As If Riding Every Day Weren’t Enough…
In a few short weeks I’ll be heading to Montana and spending 8 hours a day driving horses! Every romantic image of driving horses comes to mind — using them to feed the 650 pound round bales (we feed three at a time, every two weeks), driving a wagon through town (our grocery store has a hitching rail!), giving people wagon rides through the vineyards, and yes, farming with them.
Hoping to get some riding in too, you know, in my down-time.
Speaking of Farming…
For the past several years we’ve been limping by on just enough water to meet our basic needs around here — watering the horses, ourselves, and keeping our existing trees and walnut grove alive.
Axel finds some snacks while grazing in the walnut grove.
This summer we replaced the pipe, wire, controller, and pump in our well. I searched online for JUST the right seed for horse pasture and yards. I bought the seed and it sat in our mudroom while we waited for the perfect planting weather.
It happened on the first day of fall. The forecast was for cooler temps and even rain all this week. Last Sunday we spent the day with the spring-tooth harrow, load after load of beautifully composted horse manure, and the seed spreader. We got about a third of the place seeded, and that’s quite an accomplishment.
What’s prettier than a red horse on a green background? Not much!
When you first plant grass seed you have to really keep it moist around these parts. We are planting in phases so that we aren’t running sprinklers constantly. Once one section is established, we’ll move on and plant the next. We are expecting our planting season to last into November, but we should be done by the end of October.
Besides being nutritionally important to have a good mix of grass and legumes for the horses, I just don’t think there’s anything prettier than a happy horse in a green field. Looking forward to beautiful fields this fall!
