Cold Winter Touches The North Country

Of course I knew it was coming, yet still I was surprised to see the frost all over the Rugosa roses when I went out to do the morning chores:

 The leaves were frosted and the magenta buds were covered with icy crystals:

 Some of the flowers had wilted to the point of being unrecognizable:

 Fergus and Seamus watched me from their frosty yard as I began the morning chores:

There were only two open Daylilies left, and they were wilted and covered in ice:

 And the grass crunched underfoot as I walked to the barn:

 Sadly, the sunflowers, which had put on such a late season show, were done for the year:

 I walked the little horses out to their corral and discovered that their stock tank was covered in ice. Remy and Blue were not amused, but I figured it would melt once the sun was fully up:

The cattle were hungry and collected at the barn, demanding grain:

 I let them have some, then shooed them back outside as I carried hay to the horse corral. Most of the cattle followed me to the corral, hoping to steal that armload of hay. I guess they did not want to eat frozen grass:

 I tossed the hay in for the horses without giving the cattle any of it. Ruby knew what to do, and immediately went for a breakfast of warm milk:

Blue and Remy

Remy and Blue seem especially drawn to the hay left on the ground after I move the bale feeder:

But they also avail themselves of the hay in the feeder. I've watched carefully and have not seen any cows bully them:

In fact, they seem to be as much a part of the herd as any cow. They fit right in:

But both little horses can go into the barn whenever they please:

Remy is still the sweetest animal in the herd, and gets a lot of hugs and kisses:

The little horses collect frost just like the cows do. That's frost on Remy's back and muzzle in this photo:

And sometimes he comes inside to rest and, presumably, get out of the wind (the temperature is not much warmer in the barn):

When we had a freezing drizzle, I found Blue all covered in threads of ice and a bit of loose hay:

Remy was plenty frosty too:

But they didn't seem to mind. Their attention was focused on the new hay bale I was bringing them:

As usual, though, they went for the old hay first, perhaps because the new bale is surrounded in frozen, moldy hay and the horses know to let the cows "unwrap" the bale before the good hay is available:

All is peaceful and calm on the east side of the barn:

Remy And Blue, Horses Of Winter

I keep the sliding barn door chained at just the right gap so the little horses can come and go at will, but the cows cannot. Without the chain, the cows can push the door open with their powerful necks. Blue, being shy, likes to stand inside but stick his head out to watch what's going on:

I was bringing out a new hay bale but had to stop the tractor, jump off and run back to close the gate behind me, Remy would love to run out the open gate and lead me on a merry (to him) chase:

The winter began with frost - lots of frost:

Both Blue and Remy, not to mention the pasture grass, were covered with frost. Of course we've since had lots of snow which has covered everything:

Both little guys now feel right at home with the big cows, and are not afraid to eat hay at the feeder. They are smart enough, however, to avoid getting accidentally crushed by those big red cows:

Blue and Remy had been spending a lot of time inside the barn, leaving a lot of manure which had then frozen hard. It was time to clean the barn floor and put down new bedding:

It doesn't show well in this photo, but the whole floor was full of frozen poop and urine. It was difficult to walk on and I figured it would also be difficult to clean up because it had probably frozen to the concrete floor. Alas, I was right:

The first job was to use a snow shovel and push it toward the center so the tractor could scrape it back. Then I'd fork it into the bucket. Remy came in to "help:"

And then Blue, usually shy and standoffish, also came in. In his case, he seemed to want attention:

He also wanted to be kissed on his head, something Remy has enjoyed for a long time but was new for Blue. Horses nuzzle those they love, so it seems natural that they should crave kisses:

But then I had to get all that frozen manure, urine and bedding into the tractor bucket and dumped on the compost pile. This is where it becomes dangerous to have the little horses around as I don't want to hit them. They've learned that I get very angry if they don't vamoose when I holler "Get Out!" Yet still I have to be very careful:

I got the old bedding out in four bucket loads, then spread a bale of clean hay over the floor. Remy and Blue came back in to eat some of it and poop on the rest of it. It doesn't take long for it to need cleaning again: