Whoa baby, it's cold out there!

Oh my gosh, never ever complain about snow, ice, or winds. The bottom has dropped out here the past few days! This morning I had -9 :( It's -4 right now and of course will drop overnight too.

Horses are good, they are all full of themselves, anxious for meals and blowing off excess energy. I suppose it says something about my Alaska horsekeeping skills when I go to the barn and 50% of the horses (okay, there is only four there right now, lol) go bat poo nutso on me....running, bucking hard, charging around, flinging their heads and snorting. Add in the squeal, spin and kick out and you get the idea you have a barn full of rank horses-but nope, they are just happy to see the "Food Goddess" arrive.

That would be me. With sizeable beet pulp mash in my hands.

Of course, I weenie-ed out and actually drove the 400 feet to the barn tonight, instead of using shank's mare like normal ;) Good boots, check. Beaver hat, check. Fancy schmancy North Slope type coat, check. Insulated bandit headgear for face-check. Super duper insulated gloves, check.

Over 80 pounds of hay put out tonight, doubled salt in the mash that everyone got-you just have to do this sort of stuff when it gets cold. My hub asked-do we need to go put on blankets? (Which are buried in an unlikely location and difficult to get to without daylight) and I said nope, not a one of them is shivering. Not a one has a clamped tail. Not a one has a hunched back.

No, they aren't cold if they are playing around, being horses at feeding time. A warm mash (taken out of house at 150 degrees but cooled by the time the feed pans are served), extra salt, and lots and lots of hay-that's what makes for the plump horses I have up there.

Of course, any wind at below zero temps and they'd ALL have blankets on-I won't tolerate a horse being miserable.

I am sure thankful I have the "munchie" hay on hand that I do....it doesn't weigh much on a per bale or flake basis, but that's okay.........I can put out a quarter to half a baleand not worry about it. It's low protien, mixed grasses....a perfect mix to feed out when the temps get severe.