Cold Rainy Thursday

I left the house before 6:00 am to drive up to the barn first and check on Holly and Zalena before heading out to pick up Israel. A cold rain was falling and I was relieved to see that both mares were still pregnant.
Emily had the morning free to help move Sissy and her filly Raven's Heart out to Middle Grove now that she is no longer in season. Israel was loaded into the back seat of the truck, the horses loaded right up and off we drove through the rain to the wildlands.
Sissy was thrilled when we arrived, as soon as she was turned loose she took off at a gallop to meet up with the other horses which were at the top of the hill.

When we arrived home there was a crew at the farm house installing our new heat pump and furnace so Israel and I stayed up at the apartment until the workers finished up. Emily spent the afternoon fixing fences and filling pot holes in the rain. After Israel's nice long nap in the very quiet apartment we went back to the house to find the new furnace had been installed and working but set at a very cold 62 degrees. In this drafty house without the wood burner fired up or a space heater glowing 62 is uncomfortably cold especially for a baby. The thermostat was set to 70 and within minutes that new furnace worked so well the house reached temperature. Of course as soon as Mark came home we had to set it back down but for a few minutes that sure felt good. Israel is just fascinated with the dogs, he even noticed the picture of the dog on the treat box.

After supper Mark and Emily went back out into the rain to work on filling more pot holes with gravel working until dark. We are down to 11 horses here, the rest are at Middle Grove for at least another month. Karin called to report Sangria is now in season along with Lilypony and most disappointing Prissy. We may need to find a home for Prissy as this is the second time she has come up open after a hard winter. Her previous owner suggested using a caslick on her. Prissy is a beautiful mare, tall, black and white paint with a very thick long mane and she would be a great cross with a Friesian but she is going to have to be pampered, more than we want to pamper a horse. She gets pregnant with no problem and is registered.

We will breed Prissy to Valiant and once she is sonagramed in foal place her for sale but will want to know she is going to a good home.
Holly and Zalena are spending the night inside. Even though neither mare is due yet I just don't want to take a chance on a foal born outside in this kind of weather.