Thursday the wind

I know how you feel about the 'outdoor work'.  Sometimes it seems the list just keeps growing longer.

We have been dealing with some issues from Cal Fire.  They have started up a campaign of harassment against the homeowners in this area.  Their excuse is that they don't want another Carr Fire or Paradise (Camp [creek} Fire).  Problem neither situation was caused or made worse by homeowners, but by THEM not doing their job!  So I guess since the Governor got chewed out and rightfully embarrassed by the President, now we get harassed.  Gotta love Bureaucrats.

We had a gully-washer of a thunder storm today.  Replete with marble-sized hail.  Now, I know that's small stuff for you easterners and midwesterners, but for California that's HUGE!  I ran outside when it started to pound on the roof because three of the mini-mares were out in their paddock and no real shelter.  Opened the gate for Belle and Beebee and spent ten minutes trying to catch up the new mare, Abbey.  She was terrified what with being pelted with ice-marbles and the booming thunder.  Finally got her haltered and into the barn, which wasn't a lot better as the din from the hail was deafening.  She was whinnying in terror and I couldn't even hear her.  Same with the rest of the horses.  I closed the gate as she was trying to bolt back out into the storm.

 Then it occurred to me Raven wasn't in her stall.  So, I left the little mares in the aisle-way and went in to get her.  She was crouching in terror outside her box out in the rain and hail.  She got shagged into her box and the door closed.  I closed Izzie's door in the next box over just to make sure.  She however was calmly eating her hay and seemingly enjoying the show.  Raven was drenched so I got towels from the back porch (we keep a bin of them there for the horses) and brought them back to dry her with.  She wouldn't let me near her with a towel so I grabbed a halter, put it on her and she reluctantly allowed me to dry her off some.  Also terrified by the din of the hail on the roof.

Whilst I was drying Raven, I looked around some more and noticed Black Jack wasn't in his shelter but cowering out in the middle of his corral in the rain and hail.  So I took off the halter from Raven and went out to get Jack.  Silly boy was shaking like a leaf and not willing to let me near him.  Got him haltered after a few minutes and under his shelter.  About at twenty foot area in the back of his corral and same in Sock's was flooded.  Took quite a while to calm him down and staying under the shelter.  Once he was I left him tied and moved Beebee into Izzie's stall and closed the middle gate of the Aisleway moving Jack in the back.  Then I went into the house to dry off.  By that time it was just a downpour and no more hail.

  Heavens to Betsy!!

WOW!!! What a caring care giver to go out in that mess and bring all the charges in to shelter.  

Poor things were terrified, what else can I do?

Flies are horrible this year. I have heard that they basically become immune to the sprays and you have to switch them up. We use one brand, that is really expensive, for trail rides only that seems to work pretty good.

Dan, who is not longer with us, hated being in the barn during storms, especially with the stall windows closed. He wanted to see what was going on and would rather have been left outside where he could get under the shelter.

What our horses would do during a hail storm, no clue.

The things we do for our horses. What I love to tell others that have no clue about horses is that no matter what the weather is like or how you feel, you must deal with the horses.  

It's interesting what time trust and good care can do with a horse.  My Hackney came to me a very angry boy.  I already had two big Argentine Hackney mares who were both rather old.  He bonded to them right away.  As for myself, it took over a year for that bond.  The first hail storm he experienced here, Socks only had a third of a canvas carport as a shelter.  Thankfully, though the cover was blowing around, I was able to persuade him into it.  Took a lot of persuading and soft talking, but he found it dryer and more comfortable in, rather than out.  The noise coming from the roof of the barn was loud, but in his little shelter, Socks found it tolerable.  It was worth getting chilled and soaked.  Step one of trust was achieved that afternoon.

I know what you mean about using one brand of fly spray and it losing effectiveness over time.  If you are going to rotate sprays, make sure only one of them has Pyrethrin in it.  Also, be very careful not to spray that around your barn cats.  It can kill them.

We have been using Fly Predators with considerable success for quite a few years now.  The difference between Jmebear's and the neighbor's properties are amazing!  We receive the developing larvae in a package, wait for the tiny fly-like preds to hatch and then sprinkle on a few selected moist manure piles.  They reduce the population of flies dramatically!

We use the predators as well. This year when they arrive it takes a LONG time to hatch. The first batch I thought was bad it took so long.

My brother-in-law has what he calls Ranger Spray that actually works fairly well on the horses. I will take a picture of his recipe and post it. It is a concoction that some park rangers came up with.

We also give 3 ounces of Apple Cider Vinegar to each horse with their dinner. Supposed to make them less attractive to flies and also good for their digestive system.