Early Spring Huh? Sure it is….

Maybe the groundhog was confused. Or maybe I think it should be spring automatically after Ground Hog Day. Whatever the case might be, my thoughts of awesome springtime-like weather were a little too early.

Because this is definitely NOT spring like weather!

But this is A-OK because it isn’t like I could ride anyway. So, instead of being down in the dumps about the snow, I decided to use it to my advantage. This is a typical spring snow for Colorado. It’s heavy, deep and wet. And I had finally gotten rid of most of the yucky poop mud out of my horses’ pens just a day earlier.

Well, not completely. But they were a lot better than they had been. So I decided to venture out and remove as much of the snow from the front of their pens, and inside of their pens as I could.

Because all of this snow will melt over the course of the next 3 or 4 days, and then I will be left with a muddy, sloppy mess. No, thank you.

Also, I am participating in the Ride for Success Challenge, and I need a work-out day. So what better way to work out than to shovel some snow?

Waiting for an Early Spring

I am pretty much cleared to use my shoulder now. So, as long as I am careful with how much weight I load into the shovel, I should be safe to move some snow. And there is a lot of snow to be moved. That’s for sure.

I started by shoveling a path from the garage to the horse’s paddock area. And I made a pit stop at the chicken coop so they would be able to get out of their hen house and to their food.

Then I began to move the snow from my hitching post, the front of the food barn, and about a 10-foot section all around the front of my horse’s pens. My goal is to hopefully keep the melting snow out of this area, which should help to reduce the amount of mud, I hope.

Next, it was time to tackle the pens. Cleaning poop is challenging enough in the mud. But then, when snow is stacked up overtop of the already dirty pen, it just adds to the difficulty. The nighttime temperatures are still below freezing. So every day, the poop thaws, and then at night, the ground refreezes. Keeping the manure to a minimum is crucial to prevent poopsicles.

So, two and a half hours later, my shoveling job was complete. It may not be perfect, but there is a lot less snow to turn into water that turns into mud left in the pens. It also makes it a lot easier to get out to the horses for mealtime.

Pony Play Time

This was also a great time to turn the horses out, and let them play in the snow.

It’s fun to be out with them when they are running around, giving their best impression of Budweiser Clydesdales.

Watching Al-Capony trying to keep up and herd Jesse is always entertaining.

Ponies are a lot of fun. Well, this guy is. He is so animated with everything he does. It is fricken adorable, to say the least. But he does live up to the name of Al-Capony.

He likes to make sure that Jesse knows who the boss is at all times.

So a lot of the time, Jesse will hang out with me and keep his distance away from the pony when I am out with them.

Waiting for an Early Spring

Overall I think this was a successful day with the horses. I got some exercise, the horses got to play, and I got rid of a little bit of the snow that would potentially turn into mud. Maybe tomorrow I will move more snow with the tractor. But that’s future Lisa’s worry. For tonight I am done. And we will see what tomorrow brings – tomorrow.