Checking in

Between snow, mud, and more snow, it's been a depressingly monotonous few weeks here.

I say that knowing full well I'm asking for trouble, so I'll qualify...

It's been a few weeks absent any major disasters on the horse/critter front, and if the same can't be said for all things family-wise, I'm a HUGE fan of dealing with one crisis at a time! So the powers-that-be out there governing stupidity caused wrecks and freak accidents can just feel free to keep right on by-passing us for a while - I'm sure not complaining!

Since I last posted we:

• Farm/dog-sat and did lamb-watch one weekend
  
• Farm/dog-sat and did calf-watch two weekends
  

Of the two, I prefer the calf-watching, although the lambs are a lot more portable and angry ewes are a) less common, and b) easier to evade. Lambs are super cute, but they're tougher to keep alive - although I'm told that's just sheep in general. I think I have some lamb/calf pictures somewhere, but the disk on my camera filled up and I saved them all to a different computer, so no baby pics today.

But our snow has finally mostly gone, the fields are drying up enough to ride on, and yesterday we had sun, reasonable (not gusts to 30+ mph) breezes, and low 60's! It was amazing!

The horses are round, muddy, and in that horrible molting/shedding stage when everything looks dingy, dull, and frazzled. They've had half their vaccinations (4-ways done, rabies and West Nile to go) and their March wormer rotation except for Rufus, who's schedule is synced in with the horses where he's staying. They've all had their feet done but for Rufus, who needs a trim and a re-set.

So of course, who did I ride yesterday but Rufus. T was out of town, so I stole his horse.

He was actually pretty good for having had the whole winter off. A bit of excited dancing as we walked them in, but other than a bit of head-tossing, he was a champ for the majority of our ride. We waded through what felt like a lake's worth of field. (Clear and still, not running water, and known footing underneath. It was never much over mid cannon-bone, so we weren't in any danger of getting swept away.) We had a nice lope across some alfalfa stubble, scared up a few jack rabbits, and then headed home. A lovely afternoon.

Next time, when I have the truck and trailer (T had the truck), it's Sunny's turn!