My daily life in winter probably looks a bit different than the average blogger (at least the ones I follow seem to heavily skew towards boarding). And that's totally fine, I just figured I'd post a run through of what life looks like with minimal daylight and no indoor :( spoiler alert -- it kinda sucks haha.
 |
| Teeny dog thinks it sucks too. |
O'dark thirty -- alarm goes off. Kick dogs outside, layer up and grab my headlight. Let the dogs in, head outside for chores. Toss feed to the horses, mix feed for the goats, grab hay and hike out to their pen. Then fill bucket of water for the chickens, sling some grain for them. By this point, usually the horses are done eating, so I can turn them out. Head back inside, feed the dogs, then hop in the shower and get ready for work.
 |
| #thingsthatgetmethroughtheday |
Drive an hour, work eight hours (plus time for lunch), then drive an hour home. At least once a week, stop by the feed store and grab at least 100 lbs of grain for one animal or another.
 |
| Worth it when your horses look like this though, right? |
Close to sunset (or after sunset) -- get home from work. Let dogs out, change into "barn clothes". Muck four stalls, fill hay feeders and water buckets, feed the goats. If it's nice (aka above 35 and without gusting wind and I'm feeling real froggy), grab a horse and work them under the lights.
Spoiler alert: I'm not sure this will be a frequent occurrence haha. Head back inside, cook and eat dinner, then do laundry/dishes/other housework. Head back out to feed the horses and pull them in for the night. If it's cold, hit the hot tub ;) crash early, because DH's alarm goes off reeeeeaaaaallllllll early.
 |
| Teeny dog in a sweater doesn't understand why we go to bed at 9 pm. |
Mostly, I spend a lot of time praying for the days to get longer and temps above freezing! How about you? How does your routine change between seasons as we head for the shortest days of the year?
I lie to myself a lot.
ReplyDeleteHaha
DeleteSame, only I'm not lucky enough to have a house on the farm yet so add driving to the mix for all the horsey chores, though by guys are on 24/7 turnout so less chores thankfully.
ReplyDeleteI wish we had the pasture for 24/7 turnout! But living on the farm is a decent trade-off, haha.
DeleteSame, except I don't have goats and Taran is the worlds. slowest. eater.
ReplyDeleteOmg my geriatric OTTB eats s.o. s.l.o.w. too -- sometimes while I wait for him to finish I get a jump start on cleaning stalls for the evening haha.
DeleteYou need some goats, they're pretty damn funny 😂
Oh yeah. Pasture board horses near my office which is a 50 minute commute over 5 mountains in the snowiest region of the whole state. If I'm working...wake up at 430am, out the door by 520am, work from 6am-430pm. If I go see horses you see how very little daylight this leaves me after work! lol And I don't have a substantial indoor riding area AT ALL. And then my weekends are consumed with ski patrolling...thus no horses. So yeah. I feel ya. Oi to the vey. Second week of January always starts to feel more bearable though! Sunset starts creeping later and later.
ReplyDeleteMan that sucks -- misery loves company, right? Ugh. Counting down to spring with you!
Deletei basically spend this time of year counting down the days until the winter solstice. (15 days. we can do this!)
ReplyDeleteSo close and yet so far! Haha. At least I'm doing a lot of traveling this winter which helps eliminate the "I should be riding" guilt -- can't ride if I'm in another state, lol.
DeleteWhat Emma said.
DeleteI have an indoor and lights and I board, but the whole "never see my horse in the light" thing is getting real old. My pictures are terrible.
Maybe you need one of those selfie lights for your phone 😋
DeleteThis sounds like my life with a few tweaks. Working 11-12 hour days. No hr long commute. No goats.
ReplyDeleteI'm just sitting in a corner rocking back and forth waiting for the days to get longer lol
I would say you should get some goats, but Spud is probably entertaining enough to replace them. Plus he actually does things besides scream for feed 172626x a day like they do....haha.
DeleteSolidarity! Only a few weeks from the solstice... It'll get better.... Right?
Wooooof that's rough. Re-thinking the whole country living thing :)
ReplyDeleteIt definitely has its downsides haha. Obviously I could do things differently -- leave the horses out 24/7... Or you know, have less animals? Winter is definitely my least favorite time to live on a "farm" 😂
DeleteGirl, I feel this so hard. WHEN IS THE SUN COMING BACK AT NIGHT?! I'm really struggling to adjust to fitting in pony time with my new 8-4 job!
ReplyDeleteIt's so hard! Makes me soooo jealous of people with flexible schedules or who work from home haha. Ah well. The days will start getting longer soon!
DeleteOnce everything is frozen I quit riding and whine about how much I miss riding for hours on end. Otherwise the days are much the same! It is nice to get inside before 9 pm though. That's the only plus side to not riding.
ReplyDeleteHaha I'm not gonna lie, sometimes the nice thing about having a backyard barn is being absolved from riding year round. When I boarded, I still felt pressure to ride in shitty weather cause I was paying for an indoor (that was 100% in my brain, nobody external ever pressured me). But now it's like "rainy and cold? Not riding!" and that's okay 😉
DeleteI 100% agree! Not that it's a possibility on my property, but even if I could build an indoor I don't know that I would for this exact reason!
DeleteYour horses look spectacular
ReplyDeleteThank you!
DeleteYour ponies look GREAT. Totally worth the feed store trips 😏
ReplyDeleteWe did so much stocking up for December that I'm terrified to see that bill 😂
Delete