Back in action

and jumping in with today's activites---I got this big plan yesterday to have the next two mares due stay in the sand pit for a while. It has dried out finally, and by putting them in there, I do not have to clean two more stalls (I am not even sure I HAVE two more stalls), yet can still give them an extra feeding and check them very easily for signs of foaling. And if God forbid, they sneak one by me, it is a safe place to foal.

So Snap and Gyro are in there. Gypsy and overdue Aries are stalled, and then are turned out in the front pasture with the already foaled mamas during the day. It is absolutely gorgeous out so I do not want them to stay inside during the day, but I also have the issue of Aries terrorizing Squeak--I think she is the one who ran her poor blind ass over the fence last week. I am not going to put one that close to delivering in the middle pasture where the others can aggravate her, and it is such a big pasture, if she wants to make life hard on me, it would be a pain to chase her. Since she is acting so crazy, I sure do not want to give her a chance to do anything goofy. Anyway, all that long story to explain things that really have nothing to do with all that anyway.

This morning I got really smart and decided to put all four of the soon to foal girls in the sand pit where they could move around, have shelter from the sun if they want it, and plenty of room to roll and stretch out for an afternoon nap in the sun.

Things never go according to plan for me----in the end, I got Gypsy moved 90% of the way to the sand pit, and sunk almost up to my knees in mud and shit that is at the gateway to that pit. That whole area needs to be gutted with the tractor and new rock is coming tomorrow to remedy that situation....but the bottom line is that Gypsy took that chance to haul balls out into the middle pasture.

Look at this poor child. She is due on Sunday. Not only can she not take a decent photograph, they do not show how HUGE she is. She is such a little girl, that this pregnancy has her looking like a snake that ate a basketball. She is so cute, and I swear she is beautiful in real life--just not in pics. She even had a bath after work yesterday (something I should NOT have attmpeted while I am still hurting this bad), so she looked so pretty--not that you can tell by these pics.

The good part of the story is that after work tonight, I FINALLY got Barry to move all that mud and crap that was on the concrete apron leading to the middle pasture. Life will be so much easier now, I cannot tell you how much. I almost cried when I saw how much he got done while I was running errands and trying to mow the yard (I ran out of gas, which is really irritating, since it now costs 20 bux to fill the stupid gas can).

This is toward the very end of the job, and I bet there was still several tons of mess left to move. Such a difference this makes--do you know how disgusting it was to plod through that mess every day, in order to feed? DISGUSTING, it held water, it stunk, it was foul. The horses do not have to stand in it, but to get to them, I had to go through it. Life will be so much better now.

It was a good nite.

Aries is streaming milk, cramping up and whacking that tail around like a whip--surely we will have a baby any minute.