Bales to Chew

New Hay
Originally uploaded by Contrary Goddess.

I was inspired Saturday to get the horse out. It had been awhile, and after all, I'm a cowgirl and cowgirls do better getting their horses out now and again.

But before I could hook him I needed to trim his feet. Now, giving a pedicure to a 2000# horse is something else again but I've done well enough at it actually as it has been more than a year since a farrier has visited and his feet look as good as ever. Belgians aren't known for their good feet, but his aren't bad.

So, I did his feet, then sawed some wood in order to rest up. Then I harnessed him. Harness for a draft horse weighs about 50 pounds, and that doesn't count everything, just everything that is all in one piece and all has to be put over his 6' back at one time. It was a bit cold so I thought he might be frisky but he stood good as gold while I wrestled some with the forecart. Then I hooked the cart to forecart, took eldest and some buckets and a shovel and went to fill in low spots in our private road.

I'd done a few loads of that back and forth when a neighbor pulled up saying he had a tree for the horse to pull. I made my husband go look at it and he came back and said go for it so we walked, oh, less than a mile up the holler and pulled two huge logs, then loaded up our cart with firewood and came home.

He'd had it, and so had I. I knew we were going to try to get hay today though so I told him to hang on and he'd have a treat. I unharnessed him, cooled him out, gave him a small ration of grain (he rarely gets any, and only when he works), and gave him back to his donkey who had fretted up and down the fence ever since I'd taken the horse out.

And today the most generous bale of hay was fetched in our small truck, and without equipment to handle it with we've figured out how to tip it out of the truck and into their field without having it roll all the way down and into the creek at the bottom back.

They entertained me for hours with their new haybale herd antics.

And then I went to cut more wood. The neighborhood patriarch had favored me with a piece of his famous cured ham and I had in mind to make biscuits and gravy to go with it and would need a hot fire for supper.