pasture.  It's been pre-loaded the night before with flakes of hay by Brett so I don't have to mess with the hay shed (guaranteed to bring on an allergy attack).  Flash comes out first, being the alpha horse.  Jackson follows doing his snakey head while trotting.  The donkeys move in to eat out of the last bin.  Kalvin is waiting at the gate of his paddock, already chewing and licking his lips.  No one loves hay more than Kalvin.

Mucking is a long process.  I have to sift through the straw in Jackson's stall and find the piles of manure he has hidden there.  Flash was a good boy and only pooped in his turnout.  Three cart fulls later, I am done. 

The dogs know the routine and are waiting for me, laying in the grass, next to the barn.  We walk back to the house.  After feeding them, I go to the goat area and open their shed.  They pour out, baa-ing in excitement, and scatter.  Bella and Bear go to the feeder and start in on the hay.  Whiskey and Cowboy walk around eating leaves.  Thistle touches noses with me before going over to the hay feeder.

Isn't that a happy way to start the day?  I am so fortunate to be surrounded by animals who love life and who share that joie de vivre with me.  It's contagious.  I am smiling when I leave for work.

Tonight, I made us a simple dinner when I got home.  It was dark and late and I was tired.  I pan fried some trout, roasted a couple tomatoes and warmed some bread.  And poured us each a glass of wine.  Of course.

Life is good.  Very, very good.

Morning Chores: August

Thank you to everyone who commented on my last post.  It really helped me a lot to get the feedback and I feel much better about my decision to put pads on Jackson.  Lori asked if it was a stone bruise or something else.  Initially when this whole thing started in March, we thought it was an abscess.  Then we thought it was a stone bruise.  After extensive testing and time, we have come to the conclusion that he has road (concussion) laminitis.  It isn't acute at this point which is a blessing.  There is no rotation or sinking of the coffin bone.  But the laminae are inflamed and every time he is ridden or plays on hard ground, it flares up again.  He has always had crummy feet -- brittle hooves and thin soles.  My farrier is confident we can make him comfortable enough for trail.  We will start with leather pads and work up from there as indicated. 

This post is supposed to be about morning chores, though, so come along~

First, I let the dogs out so they can play while we feed.

First stop, the orchard stump.  Kersey has been jumping up here for love from me since she was a pup.  She's not allowed to jump on me but this gets her up close and personal for scritches and scratches.

Next stop the chicken pen with the bucket of scraps from last night's dinner (acorn squash and salad).

While I'm feeding the chickens, Kersey catches up to Brett. 

No stump required.

Back for more.

Sedona is more interested in the cats hiding under the hay shed.

Next, feeding the rabbits their morning snack.

Rocky is first to the table.  Always.

Not in a hurry.  Resting on the hutch roof.

Jackson gets his hug.  He's watching me... he wants a hug from everyone.

Jackson lost this shoe.  He took pieces of his hoof wall with it.  Farrier will be here Friday.

In the meantime, I tried to put his EasyBoot on.  It no longer fits.   Our farrier has worked hard to widen Jackson's little feet.  I guess he was successful. 

Good grief Kersey!  More love???

My job: mucking

Brett's job: feeding (I'm allergic to hay, I'd rather muck)

Hay?  Did someone say hay?

Hurry up with that hay cart!

Tuffy makes sure Brett didn't drop any hay.  A donkey can always hope.

Kalvin is a good eater.

While Brett sweeps out the barn aisle, I take the dogs up for breakfast. 

Kersey: Breakfast?  Did someone say food??

Sedona: I'll be there in a minute.  I have to check this squirrel hole first.

Ahhhhhhhhh, water.

Sedona eats her breakfast laying down, in a very ladylike fashion.

Kersey is the exact opposite. 

Next I head over to the goats.  Brett will meet me when he's done sweeping the barn.

...or not.  Gave me a heart attack anyway.  Stupid stick.

Bella and Bear jump out the second the top of the door is opened.  The others wait patiently for us to remove the bottom screen.

Whiskey heads straight for the hay

The others are interested in the aspen tree twig I picked.

Bella wants to jump out and follow us back to the house.  Brett says no.

Bella says yes.

Guess who won?

Chores are done.  Time for my coffee!!