Daylight Savings and the Barn

We lost an hour Sunday. I woke up early (6 AM) to find it's the new normal (7 AM). I'm still waiting for someone to end the switch. 

Not that the pets know or care.

Carrie loves this picture. Loki climbed over me to look out the window!

Our barn got another upgrade this weekend: A water heater. Jason, the electrician, installed it Saturday. Carrie had me run to Ace and pick up a propane tank before I went to help Patrick move.

Carrie had a scare. She used it for the first time Saturday and came in Sunday morning to find the line was frozen. She swore she drained the lines and prepped for the temperature to drop and was terrified the brand new heater was ruined!

Thankfully, it wasn't.

Maddie was the lucky pony who got a warm wash-up. Carrie put her in a cooler to help dry her off quicker.

Carrie has decided the wash stall mats are terrible. They collected poop and were annoying to clean.

Worse than that, the builders didn't grade the floor right. Water prefers to pool is several corners instead of running down the drain. We'll have to take measure to correct that eventually.

It's not all bad news, though! The carrots in our last Imperfect Foods order were a big hit with the horses. Annie wasn't sure what to do at first, but when Maddy saw what was going on she trotted across the field to partake.

Back to Sunday. Carrie decided it was time to give Shane a riding lesson.

I did barn chores while I watched. This was a Shane and Carrie special!

Shane's working on his post. He's got good basic balance.

Maddy did a baby crow-hop with her forelegs a couple of times which surprised Carrie. Good horses don't overreact, so horse people watch for all sorts of little tells. I saw it happen, but my first thought was Shane did something annoying. It's something Carrie plans to investigate later on.

However, Maddy had a date with a set of clippers.

Ellie trimmed around Maddy's hooves for us back in September or October (to help treat the dermatitis). Maddy is a super fuzzy customer. She's been shedding, but Carrie wanted a buzz to help with the sudden departure of winter (Plus, it  might look cute). I had to pick up the 'happy juice' from a vet in Keswick on my way home from work Friday.

I took some early pictures and then planned to stay inside. It's been windy and horse hair blowing around wouldn't do my allergies any favors.

However, Ellie brought her 3 year old daughter, Landie. Carrie called me back out to help with childcare when Ellie's ex didn't show up as planned.

Naturally, I brought Shane and Loki with me. Shane was acting a little "too cool," but he's a people person deep down.

Shane swore he saw a bear in the woods while they were playing in the arena. I doubted it, but went to check anyway.

I couldn't see anything so I jumped up and stood on the fence. In flip flops.

Nothing but trees.....and two kids climbing up on either side of me. Maybe I'm not the best role model if you're afraid of your kid climbing.

I tried to facilitate the initial play.

Then I ducked out to let the kids interact. They got to digging which normally Carrie dislikes, but she was inside and I was only watching remotely for any major issues that'd require intervention (like a bear!).

The ladies were clipping away when I checked on them. Ellie's dog wanted to come out and play, so we let Buddha loose.

I stuck him in the arena with the kids, but he wanted nothing more than to be near Ellie. He's an old dog she adopted and new to the family.

He figured out how to escape and proceeded to get underfoot. Loki proceeded to get under him.

I'm shocked Loki was so willing to be underfoot with a horse.

Maddy's pasture buds watched the whole process with interest. They were probably thrilled they weren't the ones getting roofied and clipped.

I brought out the lax gear to facilitate more play.

Shane's better than a three year old at sharing, but he got annoyed several times that he had to be so patient! Ha!

I didn't like when Shane started playing "bury the ball." The lax balls cost about $3 each when I bought them and I didn't want to lose them. I told Shane he could keep doing what he was doing, but I was going to hold him responsible for whatever happened.

Maddy was almost done after a couple of hours.

She had a double coat. Her shorter hair stands up a little and feels different when petting her.

There was enough hair laying around we could have made a second dog to keep Loki company (achoo!).

Here's a hoof shot.

Maddy's dermatitis is getting better, but she's got a sore on the front right hoof at the moment. The farrier trimmed down some huge urgots the last time she came by.

Maddy's going to feel naked for a while! We put a blanket on her to keep her warm overnight.

The kids...

...and the dogs all came up at the end of things to be underfoot once again and say goodbye.

I was mad at Shane, because he lost one of his lacrosse balls. Ellie's daughter buried it while Shane was supposed to be watching her for a couple of minutes. I told him he couldn't go inside until he found it.

I wasn't upset at losing the ball as much as I was upset for Shane not keeping track of it/her when I told him, too. In my world, if you're the oldest kid you're responsible for what the young ones do around you. I let Shane know I was annoyed and wouldn't let him run off.

We couldn't find it, so we cleared the arena. We didn't want to leave something for a horse to step on, and It needed to be dragged anyway. No time seemed better than the present.

We found the ball! Huzzah! It was buried right near where Shane had been sitting (big surprise...).

It was a good weekend. There were some bumps, but that's par for any course. We had fun, made memories, and got stuff done (and with less time in the day to boot!).