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?