Coming and going

A new year brings me a number of changes....

First, I went from one, to more horses than I really need to own. One boarder is going closer to her owners home (K & J you will be missed!) which anyone can understand. Little No Name does finally have a name which just cropped up to mind and stuck - Pepper.

Bringing Pepper home is not quite as simple as just finding a haul for him if my husband is out of town. Nope, it means getting the little guy accustomed to our rather frigid temperatures. Which means turn out, with blankets. And eventually turnout into a stall with a small paddock at our local "Horse Hilton" (Bluegrass Equestrian Center) for at least a week to give him time to adjust. And then turnout without blankets.

This has not proven to be an easy thing to accomplish-it does seem as though the temperatures are working against my plans. It was -13 at work today, -6 here this morning. I have just -2 right now, courtesy of a bunch of clouds rolling up the inlet this evening. I fully expect it to be -10 or colder in the am. Sigh. Mother Nature is not being helpful-perhaps she is trying to tell me something?

So last night the BO and I discussed how this can be done, because the truth is, I cannot possibly get over there every day and turn him out myself (darn job anyhow, that boss just insists I show up!) So the plan is to double blanket during the day, large arena turn out, and play it by ear. We are also dropping the midday grain and halting the wet food and feeding him dry rations instead. Hay will remain the same, but honestly this high powered diet, young horse and stall combination is not very good for him. He explodes with pent up energy as soon as possible-and occasionally when he shouldn't. We can't blame the little guy for that-he feels *good* all over and his weight is looking very very good-he still has muscle to replace, but his ribs are well covered now and he's filling out in all the right places. It's pretty much like feeding a 5,000 calorie a day diet to an active child and then insisting he sit still, lol Ain't gonna happen!


I am giving some serious thought to moving old lard butt to the front, and giving Pepper the larger paddock-simply because he needs space to move. Still debating that. When my husband gets home in the next couple of days, I am going to drag him over to see Pepper. I think he will be quite surprised at how far he has come in six weeks. And I promise to take pictures too!