The Grass/Land - Finally, The Monsoon!

Finally, The Monsoon!

The rains did finally come this summer.  It was too late for our hay crop, but it was so nice to see the clouds building every afternoon.  The cooling winds and rain have been such a nice relief.  I don't know if the drought is officially over, but it feels broken to me.  Our fields have greened again at a time of year when  they are often brown. 

The Grass/Land - Putting Up Hay

Putting Up Hay in a BIG Way

The drought was such that there was no hay to cut in our hayfield last year.   We turned the horses out on to  it after the first frost so that they could eat what there was and we could stave off feeding the hay that we had bought.  But feed it we did.  We ran out sometime in April and had to start buying hay by the pick-up load every weekend at retail prices which climbed as high as $18.00 a bale for small bales.  Finally this year's grass came up and we got some relief. 

But it soon became clear, as the grass once again began to head up when it was barely six or seven inches high, that there would be no hay for us to cut again this year. 

The local folks, who liked selling us hay by the pick-up load, assured us that there was no way we could get a semi truck in and out of our tight driveway.  But with a little perseverance and a lot of luck I found a local rancher, with irrigated  hay fields in Colorado and Nebraska, who barn-stored his hay and would bring it in by the semi-load, and stack it in our barn for us. 

His driver was a wizard!  He came in fully loaded through our front pasture, sideways on  the hill and through a narrow gate, and backed up to the barn door.

The whole family was there to help, along with the members of the local high school church youth group.  They arrived at six in the morning.  Some of them were still in their pajamas!  It took them about an hour and a half to unload the semi and then they went off to their day jobs.

This is the biggest single expense to raising horses, even when we cut our own hay, but especially when we have to buy it from someone else. 

We have enough hay to last over a year now, and that is a very nice feeling.  We did eventually get rain.  Not soon enough for this years grass, buy hopefully next year we can cut our own hay again.

The Riding/Training - PJ Tears Her Ear Open

PJ Tears Her Ear Open

 

 

 

PJ has discovered that if she squeezes her  head in between the gatepost and the fence, the hot wire is insulated and won't shock her.  She thought this was a very clever way of getting more grass from the other side of the fence.  She didn't seem to notice that none of the older, more experienced horses used this method.  They apparently hadn't explained to her that there are sometimes nails sticking out in places like that: places where horses heads should not be in the first place.  Well... she found out this weekend... right on cue to be injured for Championships again this year. 

 

But we called the vet, and he drove all the way down from Golden on a Sunday when he had already had three colics, and stitched her up.  She is on antibiotics and should be fine by September 19th. 

 

 

 Has she learned her lesson?  Will she stop sticking her head in places where it doesn't fit?  I doubt it!

The Grass/Land - Weeds or Wildflowers?

 Weeds or Wildflowers?

The recent rains have caused an explosion of weeds in the garden, but also an explosion of wildflowers around the house and barn and along the road to the farm.  Interestingly, they are much the same plants in both locations.  I just think of them as "weeds" in the vegetable garden and as "a wildflower garden" when they pop up in places where a little variation in color and texture is a welcomed punctuation to the now riotous and luxuriant green of our pastures. 

A brushstroke of yellow or purple ...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

What would you call them?   "wildflower gardens" ... or "weed patches" next to the barn and in front of the house?   Whatever you call them, I love them and they won't be pulled or poisoned as long as I have a say!