General Happenings at the Ranch
What happened to winter? It has been in the upper 70’s with no rain in the forecast. Wow. At least as horse people we can rejoice as mud and rain is a drag with horses.
The picnic area is cleaned up and ready to enjoy this nice weather including the horseshoe court ready for play.
Here in the next 2 weeks the Community Garden that is behind the tool barn near the picnic area will be tilled and ready for planting. Anyone have a green thumb and want to volunteer on this project or those who want to reap the benefits of the fresh produce want to donate seeds? The white board by the parking lot will have all the updates of the community garden as they arise as well as volunteer sign up.
Ranch Survey
In the next week, we will be sending out a ranch survey to everyone at the ranch. We will be doing a few of these a year to keep an overall pulse of the ranch and to help ensure we are doing everything we can to make sure we live up to our promise of better communication and organization. We will always keep is short and sweet as to not take up too much of your precious time. If you can take just a few minutes to answer those questions, it will help us for 2022 and beyond.
Welcome and Goodbye to Boarders
· Karen Bradley has retired and is moving to Oregon. We wish her and Steime great happiness and fun with their new adventures.
· Welcome Destiny to paddock #13 isn’t she a beauty. Trina’s herd is complete and all in one place.
· On the 19th Eva Teekasingh will be arriving with her horse into paddock #16a next to the round pen.
· Topaz is for sale, Nissa’s new horse, Cinnamon, will be arriving in late February sharing the paddock with Topaz until she finds her next person/home.
Improvements
Taking advantage of the dry weather, we have improved the drainage from the hay barn to direct the flow into the creek. The mare motel also now has a drain so the road will not be flooded any longer.
The wash rack improvements are complete with plans to formally create a second wash rack by the hitching post as well as a second hitching post to be added as well.
We got a new groomer. The round pen is now being watered and groomed twice a week or as needed. The riding arena is also being watered and groomed every morning.
Fun Facts About Horse Care or Horse Health
This article addresses the use of acetaminophen in horses as a cheap alternative to current pain meds. The smaller link is the source of the article from the research done at Virginia Tech.
Link to the research article for above article can be found HERE
Photos of the Month – Nap Time
Safety Issues
While the fire season is far away in our minds, creating a safe and fire safe barn is equally important. Installation of fire extinguishers, an additional gate for multiple exit points in the main barn, quick access and general inspection are improvements we are making last month and will continue through this month as well.
Reminders
· March 1st: all the new fees are due in full. If you have added services those take effect as well such as turn out, lunch, and grain.
· The hilly paddock next to the pond, where Foxy the mule used to live, is open for turn out. This adds some additional space for turning out on busy days.