It seems so long ago and I been completely delinquent, but here it is the post about posts. It was a lovely mid October day for farm work, we had help from our farm family, boarders and friends. We put in a little less than 100 posts. This completed the track system around the back pasture.
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Following the full day of work we were graced with a beautiful sunset.
Then we all went to the house to have dinner, a few drinks and a bon fire.
On Sunday we had a visit from my college roommate and long time friend and her family. It was the first time meeting her 2 girls and we had a blast! We did everything we could on the farm in a few hours time: Met the horses, climbed on the hay, met the goats and donkeys, gave the donkey’s carrots, brought the donkeys back to the barn from the goat’s pasture, tacked up Heather for a pony ride, rode Heather around the riding ring, gave the horses and donkeys treats, gave the goats stale crackers, played hide and seek and scavenger hunt in the house, had tuna fish sandwiches for lunch, colored in the coloring book, went on an ATV ride and collected rocks. Phew busy day but we had so much fun and the girls loved every minute of it.
So the object of horse back riding lessons here at GSF is fun. We don’t train you to get ready for horse shows, we don’t look for the most perfect form. We learn the basics and have fun. I love to watch the confidence grow in my students. We learn at their pace. We are safe with helmets and heels down but I try to do fun things as well. In this video is one of my students cantering for the second time. Casey is such a good boy, he tries to get away with a lot but once he knows he can’t then he will do as you ask.
After lessons during the cool down sometimes we go on a a trail ride. It is a great way for the horses and students to unwind.
So you all have seen the funny cat videos of them trying to walk in shoe or socks. Here is a good one if you haven’t.
That got me thinking how did they decide to make a cartoon Puss in Boots if the cats can’t walk. Well some how Puss figured out how to walk, run, dance and sword fight.
But I digress… I got Cuervo a pair of fly boots. They are basically mesh leg wraps that go from the hoof to below the knee. I was noticing he had a lot of bug bites and blood spots left from the bites because he didn’t stop his feet to get the bugs off. Did mention he is old and lazy? Well this video is the second time putting the boots on. The first time was even more dramatic but he still walked funny this time. Enjoy!
For some, horses are a phase but for others, horses are their life.
We are equestrians and pasture grass farmers.
Have I mentioned to you I have a black thumb? Some people have green thumbs and are excellent at gardening and growing things. I am convinced I have a black thumb that kills everything. Maybe this has to do with the fact that I would rather nurture a horse than a plant. Needless to say here I am trying to get grass to grow in the new pasture. This is the before picture. This is how the ground looked when we started. The fence is up as noted in the previous post so the horses can’t trample and eat the grass before it has a chance to grow.
The next step was to scrape the field level by back dragging the tractor over all of to get the field level and fill in the hoof prints ruts. Then we dragged the field using a pull behind rake. It wasn’t heavy enough at first so we attached a cement block to it.
Next we seeded the pastured. We just used the walking broad cast seeder since the areas are not that big.
Lastly we covered the field with compost/manure. I figure this would fertilize and driving over the seed would push them into the ground a bit.
Ok we are done for the day and can let the horse back in to the ACA. The area around the new pasture. OH wait we forgot to close the gate! What are you guys doing in here? Oh rolling around will help with the seed penetration. Now get out you lot! You are not supposed to be in here!
Now we hope for rain to start the germination process. NO NO not 24 hours of straight rain. Did it wash the seeds away? Only time will tell. I am not liking those low laying areas where rain water is still standing.
9 days after seeding let’s see what we have. Well the weeds are growing but I do see some blades of grass.
Right now the horse are being kept in an Animal Concentration Area (ACA ). This area is also known as a sacrifice lot or a dry lot. This is the area right behind the barn that the horses are out in when I am trying to preserve the pastures form over use, over eating and hoof damage. Now, after the winter snows and spring rains it has no grass and is all dirt and mud. See before pictures below.
As shown in the picture below the ACA consisted of the whole area within the blue lines. This was a large area for the horses and donkeys and would never grow any decent grass due to over grazing.
Last year we had members of the Equine Program (Donna and Sarah) out to evaluate our pastures and determine if the farm could be part of their pasture rejuvenation project. See the post from August 2013. We were invited to participate but it fell through due to the fact that we didn’t have the right kind of tractor. Their recommendation was to fence off part of the ACA and plant grass seeds so that it may grow to a lush pasture by next year. Their only requirement was that we had to keep the horses off of it an only allow them limited access to prevent over grazing.
The good news is that Donna and Sarah were running the course we just took. Donna told us we are still considered to be part of the pasture rejuvenation program and we are eligible for a bag of grass seed. We could use our on methods to seed the pasture and did not have to use their no till drill. We received the grass seed mix on the last day of class.
Originally we were going to just fence off part of the pasture (like cut it in half) then I came across the paddock paradise concept.
“Paddock Paradise is an exciting new natural boarding concept based on Jaime Jackson’s research into how horses live in the wild. It is a ground-breaking idea which has many benefits including:
provides a more stimulating environment for the horse which discourages vices
encourages more movement which benefits overall health of the horse
enables easier grazing management”
So I decided to start my paddock paradise in the ACA area and create the pasture in the middle. See yellow box in the above picture.
This weekend we completed phase I putting up the fence. See below the pictures of the work in progress.
After it was completed the horse got to try it out. They actually enjoyed running around the parameter.
The next day we leveled out the field. Now all we have to do is drag it to loosen up the dirt and plant the seeds. Then hope our timing is right for rain and sun. Be on the look out for more posts as we continue our progress.
This afternoon I took a video of the water run off into George and Heather’s pasture. The water should be flowing straight into the woods where a drainage ditch that runs through it.
This is an example of farmer verses nature. I wanted to dig a trench to redirect the flow into the right direction. Instead there is about 6 inches of ice that is 5 foot long in my way. Oh well I will have to continue to be patient while everything melts.
People of often visited the farm and told me how quiet and peaceful it is. This video is shared so that y0u too may enjoy the silence.
What a crazy long day. I can handle snow. I can handle rain. But one right after the other is a recipe for disaster. So today started with flooding. The barn flooded and the shed in front of the barn that holds all their feed flooded. It was right at the point of touching feed bags. Here is the good part, my wonderful BF was home and able to save the day. He had been working since 3 am plowing but was done early so we borrowed the neighbors skid steer and started moving snow water and slush from in front of the barn. Crisis averted no feed was lost and water is no longer rising.
But tonight down to 12 degrees, the next day we had an ice skating rink.
All the stores were out of rock salt, so I found out a good alternative is water softener salt. Just don’t use it on paved surfaces. Put down the rock salt, now the horses can go out to the pasture with out fear of slipping on ice.
Day part 2. This one too has a ended well. So with the freezing rain, the whole neighborhood’s electricity goes out around 6pm. I start panicking. How will the horses have water in the morning? All their water will freeze over night. So I was envisioning boiling water on the wood burning stove and bringing it out to the barn. But the water would only last a day. My only recourse I could think of was to buy a generator. Which luckily Lowes just received a large shipment of. We get it home and an electrician friend comes by to help out. He makes sure it is set up and shows me the separate electrical panel and switch (between generator and main power). Then low and behold the electricity comes back on. All of that a for 3 hours with out power. Well luckily we are prepared now.
This week we had about 8 more inches of snow. Sure it is pretty to look at and the horses love to play in it but it makes everything more difficult: Walking out to the barn, opening doors, gloved hands can’t do anything. Enough complaining, because it also make for some very pretty pictures.
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A couple of days after the snow storm we found ourselves in the the midst of Frozen Rain and slightly Warmer temperatures. A layer of ice coated everything. I had some fun with these pictures, as it is really quite beautiful.
Last weekend was great. It was in the 40’s (which now feels like a heat wave) and there was lots of activity on the farm. Starting with a trail ride with Cuervo and Nash at 10 am Saturday. Nash decided to be a freak and was bouncing around like a rabbit. Everything was scary when I was on him, but when I walked him things were fine. Cuervo enjoyed the ride and even had a spring to his step.
Then we had a lesson. My girls are troopers and have stuck with me the whole winter. It is fun riding in the snow bareback because the horse keeps you warmer.
Then the ferrier came to give everyone mani/pedi’s. While he was there the girl scouts came over to lend a hand for their volunteer hours. They cleaned all the cob webs out of the whole barn and goat house. Thanks Girl Scouts!
Finally the day ended with one more lesson with one of the Girl Scouts. Her mom even posed for a picture while I was photographing from a top of Nash. Yes Bareback to keep me warm.
On Sunday GSF’s favorite photographer Judy Reinford brought out her client for a photo shoot with Nash. Now my horse has been in more photo shoots than me! Again it was a great afternoon for it the weather was warm, but there was still snow on the ground for the picturesque winter couple photos.
While we were waiting on the wardrobe change we had role reversal and I snapped a shot of Nash and Judy.
How are your Pastures?
Hard to think about pastures when all I have is a soppy mess, but taking care of your horses pastures is like grown a crop of vegetables. I don’t have a green thumb but am trying to give the Farm horses the best quality grass. Here is where you start.
Golden Spike Farm's Plog 
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