Guess I will be labeling this the BUSY SUMMER for future conversations. Seems like we are on the run, doing jobs that “can’t wait” every day! My bonus time from getting hay in early has evaporated.
Husband has been getting his horses worked at least a few days a week. Need to get in some more distance work to improve breathing and recovery times. This week and last do not look very good on into terrible, for air quality. Haze has been very visible, warnings to stay inside, bring pets in. Not much can be done for the horses in the barns designed for lots of air flow! They did a lot of standing last week as he was gone. I put the fans on them with the high temps, humidity has gone from almost zero to higher than 70%, sweat just stands on my skin.
He got home yesterday, driving north thru the bad storms. Got to drive them today. Second outing with the different carriage. This Pair dislikes the very light dressage vehicle with the spring-loaded pole. Just never settle, despite making suggested pole changes. So after driving them to the 1280# hunting break we got in Feb, he decided “weight is not a factor” in their ability to do as requested. This got him thinking that they have no issues pulling the marathon carriage, so maybe a carriage we had in the shed might be more to their liking. We got it out and he cleaned it up, serviced the wheels and brake system. Had to get some new brake parts, it has been a LONG time since we used it last. I was thinking of selling it because we didn’t use it! Then we harnessed up the horses, put the carriage behind and adjusted traces for the long pole, added pole straps. He took them out in the arena for a while, then down the road to cool down walking. He thought they liked the carriage! He drove them with it again tonight, says they seem quite happy with it, nice body bends, no slack traces. Ding, ding, ding!! Sounds like we FINALLY have a winner that suits them! What a long road to learn this it has been. Anyone need a nice, light weight Pairs carriage? The future Pair may like that one, probably should keep it a while yet. Husband is very happy that horses appear happy and much more cooperative now.
With the nice rain, I went ahead and mowed pastures. This is so roots send up new shoots, instead of supporting old grass stems. A lot of the grass (Timothy I think) has gone to seed, has dried up stalks, so probably gone until we get a LOT more rain. The “other” green stuff looks fairly good. Plantain is very healthy! Ha ha I just keep moving the horses around the pastures to prevent overgrazing. Being out only 12 hours helps with that. Darned greenheads are already here, biting when we bring horses in each AM.
We had a couple Club Drives in June, which were fun driving and socializing. One at a member’s farm which is horse oriented. Amazing dressage arena, horses about bounced on the turf! Drove there a couple times, with good movements as requested. They also had a cones course set up that we enjoyed going thru. Horses liked it too! Finally got a perfect zig-zag, no balls down and fairly tight to the wheels!! All this and amazing trails to view the lovely scsnery! A very fun day.
The second drive was a the local State Park, on a lovely day. Went down some roads and trails, met polite hikers and bike riders. It was a bit hilly so they got sweaty. We went out twice, both before and after the potluck lunch. Nice to visit with other driving friends. Temps were moderate with low humidity, almost no flies! That was a pleasant surprise on both drives.
Finally got my smaller tractor back from the shop after a haying time issue. YAY!! No more shoveling sawdust!! I kissed Katy Kubota on the hood, so glad she is back! Supposedly the lights are fixed with wiring repair, new switch. They found a LOT of sawdust under the dashboard, probably from piling up the loose sawdust in the bin after delivery. We have always blown out the engine, radiator screen, right after putting it away. We never knew sawdust powder could get in under the dashboard too! Will have to find the opening it is going into, so we can blow that out again. Not a good thing for tractor.
Went to visit the mare in riding training. She is making good progress, slow but understanding all she is asked. A bit dull to the leg, but not resentful if spurs are used. Her first trainer wanted mare less reactive to inexperienced rider surprises. Saw some very nice bending, relaxed canter work in both directions. Very nice to watch and think “How cool is that, on OUR horse?!”
Hope everyone is getting in some relaxing driving time.
