The Most Wonderful Time of the Year... for ducks

 We have reached the part of the year where North Carolina is miserable again.  For a state with such wonderful Springs and Falls the Summers and Winters are a trial. It doesn't get cold enough for the ground to freeze, or sunny enough for the ground to dry, and it rains every few days.

This is the weather for the next few days.  It is very typical of this time of year. Gross and yucky.  Normally the horses live out 20 out of their 24 hours a day.  They spend the day out in one of the pastures and the night on the round bale with the donkeys.

This was a week and a half ago.

In the past 7 days we have had 3 days of rain, and 0 days of sun.  It makes everything squishy and gross.  By default, the horses are in a LOT more.  Our schedule this week ( when it wasn't actively raining) was that the donkeys stayed out in their pen.  The horses would eat breakfast, have their blankets changes, Dutch would get his legs wrapped/ unwrapped as needed, and they would go out to the donkey pen.  Remember that the donkey pen is 80x100, so it is plenty big enough for all 4 boys.

I get home at 4:00 and every day the boys have been waiting at their doors ready to come back in.   I have been taking them out for hacks - on the pavement where it is not a bog- every other day to keep the sillies at bay. 

They are having a great time just walking out for an hour every day.

I am so thankful for our new barn lights, it means we can go out and clean stalls again after sunset (at 4:30/5:00).  I usually get back to the barn right as the sun goes down. Then I have to clean stalls, do hay, water, pre-dinner, and dinner. Then I tuck them back up and head in to make people dinner.

Any kind of sunlight is a reason to celebrate during NC winters.  I am very happy to be at home and not boarding.  There are no barns in the area that have regular turn out and limited mud.  Keeping them at home may mean that I do not have an area to ride in right now, but I feel like regular turnout on safe footing is WAY more important.