Blue And Remy

Blue's new halter fell apart so he went without one for awhile. He didn't mind at all:

Remy's new halter has been perfect, and looked good on him when he came out of the barn to greet the morning:

Blue was hanging out with the cows when I snapped this photo:

And minutes later, he was eating hay with them:

I don't understand why both little horses like the waste hay so much:

Blue seems to be getting fatter and his hooves were bothering him, so I had the farrier come trim both horses' hooves. He told me that their hooves are much improved and should be in fine shape by spring, at which time I'll have to start the battle with the grazing muzzles again:

The farrier said that Remy's hooves are totally healed and the vet said he is in perfect condition:

"Who me? Perfect? I always knew it was true:"

Some mornings I come into the barn and find both boys sleeping indoors on the soft hay:

Sometimes the hay isn't so soft, though, if they happen to lie down on frozen manure:

And sometimes they come inside during a winter storm:

I had just put out a new hay bale when I took this picture and Remy was watching me:

Blue And Remy Stage A Rebellion

Remy and Blue have had to wear grazing muzzles since I discovered they were developing the hoof malady called founder, caused by eating too much lush, green grass:

They got to stay out on the pasture each day, but the muzzles slowed down their consumption:

Each evening I would rattle some feed pans and call them into the barn for a tiny bit of grain. Then I'd close the door and remove their muzzles, locking them inside with hay and water for the night:

Not surprisingly, they never liked the muzzles and became experts and wriggling out of them. I put cow collars on the horses and fastened the muzzles to the cow collars:

We had a period of relative calm, when all went well and both horses came into the barn with their muzzles still on each night - and their hooves began to look much improved:

Thanks to a suggestion from a blog reader, I tied yellow flagging ribbon to each side of their muzzles so I could see from my back door if they still had them on or not:

They managed to enlarge the holes in the front of their muzzles, allowing them to eat too much grass too rapidly, and they also began to wriggle out of them again. I spent many hours searching for the shucked muzzles:

And then they no longer came to the barn when called. They ignored me, so I had to walk out into the field, hook a lead on them and then bring them back to the barn each evening:

One night I found them at the extreme far end of the south field, in a section of pasture with more inedible Sedge than grass. A few cows were with them, and I got the idea that good grass was becoming scarce:

Remy let me put a lead on him, but Blue ran from me. I began leading Remy back to the barn, hoping Blue would follow, but he reared, kicked and dug in, refusing to be led. He even head-butted me from behind. He was NOT going back to that barn:

I figured that with the grass so scarce now, I might as well remove the muzzles and let them graze. I took Remy's muzzle off and unhooked the lead, but it took a long time to get Blue to allow me to remove his muzzle. After that, they were both happy:

The very next morning, I put out the first bale of hay for the winter. Both cows and horses confirmed my belief that good grass was becoming scarce because they ran to the hay bale feeder and stood there for hours, gobbling up the hay. Winter does appear to be arriving early this year, but for now, all is well in the south field pasture:

Around The Farm In October

The grass isn't growing very fast now, and it looks like I'll have to start putting out hay for the herd soon:

The apple trees (well, some of them) are producing beautiful fruit in spite of my gloomy predictions:

The skies here are regularly dramatic. This was a typical sunset in the southwest sky:

And a sunrise in the northeast sky one morning:

A farmer missed a few stalks of corn when reaping this field. Every time I drive by (it's just up the road from me), the remaining stalks put me in mind of survivors after a catastrophe:

Vegetable stands along our country roads are now selling home grown pumpkins:

The cows are looking healthy and so are the little horses:

The hens are enjoying life although they'd much rather go outside:

The white fantail pigeons have had numerous babies this year and are beginning to look a bit crowded:

I attached the yellow flagging ribbon to the horses' muzzles so I can tell from a distance if they're still wearing them or not. Remy is an expert at wriggling out of his. He also knows how to rip off the yellow flagging ribbon. Full blown autumn is here:

Blue And Remy

The little horses are enjoying life now that they're accustomed to the new routine and wearing their grazing muzzles. They happily eat grass all day long. They just can't eat it as fast as they used to:

Hot days are few and far between this time of year, but the shade of the Box Elder tree is available when it does get hot:

There was a section of long neglected pasture near the fence by the gravel road and the little horses recently discovered it contained a lot of good eating:

"Remy, your butt stinks!"

And the little guys don't hesitate to roam far and wide across the south field:

I said they were accustomed to their grazing muzzles, but that doesn't mean they can't shuck them every so often. Well, actually it's mostly Remy who gets his off his head now. If I don't see it right away, I take the tractor out in the field so I can search from a seat high up and with an unobstructed view. It can also cover a lot of ground in a hurry:

  This time Remy managed to shuck the entire apparatus intact, and he did it behind the old silo base where it was difficult to find:

Every day I bring them into the barn for the night. If it's been a hot day, they are covered with bot fly eggs which must be scraped off lest they ingest them. On cool days (which, thankfully, are now more common), the bot fly eggs are either few or nonexistent:

The little horses seldom get this far apart and I was surprised to find them away from each other:

I had just cleaned the barn floor when I took this photo and was driving the tractor. Blue was not impressed:

Remy used to like to bite the soft tractor parts when I wasn't looking, but the grazing muzzles have spoiled all his fun:

They live a happy life, but I just noticed that Blue was eating next to a cow pie in this picture. I'll have to speak to him about that and get him to mend his ways:

Late September Around The Farm

September and October are my favorite times of the year, with warm and sunny days, cool nights and gentle breezes. The Red Poll girls like this time of year also:

Blue and Remy are so intent on grazing that little else crosses their minds during the day. Their grass muzzles slow down their eating and they want to eat faster:

The pink Rose Mallows slowed down their blooming and the Red ones took over:

Those giant flowers require giant buds:

The fantail pigeons produced many babies this summer and there are two more just hatched nestlings as I write this. They won't hold still for me to count them, but I think I have 35 birds now:

The biggest Ninebark bush turned a darker burgundy color with bright red highlights:

The brightly colored Morden Sunrise rose stopped blooming but the more muted Morden Blush rose took over:

And the morning skies here are often spectacular. This was the northeast sky one morning:

And that same morning, a pink and blue sky to the southeast:

I was so happy with my two Morden roses, the company I bought them from and their prices, that I ordered three more amazingly hardy varieties for this coming spring. One is Watercolors Home Run, a continuously blooming, Zone 4 hardy rose variety:

And a Morden Snowbeauty, a repeat blooming variety which is hardy to Zone 2 (yes, Zone 2 - that's not a typo):

Carefree Delight is a continuously blooming rose, hardy to Zone 4 with canes which grow to 5 feet high. I haven't yet prepared a bed for them but I need to do so before winter because they are scheduled to arrive in April: