It took all my willpower to leave my cozy house this Sunday morning and drive out into the countryside for my usual hay-buying ritual. Yesterday, it was sunny and in the 70’s. Now, it’s turned cold and miserable. I wasn’t expecting much as far as the hay went. The second cut hay hasn’t been very good. It’s dry, and I got some bales full of Queen Anne’s Lace and thistles recently.
So, I was blown away by this truck trailer full of soft green grassy hay. What a stroke of good luck! The boys who loaded it for me said they were shocked by how beautiful it was when it came in this week. My horses wolfed down a flake in nothing flat. I decided to go back for a second load.
On my way home, as I was chanting “Thank you, thank you, thank you”, I remembered that one of my neighbors had been burned by a bad hay deal. She ended up with some really awful, moldy stuff and was struggling to get by. I stopped to see her, pretending to be the hay fairy, and gave her some of my bounty.
“It’s going to freeze tonight. Put the blankets back on your horses because this is the worst time of year for them to get a chill. It will make them really sick.” she advised me. She's our local medicine woman, so I always do what she tells me. Tonight, Silk and Siete weren’t happy to be bundled up again, but that gorgeous green salad made up for it. And I felt grateful for good hay and good neighbors.
8 comments:
I'm so glad you shared your bounty. Plus you bundled up Silk and Siete. The Way to go is through sharing. Best - Bill
What a great example of paying it forward, and such a nice story to start my week.
Sounds like some really nice hay. It was cold last night and I'm sure they appreciated their blankets around 3 in the morning.
When I lived in Maine I built a hay storage shed that could hold a year's worth of hay, which at that time also happened to be a truckload -- 600 bales. Oh for the good old days when 600 bales was hay for 12 months!
Our local hay this past year was a discouraging mix of 'dusty' heavy bales and stemmy light bales and some fine mix of hay. I only buy 1st cut and ended up with 1st cut that was cut and baled as late as September.
But the horses are alive and well despite what looks like lousy hay. I aim to get my hay earlier in the season this year, so let's pray for good hay growing and cutting weather!
Glad you found some good day! I'm sure S&S appreciate it, too!Thistles/stickers/sticks in hay make me nervous...two few horses in one month at my mom's stable would not eat and were bleeding from the mouth, turns out they'd gotten a sticker/thorn from hay lodged in their gums. Lots of vet bills later....shortly after, I found a few "stickers" in the grass hay we feed and although they seemed relatively small and harmless compared to the size of the brambles/thorns that could cause damage, I still worry!!!
I feel fortunate to have found some good hay as well. Your neighbot is lucky to have a neighbor like you. This is a tough year for many horse owners.
As for blankets, we're doing the same here. It was near 80 on Saturday and now it's snowing.
At this point, even it was a blizzard, my girls would rip off their blankets!
Such a nice gesture with the hay!
We've had a couple of nights in the thirties but I've resisted putting the blankets back on. All the horses' coats are fluffing up and I figure they'll be warm enough with hay and the shelter of their stalls. (not to mention the layer of fat they all have!)
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