More Spring

Spring has sprung
the grass has riz
I wonder where the flowers is?

I told my mother that spring had sprung and she told me this poem. I told Doris at work and she said, "She's from around here, ain't she?" I guess Ashland, KY is close enough to being around here! You can't tell she went to college ,can you?

Anyway, spring is springing up all over. The horses got frisky and broke the electric fence and took off. It's all my fault. I forgot to turn on the power to it. It was dark and cold and I hadn't had them in that pasture for quite a few weeks...months maybe. With daylight savings time, I am now going to the barn in the full dark. Lee just put a switch by the doors for the big outside lights. Before you had to open the electric panel with gloves on. Not an easy task. They help a lot when walking to the pasture in the dark.

The electric fence has an easy switch over by where I keep all the tools, including the Super Fork that I use daily for scooping the stalls. So there really is no excuse. It also clicks every second, along with the pulses that go through the electrc tape and rope we have around the pasture. Another obvious reminder. I don't always have the electricity on when the horses are there. I guess I thought if they were zapped a few times, they would stay away forever, but they must have touched it and decided to make a break for freedom!

Fortunately we have been letting the horses out of their stalls when we are around and also letting them out of the pasture while we prepare their food, so they didn't go far. I was at work and Lee was on a bus run, so it could have been bad. Lee very kindly fixed the fence while I was at work.


In all honesty, it isn't the first time they have made a short break for freedom. About a year ago I must not have shut the gate all the way and they escaped then also. They didn't go far, but they did go up by the house. We know this not by our amazing tracking skills, but by the large piles of horse poop in various spots around the house. We are not completely fenced, so they could go far. On the other hand, there is a lot of fresh green grass right by the barn, and they feel safe there, so they stuck around.


Today when we let them out to run around a bit while we put fresh hay and water and all the feed we pile into their stalls, they took off running for quite some time. They get quite excited. Then one will stop and eat for a bit and the other will start to run and buck and fart and off they both go. It is a good thing. It builds muscle and getting a bit sweaty helps to loosen their winter coat. I plan on doing a little currying tomorrow before we let them out. A little work with a shedding blade will give us a few piles of hair for some birds nests.

On the way back up to the house we saw a squirrel in one of the walnut trees. So THAT's where all the nuts went! Then we saw a groundhog out and about. That's one sign of spring we can do without. I worry about holes that the horses will step in...but I can't make myself shoot them. I should do something, just not sure what.