Out in the rain

Call me crazy (if you don't already) but I actually enjoy going out in the rain to feed and check on the critters. As long as I'm equipped with things to keep me dry - rubber boots and Frogg Toggs. They seem to appreciate that I'm there even if only for a few minutes. And, of course, they like that I didn't skip feed time because of a little (um... in this case, a lot*) of water. Splashing through the puddles is just an added bonus! I usually prepare ahead for rain by making sure feeders are filled to the brim, water is fresh, and so forth, just in case I don't wanna play in the rain. Today I felt like playing!

Every morning the boys are served breakfast. Not because they don't have more than enough to eat in their pasture.... Horses like routine, and this gives us daily opportunity to love on them, check them over for injuries, observe anything out of the norm, keep them familiar with who the boss is, work with them, etc. Two of our boys also need a little help keeping weight on in the winter to assist them in staying warm. Some of the pellets we feed need to be soaked, which I do overnight, for reasons like colic that I'll spare you an explanation of. (If you have horses you should already know and understand this and, if not, you probably don't care....) When a container for this purpose was needed a plastic oil drip pan, that was purchased but never used yet was never thrown out, just happened to be conveniently available at the time. It's a good size for what we needed but getting the wet mush from the pan into the feed bags has proved to be a bit slow and messy. I found an old dog's cone of shame in the shipping container out by the shop, secured it with duct tape of course, and put it to use. Works great and is as easy to clean as the drip pan. Problem solved!

*After about 4-5 years of drought, much of Texas experienced a very very wet spring, especially the month of May. Well, we've been on the ranch for 14 weeks now. I didn't think to keep accurate records but once I started paying attention I've noted that we have received almost 30 inches of rain. It's just nuts how much God has blessed Texas with rain this year!