The evening was not without it's moments of unrest. I was happy to climb under the covers at 8pm,but prayed that the Belgians would rest safely in the stalls below me.The feeling you are left with after having a horse cast in your care (twice) is very unnerving, I suspect it is like having a child in your care get hurt.Any how I slept till Midnight,when the alarm sounded. I then got up and again put my coveralls on. My plan was to get up in the middle of the night and put the Belgians out,so Nick would not get so settled in he would begin to toss and turn. I then herd the wind howling and checked the thermometer,and rethought my plan. I began to think that if the big boys had warmed up , and perhaps even sweat putting them out in this cold now may get them a chill that made them sick. The barn was quiet and i returned to bed , waking every hour to listen to Nick snoring,much like a mother listens for the breath of a sleeping new born. When Lager and I went down to the yard at 4:30 the first thing I noticed in the light of the full moon was the stillness of the flag.The winds had settled and suddenly four degrees was more tolerable. The frozen snow crunched under foot.When I walked into the barn and was greeted by Nickels powerful Winnie , I was thankful he was safe and humbled by the feeling of having a full barn ,with so many lives that depend on our care. Everyone got a very full breakfast and ice free fresh water.The horses will now spend the day outside. The hounds will have to stay in again, but what a nice barn to be"stuck in" all day.
< Four degrees till normal. The temperatures in Maine have plummeted, as they have across much of New England. The attire currently is all about function,I am loving my coveralls. When I arrived home from work on Tuesday, the thermometer read 5, the radio station was reporting a -20 wind chill factor. The barn got lots of action,I am thankful to have such a functional barn. I had planned to post these photo's last night as I settled in, however with the fierce winds the Internet was not cooperating long. I was able to post only the silly photo's. On a more serious note, I made an executive decision to move all horses inside. If you follow the blog, with any consistency you are aware that for the most part the big boys are kept outside overnight.The Belgians for the most part prefer to be outside with the freedom to go in and out of the big run in.We prefer for the most part to keep them outside for their safety (no chance of casting). You only had to be out side for seconds yesterday to realize it was not fit for man nor beast. You can see from the photo's however Nick was his predictable self he immediately not only lied down but rolled over in his stall. After all of the dogs had been walked and settled in and all of the horses and foul had been fed I took each of the Belgians out for a full grooming and vacuum. Nickels grooming required much more wood chip removal.With Nick and Jake in the barn Lager was restricted to the tack room clear from big Belgian feet, he too seemed to settle in quick. With all the Large warm bloods in the barn it heated up nicely, and was quite comfortable for my barn time.
