Tuesday, August 9, 2011

Buck Up!

In case you didn't hear me whining from your area of the world (which I would assume is impossible, but maybe you live in a panic room), it's been HOT here.

Not just hot. HOT.

Yeah, I went here....


And for a long time there was no relief in sight.


But then...the other day...it RAINED. Yippee!!

Hurray!


Woo hoo!!

Finally the forecast, for the first time in recent memory, consists only of two-digit numbers. "Relief" doesn't even begin to describe...


Unfortunately I'm afraid the rain has come a little late, though, and things are going to continue to be very tough for at least the next year.

The reality of the situation is fairly sobering.... Hay has gone up 63% in the past couple of months IF you can find it.

I've had to get fairly creative for my horses (and thank goodness I only have the four). They get 1 pound of beet pulp, 1 pound of alfalfa pellets, 1 pound of timothy pellets, and 6 pounds of alfalfa per feeding, and are fed that twice a day. No more, no less.

It's enough to keep them a healthy weight, but they are bored--while the beet pulp and soaked hay pellets keep their bellies full, they are missing what horses love to do most--chew.

They've pretty much almost mowed down the bermuda in the turnout down to nothing, so now I have to fence them off of it so they don't kill it.

It's a pretty stressful situation, between my horses being stressed, my pocketbook being stressed, the stress of a new part-time job, going back to school, and trying to basically re-balance my entire life so everyone doesn't suffer while I try to make the future better for us all.

Well, it's enough to drive a person crazy.

Some might say I got to that place long ago.


That's probably true, but regardless, I've just got to put on my big-girl britches and take care of business.

Fabian's look says it all. Time to stop worrying and buck up! I think I'll do just that.

Cheers,
~Ineda Vacayton

5 comments:

Nicole said...

Yeah this weather hasn't been any fun and it'll be tough to see how it progresses :( I'm a little worried!

Grey Horse Matters said...

Well at least you did get some rain and it's cooling off a little. It's been a miserable summer.

smazourek said...

Y'all in the southwest got seriously beaten with the bad luck stick this year. Unfortunately the trend will probably be continuing...

Blackfeatherfarm said...

In the same boat here in Oklahoma...

Kristen said...

Do your horses like salt licks? We used to give them to ours when I was a kid. I hope you get more rain, we have been getting plenty of it up here in New England this summer. For a while we didn't but now we have had lots of it.