Winter Uh-Oh!

Hi Harley!

How are you doing, buddy?

Um, is your blanket lopsided?

Oh dear, that can't be good.

Oh no!

Harley!  How did this happen to your blanket?

Someone is going to have a drafty butt for a while.

Any suggestions for repair? 

I do not own a sewing machine and the place that I sent his blanket to for cleaning and repair after last winter will need weeks to fix his blanket.  Thankfully, the seams pretty much ripped out and only a tiny bit of blanket material is actually torn.  There were no blanket mishaps last year, so I am not sure how he lost the butt flap this time around!

My Barefoot Horse: A New Tool

Back in December, I told my husband that I could use a new rasp for Christmas.  I waited a week or so expecting him to ask me where to purchase the kind that I like (the ladies rasp on the left in the photo), but when he didn't ask, I just figured he had already bought too many presents.  He is really good at picking out surprises, so I rarely ask for specific items.  Then the holiday rolled around and there was a rasp-shaped gift under the Christmas tree.  Hmmmm.  When I opened the gift I was delighted to find a dual-handled rasp with nifty orange covers on the ends.  My husband found it on Amazon.  I should have guessed!

So now I own "rasps" and I have started to specialize my use of them.  The new large rasp is good for taking down excess hoof wall and using two hands.  That baby is sharp and I can work pretty quickly, moving from one foot to the next.  The shorter Ladies' rasp is still the best for working the bevel.  I need a rasp that is light and maneuverable for that job.  Those magnets on the Hoof Jack come in mighty handy when you have multiple tools.  I am also used to the Hoof Jack now.  It took a while, but I finally have the same feel and control that I had when I rested Harley's foot on my knee and he seems more agreeable about keeping his foot in the cradle.  I tend not to bother with the pedestal attachment unless there is noticeable flare to take off from the top.

Believe it or not, this is five weeks of growth.  I could never get away with this in the summer.  He can grow this much hoof in two weeks (Right front).

Right hind

Even the bars haven't done much since the last trim.  I got really lucky and it was almost sixty degrees on trim day (Left front).

Left hind

Right front: I actually trimmed some cruddy frog on this foot.  That is a very rare event for me.

Right hind

Left front: Pretty, pretty heels

Left hind

Left hind: This was the only sign of separation on any of his feet.  His quarters would have been separated like crazy if I waited five weeks in the summer and he would have had lots of flare.

What a good boy

Blanket Weather

It's that time of year: Harley's full water bucket with a thick layer of ice.

The cold finally set in this week.  I say "finally" because we have been having a very mild winter down here in southern New Jersey.  Last year's winter was unseasonably warm and this year has been the same, maybe even a little warmer.  Last weekend, I had two glorious days with my horse in the high 50's.  The thermometer in my new Subaru (a feature which I really appreciate) even read 60 degrees at one point on Sunday.  Wow!  I trimmed Harley's feet last Saturday and had to remove my coat and insulated vest, because I was starting to sweat.  On Sunday we had a great ride, Harley barely coughed, and he even worked up a little sweat under his girth.  There was not a cloud in the sky and it was a glorious blue.

(By the way, he is eating the Cough-Free and I think it is helping!  Yay!)

By Monday, the temperatures had started to drop with some wind and by Tuesday there was a dusting of snow and Harley's water bucket needed some special attention from the butt of a shovel.  Believe it or not, this is the very first time this winter that his water bucket has frozen and we are at the end of January.  I know that other parts of New Jersey have been colder with some snow, but since I live pretty close to the coast, the ocean buffers our weather (unless it is a hurricane).  Sometimes this protects us from snow storms and extremely low temperatures.  A couple years ago, however, we did have several feet of snow, so there are no guarantees.

Harley has a thick coat and he did not seem cold, but this blanket should help him keep his weight, which is looking lovely this winter.  Hay cubes help, too.  :)

Doesn't he look cozy?  I have smiled to myself more than once this week, just feeling happy that my horse is bundled up in a blanket.  That may sound silly to those who blanket as common practice, but this is only the second winter that Harley has worn a blanket.  My vet recommended waiting until the temps were below twenty since he is not clipped.

The temperatures were scheduled to plummet for the remainder of the week, so I finally took out Harley's freshly cleaned (thanks to a local service) and repaired blanket (it had a little tear) and placed it on his back for the first time since last winter.  I am really glad that I did, because the night temperatures dove down into the low teens and did not rise above 25 during the day.  On Thursday, I was driving to work and my car told me that it was 7 degrees Fahrenheit.  I started to wonder if my car's thermometer is calibrated properly, because that is insane.

By Friday, we had some more snow.  Thankfully, it was just enough to be pretty and not enough to be much trouble.  We took my new snow-worthy vehicle out for a hair appointment after work, but it was more ceremonial than necessary as the snow barely creeped past an inch of accumulation.  Saturday morning was beautiful, even to someone who does not like snow.

Bunny tracks below our front steps

And the bunny: Can you see the tip of his ear?