Settling in

They've been home for a month and we're starting to figure things out here on the homefront. Gwen has relaxed and finally stopped pacing the fence; she's even started lying down for naps every morning, which is wonderful to see. I'm figuring out how to care for my animals and a baby at the same time- thank goodness for playpens and strollers! I think the little guy is going to start walking in the next month or two so then I'll have a new monkey wrench thrown in the works.

I've had to get a tad creative about grazing since my permanent pasture is currently grass-free. I now have a collection of step-in posts that allow me to make temporary paddocks.

Temporary paddock #1

I wish my husband would let me fence in the yard so we wouldn't have to mow, but he is emphatically against it. That doesn't mean they can't graze there loose for an hour or so.

mowing the lawn for me

I've been on a bare handful of  rides since they've been home. It took a while to get a trail cleared so I could ride. My husband was so proud that he'd gotten his tractor and made me a trail to ride on by my birthday, so I got all excited and tacked up Coriander and got Gwen in tow (because I can't leave her behind or she'll catch up, dragging the fence behind her.), only to find that what my husband considers a cleared trail is not what I consider a cleared trail. There was brush and broken trees everywhere! Oh well, I guess everything looks different from horseback than from a tractor.

That's about all that's happening here right now, eventually I'll have more to talk about- it might not be until next year though. Babies do change everything!

They're home!

They came home last Thursday, getting them here was... ugh. I really wish I'd gone with my instinct and just walked them home last month, instead Gwen and I had a little saga going on with the trailer for 2.5 weeks. Let's just say that, at this point, the only way she's getting on a trailer again is if she's dead. Yeah, it went well.

 

It's sure nice to have them home though, where I can see them whenever I look out the window. I've gotten a front row seat to Gwen's neurotic show. She wore this lovely path next to the fence line by pacing FOR DAYS ON END. On the bright side, she's getting better, I only saw her pacing for an hour today.

Coriander, on the other hand, settled in pretty quickly. By the second day he was comfortable and begging for treats.

Unfortunately the pasture looks pretty ghetto right now. There isn't much grass because we had to go around and fill in a bunch of holes and dips with topsoil and then we had to dig a drainage ditch to try to keep it dry. I am planning on making more pasture but we need to clear out a few more acres first. They should have grazing available next year.

Baby boy has been getting some horse time too. He likes to chill in his stroller with his feet up and smile at them. Maybe he'll be a horse boy someday?