Thursday, June 2, 2016

Finding our way around

There's woods all around the property. Much of the property is wooded and it's adjacent to some conservation land.

First ride! 20 December

But most of the neighborhood is residential. Rural. But still residential.

25 December - Christmas Day ride!

Our second trip out we explored some of the neighborhood. L was a rock star! She had never ever seen anything like this before! Houses. Driveways. Mail boxes. Basketball hoops. Sidewalks. Signs. Fire hydrants. Christmas decorations! She was all kinds of "up" but she was on her most perfect behavior. Bright and attentive. All the training delivers huge dividends. She wasn't all kinds of willing - she had more of a "weellll ok if you say so" kind of attitude.

Turns out barn work takes up a lot of time. After getting acquainted with the neighborhood I don't think rode again until...oh had to be the end of March anyway. I didn't really plan on not having time to ride and I'm a little disappointed with that.

Monday, May 30, 2016

We moved!

7 February

Winter wasn't without its challenges! Our barn closed last November. And we were all told to ...get out, get out now. There's never a good time for something like that to happen. But it *is* a risk you take when you rent space. Not only is the weather going to be a problem - here in greater Boston, usually by the middle or the end of October, people who otherwise keep their animals outdoors the rest of the year, they've reserved most (all) of the available space for the winter. Especially any place with an indoor arena.

I have some resources and I could manage. But..the situation ..well, some animals had no place to go. Five horses were homeless. I thought it over. I leased a farm. And took in the homeless animals.

Our Barn. 27 November 2015

What a huge adjustment! For everyone. Of course we had tons of work to do. Putting up sheds and fencing, getting stalls ready and of course moving. I've had horses for many years but I've never run my own farm before. Oh yes I have help. But still scary as all get out.

And this property is very different than where we've been for the past 21 years. Where we'd been in a huge (24 horse) barn surrounded by 1800 acres out in farm country, this is 12 acres in a (rural) residential neighborhood.

Our barn is just off to the left past the flagpole

Settling in just fine

13 December - Still getting organized

All tucked in 13 December

We made it through the winter with only one crisis. Everyone is still in one piece and we've experienced *many* new things. It's been good for the horses. Neighbors. Houses. Lights at night. Traffic. Lawn mowers...leaf blowers. Snow plows. Kids playing basketball. They'd never seen any of this before.


The barn is much smaller than we're used to, but it's cozy and has a certain charm. We're cleaning stalls with muck buckets because there's just so little room to maneuver. It's not permanent and we're making it work for now. And my core strength is pretty good these days!

Saturday, February 6, 2016

Winter is here!

And somebody was happy to get out in the snow!

6 February 2016

Sunday, January 3, 2016

Still here!

For the longest time I just didn't have anything to say. And then, when I had something to say I was too busy to say it!

I always keep track of the first and last corn of the season.

12 October 2015 - last of the season

I *love* fresh local corn and I swear I'll have an ear every day.

And I like to keep track of the fall colors. 2015 was a dry year. I think our local rainfall was somewhere around 8 inches below normal..and the fall colors were just *brilliant*. One of the best seasons in recent memory.

11 October 2015

December was mild. Very mild. Warmest greater Boston December on record. It was 70° on Christmas day! So far no real ice to speak of and only one storm with some light snow. The first cold air of the season is forecast for tomorrow...
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