Today was quiet both north and south of the border. We felt lucky this past weekend that we are all either far enough south or far enough north to have missed the full wrath of Jonas. Many of our friends in Pennsylvania and Virginia are digging out after record snowfalls.
I am still barely hobbling about from surgery early December. Fortunately, I have a high class home team here at Balsam Hall in Kingston, Ontario. My students, my staff and my clients have all been wonderfully supportive while I cannot drive or walk. Balsam Hall is somewhat unusual in it’s location because although ‘out in the country’, with miles of rural hacking out behind it, we are actually inside the Kingston City limits. Being ‘close to town’ has been a boon in many ways, not least of which is being able to order in pizza. I have never lived at a barn where I could ‘order in’ before living here and it IS useful!
It’s mild weather again. The ups and downs this winter make me colic nervous. I have known more than one horse that consistently colicked when there were barometric changes. Last winter was a bad winter for colic because horses were not encouraged to drink when they were living in such consistently low temperatures. This year my worry is that their systems will get upset by the topsy turvey temperatures that are constantly changing. For such big powerful magnificent animals, they sure are fragile in some ways.
I ordered Rummy a new turnout rug online and had them deliver it straight to Florida. His present hand-me-down has a big patch on it. Selena has officially entered him for the Retired Racehorse Makeover in October, although we have to wait with fingers crossed to see if our application will be accepted. We are really keen to see how Rummy will stack up against the competition in nine months time. Anyway, now that he is officially entered for a show, he gets to have a ‘show horse’ new blankie. It is POPPY RED…..ok, don’t laugh, it was on sale and besides I think he might look rather dashing in POPPY RED. We shall post a photo and you can tell me what you think. I am a bit of a traditionalist so Poppy Red is a step on the wild side for me!
Day off for the Florida horses. Traditional Monday in the paddock and sunshine. There are times when it occurs to me that my horses are the ones who live the dream!
