Let's take the cow for a car ride....

In case you're worried that your cow is getting bored just sitting around in a field all day....

New Year's Resolutions - Horses

What are your new years resolutions?  Or does anyone even bother to make them anymore, since it seems that most are forgotten about come Groundhog's Day!  I challenge everyone to make a list of things they'd like to accomplish in the coming year involving horses. (I figure narrowing down the category will make it a little easier!)  Here are some things I'd like to do:

1. Go camping again at Assateague in the fall.
(For those who aren't familiar, Assateague Island in Maryland allows camping with your horse on the ocean side of the beach from around September to April every year.  It's great fun to gallop on the beach!)

2. Compete in at least one Horse Trial this year.

3. Do a hunter pace with friends.  I'll throw in here - go foxhunting at least once this year.

4. Get Teddy (my young Tennessee Walker) started under saddle this summer.

For other ideas of horsey / riding New Year's Resolutions, check out "A Rider's Bucket List".

Life on a Southern Farm: Cold Baby Goat Video

Life on a Southern Farm: Cold Baby Goat Video


Awww, this is just the cutest thing ever! As annoying as they can be when adults, I must admit that there is still nothing cuter than a newborn baby goat!

Plant a Memory: Five Steps to Create Time Capsule for Your Farm - Hobby Farms

Plant a Memory: Five Steps to Create Time Capsule for Your Farm - Hobby Farms

Chicken Coops: Choose the Right One - Hobby Farms

Chicken Coops: Choose the Right One - Hobby Farms

Horses in the snow

  "So are you going to feed us, or what?"

Snow, snow, and more snow!

Zoey just loves the snow!

I must say, fresh snow is charming and fun for the first day or so, but when you have a farm, it gets old quickly. I again thank my lucky stars for my 4 wheel drive tractor, and the bucket that works quite nicely as a snow plow when needed.

Saturday was mostly fun, plowing the driveway and the neighbor's drive before the snow got very deep, admiring the clean blanket of white over everything. Before bed Saturday night, I noticed with a bit of surprise that it was still snowing, but not until Sunday did I realize how much! It took me quite a while to get hay to the horses, as the snow was deep enough that the tractor frequently got stuck and the wheels would just spin. So I'd have to get down and dig out by hand for a bit, before traveling another 5 feet or so.... it took me much more time and muscle power than I had anticipated! Perhaps I should have kept ahead of the snow more on Saturday....

Another one of Greg and the kids....

Wow, it's been quite a while since I've posted. Things have been going well on the farm, and I am most grateful to have Greg to keep up with the mowing... when it was strictly up to me, things quickly got out of control. A couple of weeks ago, my friend Amy's sister and her kids came to visit... Greg rode them around on Magnum a bit, and they loved it!

Quite the scare!

I was just at the kitchen sink and glanced out the window to see my horse, Shiloh, laid out completely prone in the front field. Now, normally I might just think that he was taking a nap and recharging his solar batteries (judging by how often all animals do this, I'm convinced they have better solar technology than us humans). But we had a snowstorm yesterday, which meant he was lying in about 9 inches of snow, which doesn't seem very comfortable in which to have one's face flat.

So I was concerned, briefly thinking "what if he dropped dead?!". (That's a frequent worry with my elderly animals). I opened the front door and called "Shiloh?". No response. So I quickly put on my clogs and shuffled through the snow towards him. As I got to the fence, I noticed a little bird perched on his neck. That did it - I thought "Oh no, he's dead and frozen solid and the wild critters are already treating him like part of the landscape!". I climbed through the fence and again said, "Shiloh!". This time his head came up quickly (startling the bird off) as he turned to me with his ears perked forward, and he looked for all the world like he was saying "What?". I asked "What are you doing, you silly horse?!"

At that, he put his head back down, scrubbed it vigorously back and forth in the deep snow until it looked like he was a powdered doughnut, then rolled over and wiggled in the snow with his legs in the air, doing a pretty good impression of making a horse snow angel. Then he stood up, shook, and wandered over to his hay trough. I was very relieved to see he was fine, but wished I'd had my camera to take a picture of him laid out with a bird preening itself on his neck. I just shook my head and went back in the house to warm my frozen feet...

Ellen on Shiloh in the park with Zoey alongside

Baby Goats Born!

Anette holding the newborn twins! A little buckling and a little doeling. Click here to see more photos: http://s669.photobucket.com/albums/vv55/AnnaB264/Baby%20Goats/

Zoey

Lower Right: Zoey's mom, Sabina,correcting her bouncy daughter, and letting her know she'd better BACK OFF!

Horses at hay feeder before the snow

view of the field

Horses waiting by the gate

Maybe I need some good Goat recipes....

I got another call from my neighbor today to report that my goats had eaten all the evergreens she planted along her driveway as well as the bulbs under her window. After her last call, I had fixed the goat pen fencing and had them penned up, but I let them out to forage since everything is snow-covered. I'm probably just going to have to get rid of them all until I can put up my perimeter fencing, which would keep them out of the neighbor's.

The pen they are currently in is pretty small, so it will quickly get pricey to feed them hay throughout the winter. As it is, I think I'm going to have to reimburse the neighbor for all her plants... after her first phone call, I glanced at her evergreens, and they looked a little nibbled, but like they would certainly make it, so I don't know how dire of a state they are in now. Hopefully they won't be too expensive... maybe selling the goats will pay for them!