it’s 94 right now, the A/C is laboring…
I know I will curse myself for looking forward to cooling off.
No surprise here; we’ve had a colder than usual summer, very humid and with El Nino level rainfall throughout. My August pastures resemble a normal June, and I’m still watching everyone like a hawk for signs of incipient laminitis.
Several of our retirees shedded their winter coats only to immediately regrow half that amount again in June; a number of the others were shedding their summer coats by the end of July and with the nights in the low 50’s we’ve been having are already perking up their appetites and putting on weight for winter.
One of my dogs is losing her undercoat for the 2nd time, too!
The geese and other migratory birds are already packing up to go, it’s blowing SE and ugly down by the water, and the sycamores are already turning golden. And to crown all, saw the first Woolly Bear Caterpillar yesterday! :eek:
But this year it can knock itself out snowing–I’ve got my own front-end loader! 
Hum… the Farmer’s Almanac also predicted “near normal” precipitation for California for the 2013-2014 winter - yet we had the driest year ever recorded.
I wouldn’t hang the for sale signs quiet yet 
My mare started shedding well before solstice this year - what ever that means!
This year I am boarding at a place with great drainage and an indoor.
I moved from the mountains, where fallen trees, mud slides, flooded roads and power outages are part of winter - to “the city”
SO I hope it rains in biblical proportions!
Almanac says the drought will continue - and they said we would get rain last year. I hope it continues to be wrong.
You are wrong. It’s going to be a blissfully mild winter!
WRONG
WRONG
WRONG
WRONGWRONGWRONGWRONG!
LaLaLaLaLaLaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!
runs away screaming
Mine is HOME, so I don’t care. As long as we have a FEL, snowblower, heated buckets, winter hay supply and a pallet of bedding, winter is a piece of cake. 
I’ll be more worried about the one at the boarding barn without a heated bucket in his stall.
But its going to be a beautiful mild winter here in MD. Really. REALLY!
My guy has also been shedding since July (we’re in the northeast). Thank goodness I just bought him a heavy blanket and neck cover. After last winter I wanted to be prepared early…I repeat Affirmed comment: f**k
[QUOTE=Ibex;7726313]
I dunno. We had a couple days last year when the even the local indoors froze! Of course, we also rode outside most of the rest of the winter <ducks from heavy objects hurled in the direction of the PNW> :winkgrin:
We’re in the Fraser Valley and the horses have been shedding like crazy :no:.[/QUOTE]
See I can deal with the sounds of that. I just don’t want to deal with -40C and feets of snow.
And yes I did notice a few horses shedding like crazy out in the Fraser.
Not helped by todays weather in southern ALberta it is a whopping 10C and pouring rain all day! Brr.
P.
I am a northerner transplanted in VA. The weather wouldn’t normally bother me but I didn’t move to VA for winter weather. Having said that, last winter I was in the deep throws of Lyme. So I did tons and tons of computer stuff and indoor stuff when I wasn’t stomping around in the snow. Didn’t mind the weather that much.
Now if I buy that new horse, I might have to give in and go south for a little bit. Not sure if that is good or bad–old, lame horses would have to stay at home.
Absolutely not! I.am.putting.my.foot.DOWN.
DO YOU HEAR ME MOTHER NATURE?
NO FRIGGIN ARTIC WEATHER PLEASE.
Im due December 21. I need a mild winter to manage the barn with a new baby.
Please please please Mother Nature, have mercy on us this year. You can kick our asses next winter and i promise, I wont complain.
So glad we traded up to the tractor with heated cab last fall. Bring it on.
I just moved to a heated barn … that might have been a good idea.
Although I notice Florida is above average, and I have family there, so I may be paying them an extra visit or two!
I saw geese flying south this morning. The crickets have been chirping for three weeks (usually come in September), and the black, biting flies have been around for two weeks (also September). Boo, hiss, cry.
This fall’s weather predictions:
We have four seasons in Vermont: This winter, middle of winter, next winter and mud season. Winter just happens.
Regardless of how the winter ends up, I’m thankful to have a barn full of hay.
But didn’t the almanac also call for a very hot stinky summer? And meanwhile in mike’s and my neighborhood, we have had only two (2) 90 degree days so far this august… (Not that i am complaining at all…)
That almanac is full of crap! A few years ago my friend and I bought theater tickets in Nov. for a show in Brooklyn starring Alan Rickman in Feb. Normally we never buy far in advance, but we wanted good seats and checked the almanac to be sure of the weather, just for the heck of it. It was supposed to be nice. Instead, it was an ice storm. No one could drive anywhere, the trains weren’t running into NYC—it was awful!! Theater wouldn’t exchange or refund our tickets so we both lost $74.
However…my horse is shedding so much hair, it’s like his springtime shedding.
NO! La la la I can’t hear you!
Put my last horse down this spring and decided to not get another one even though I have plenty of pasture, time and money to care for one. Gave back to his owner the companion retiree, Puzzle, that I had for 3 yrs for my guy but go over every day to take care of him as her farm is less than 5 minutes away. I’ve told his owner that she gets him back come winter. Have very much missed the daily barn chores but every time I think about bringing Puzzle back and finding a companion for him I’m reminded of last winter and realize my horse did me a favor when I had to put him to sleep. No more miserable winters of heating water and filling buckets and emptying buckets. No more shoveling a path through the snow from the barn to the manure dumpster. No more snowblowing in front of the stalls so the horses can get out and having to handshovel what the snow blower wasn’t able to get!
Yes, I’ll still have to snowblow the driveway and some areas on the lawn for the dog to do her business and keep the generator and heat pump shoveled out, but compared to last yr, I’m certain it won’t be as bad as last winter.
While I wasn’t crazy about the much higher than normal heating bills, I know I can afford it especially since I don’t have to buy hay, grain and bedding and have the vet out for all the problems the horses manage to get into. :yes: I’m only 5 minutes from our little village so getting out to get groceries shouldn’t be a problem.
But those of you with possibly another bad winter to deal with, I will keep you in my thoughts and hope for your sake the Farmer’s Almanac is wrong. :yes: :yes:
