It never takes long for something eventful to take place at a stable full of horses. Last night our youngest resident T.B. decided to tear the barn apart one stall at a time. Cupid a 4 soon to be 5 yr. old. He thought he'd leave his stall after his owner brought him in and went for a few horsey treats from the tack room. Cupid, thinking he could squeaze thru a half opened stall door, hooked his winter blanket on the door and proceded to rip it off the rollers and drag it the full legnth of the barn (63 ft) and then hop into an empty stall. After he was able to unhook the stall gate from his blanket, he decided to leave his new stall. He of course got hooked on a second stall gate!! Ripping that gate down fromn its hinges, he dragged that one in the  oppisite direction half way down the barn before unhooking. His poor owner just stood to the side and watched in horror as he went running past her out into the yard. Before anyone could catch him, Cupid decided to leave the yard in the dark of night and go visit the neighbors horses a half mile down the road. All the while the poor young owner chasing him thru 3 ft snow drifts and in the dark. An hour later Cupid was returned by his now exhausted owner to his stall which he should have never left in the first place. The stall gates were rehung and there was no damage to the large frightened horse. He was reluctant to re-enter the barn at first though, but we persuaded him to comply. Mental note: Time to change the stall gates to have a chain, instead of a sliding latch. Dispite the drama, all is well at BWF.

Seven below zero this morning, and it's suppose to stay cold a few more days. Is it possible to have a favorite manure pitching fork? I guess so because when I couldn't find the right fork this morning. I thought my day was off to a rotten start. One of our newer horses has decided coming in at night is not what he wants to do anymore. Chasing him in the dark and cold at 8pm at night when all others have raced to get in the barn is frustrating. We finally achieved this with a great sense of accomplishment and feeling of being one with the horse.
I think my fingers should be thawed out by noon.

A poem for you:

It's winter here in Minnesota
And the gentle breezes blow
Seventy miles an hour
At thirty-five below.

Oh, how I love Minnesota
When the snow is up to your butt.
You take a breath of winter
And your nose gets frozen shut.

Yes, the weather here is wonderful
So I guess I'll hang around.
I could never leave Minnesota
I'm frozen to the friggin' ground!

When walking out to the barn I heard an aweful squealing and wailing of horse hooves on another body. I had to laugh when I reallized it was our 650 lb icelandic stallion Triggvy trying to get romantic with a 1600 lb percheron cross gelding. Evidently it was not too cold for romance, just the wrong sex.
OMG! It was so cold this morning at 4 A.M. doing chores. It is easy to forget these kind of days after it starts to warm up, but living them sucks!! When I opened the barn door to let the inside horses out thier breath froze and hung in the air like tooley fog, it was so cool. I need to remember to order feed soon. I just try not to have the feed delivery guys have to come when it is so cold, I must plan ahead. I sure miss the riders coming out, thank God the daylight is getting longer each day now.

Welcome to our stable blog. I thought  starting a  log of our day to day stable life could brighten and hopefully enlighten a few people. My name is Mary Loch and my husband Dale and I own and run Broken Wheel Farms in Watkins Minnesota.

January 1, 2010

It's very cold outside which makes the daily routine of the stable just a little more difficult. When things are frozen they tend to not start, (tractors) run slow(the barn cleaner) or freeze up and not work at all (water hoses).  All which happened today our first day of the new year.

January 2nd

The horses are very frisky in the cold weather. I think it's funny how they roll in the snow with thier blankets on. The ones with no blankets are so beautiful and clean from rolling in the snow.  I think they run and buck to get the blood circulating along with just having fun.
Dick, one of our 2 rescue horses seems a little better each day. Last month when we picked him up his penis was hanging frozen solid underneath his starved body. We held little hope of saving him. He has put on a good amount of weight in the last 4 weeks and his swollen penis is shedding off the dead frozen skin and showing signs of healing. He has still be unable to fully retract the penis back into his body so no outside for him yet.

January 3rd

It was so beautiful this morning, but still so cold, 26 below zero according to our truck thermometer. The barn stays about 40 degrees warmer with all the horses in it at night. 5 horses are brought in each night and 15 are left out side all winter with small buildings to get out of the wind. 3 of the outside horses are brought in to be fed each morning and then let out afterwards. Triggvy, our icelancic stallion and Jet and nickers, two of our fresian sport horse yearlings get a breakfast to help them grow up to be the best that they can be. Triggvy had frost on his facial hairs and eye brows, that was so cool to see. He's such a beautiful stud, I can't wait to see his future off spring.