Hello to my readers… from home!
Last fall we had a significant transition and the herd moved to my home property. After the move and then with life naturally slowing down for winter, I haven’t had much of general interest to share. Basically, we all went into transition, survival, and finding the new normal mode — trying to negotiate the challenges of moving a small herd to a smaller than ideal place. Not only is my land on the small side for the horses, but my storage spaces inside and out are about non existent. This means that tack, equipment, feed and hay storage have been a puzzle to navigate. As with most things you think will be the worse case, the truth is usually not nearly as bad as the fears. At the end of the day I’m finding ways to make it all work, and as we settle in, things are lining out.
Logistically, we finished a pretty cool shelter building this month to give the mares a place out of the weather. Also, with some corral panels in place, it will give me some management options that will make a big difference on a small property. I’ve had a fair amount of variety in management scenarios to work with, as my horses have lived on a a range of properties — all with different levels of experience, resources, styles, and values in horsekeeping and land management. More often than otherwise, I’ve struggled with the very real issue of “too much of a good thing.” Wyoming has been on the unhealthy side of overweight on and off since relocating with me to Virginia and we are simply not in enough physical workload to ignore her sugar (grass) intake and not pay a price for it as the years accrue. Khaleesi has had bouts of intermittent lameness from borderline laminitis and pulling her off grass to “dry lot” her has solved the problem every time it’s reared itself. Since those episodes (which are eye opening and grave) I’ve tried to manage her access to abundant, healthy grass. Sorting this odd problem over recent years has been a number one challenge.
Though a smaller than ideal space for the herd presents a fair amount of new complications for me to solve, this is one thing I finally won’t have to worry about. At the moment, I’d call my property a dry lot, but considering all the winter rain we’ve had, it’s not been dry very often.
In November, after the chips landed in their places and the options laid out, I had about a week to prepare my home for the herd arrival and that included the bare basics: fencing (mostly electric), cleaning up any potential safety issues, and sorting out water and feeding protocol. Getting a shelter in place took a little more time, but I’m pleased to report that the new (metal built) shelter building is basically a three stall length (34 feet long x 12 feet deep) and I will be creating small pens from the corral panels so that the horses don’t have to be completely enclosed in a single stall when I need to restrict them. This gives me options for keeping them off the grass areas possibly allowing for limited pasture time in spring/summer.
I suppose it’s good that I have a learning approach to life. Looking back, I’ve been pressed into situations I might have avoided, where thinking creatively (especially when you aren’t the decision maker) becomes survival, and that’s not always a bad place to be. When you don’t have unlimited finances or access to resources, you have to become a bit more creative and scrappy to thrive in adverse conditions.
Though I have avoided bringing the herd home because of serious space limitations here at this property, I’m finding after we’ve begun to settle in there are some real benefits! I don’t think this particular place is forever for us all, however having them right outside my kitchen window and in my backyard has been a joy I’m trying to savor because I don’t know if they’ll always be quite this close- even if they continue to live on property with me. I do love making my coffee in the morning and looking in my kitchen window to see a friendly face looking in, waiting for a few flakes of first thing in the morning hay.
I am learning there are things I can do that make this workable, and what seemed impossible, or like a pretty bad idea, has been also a gift in more ways that I can write in this article both practical and personal. I’ve been humbled in the ways God has shown up with provision and resources that have made this process not only workable, but even a joy. It has been a further education in how generous God is and how he shows up to walk things out in unexpected ways. Overall this season has the feel of transition to me more than arrival- and I’m excited to imagine where the next steps will lead!
In fact, I’ve got some pretty cool things already brewing this year and I look forward to making some fun announcements soon! I don’t know all of the amazing new opportunities and adventures that this next season holds, but some of them are coming into focus. So stay tuned- we might have gone into a bit of hibernation this winter, but spring is just ahead… followed by Summer which promises to have some exciting activities this year!
As I look out the large window over the sink I see a rainy winter day with sweet little Hope voluntarily tucked into a stall and munching hay. I see Khaleesi going deeper into a stall for a bite then turning to stick her head out and look around the yard monitoring the environment as she is prone to do, and Wyoming who likes a little rain now and then in the larger yard picking through some old hay piles. Everyone is content and seems to be doing well in their new home. It isn’t perfect… but it is a season, and it is good.
Hope Horsemanship 