Oh, Horsefeathers!: Unpleasant Weather and a Pleasant Surprise

Winter, summer, spring...

Wait a minute, here. Did someone change the order of the seasons and forget to send me the memo?

After a very long, snowy winter and a bone-dry April, we have just been deluged by the wettest thunderstorm in recent memory. 50 mph gusts ripped up our hill, setting the hay shelters billowing and flinging the lid of my Rubbermaid tack truck into a ditch. I donned an oilskin coat four sizes too big and staggered out into the blinding rain to retrieve the lid. Wind blew the coat up around my waist, mascara stung my eyes, water poured in rivulets through my hair, and I returned to the house in desperate need of a dry change of clothes.

An hour later, the storm abated enough to tempt me outside to feed. The horses, heads low and ears pinned, crab-walked over to their feed tubs, obviously unwilling to change angles against the wind. As usual, they knew what they were talking about. I'd only been outside five minutes when another wave of rain blew in. Lovely.

Several of the horses' summer-coated flanks were quivering with cold, so I threw them extra hay and added a scoop of Senior feed to Aaruba's beet pulp mash. Thank goodness for that soaked beet pulp -- it'll help keep Aaruba hydrated even though, in this chill, he won't be terribly interested in drinking.

Neither will I, come to that, unless the beverage in question happens to be hot, buttered rum. Perhaps I'll make some. After I find more dry clothes.

So ended my horse training plans for the evening. Tomorrow night is shot, too, as we need to pick up a load of (bloody expensive) hay. All the farmers I saw out swathing their first cuttings this morning now have scattered stems instead of windrows, which doesn't bode well for this year's prices.

*sigh* Sometimes, I hate spring. Summer. Whatever this is supposed to be.

On the bright side, Shannon (aka Mrs. Mom) at Oh HorseFeathers has bestowed upon The Barb Wire a gift that lifted my day from utter despair: The Horse Care Tips award (originally created by Callie of MidWestHorse.) Thanks, Shannon! Drop by anytime --I'll share my rum with you.


Stay tuned for links to the next Horse Care Tips award recipients!

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