Bathing Horses

My mind was still on vacation last night. I went to bed without preparing the coffee, woke up at 4:45 am and thought, "Oh good the coffee should be ready by 5:00" until reality sunk in, if I don't make the coffee there will be no coffee. I won't be making that mistake again any time soon.
We had a busy day this beautiful Feb 27th, 2016. Walter is stalled until Tuesday so he needed to be fed and watered. His water bucket was dumped and on the ground and he was thirsty. I filled 2 buckets, gave him the hay Emily had prepared, a scoop of grain then left the barn. A couple hours later Mark needed some help taking the solar panels outside as Tim and Bill offered to help. When I arrived in the barn to help him Walter had dumped both water buckets.
A bright red cardinal came to visit this morning. He probably stopped by to see if we would feed him like mom does but that doesn't happen here. If I'm going to buy feed it is going to be dog, horse or human.

 On the way back up to the barn Ribbon and Ayanna were sacked out sound asleep in the warm sunshine. I had to check to make sure they were breathing they were so still.

Karin had 2 trail rides scheduled today. The first at 10:30 am and the second at 1:00 pm. Bethany and Bill arrived late last night and wanted to ride. Well Bethany did, Bill said he would only ride if we gave him a big horse! Now which horse do you think Karin had ready for Bill after hearing that request?
You guessed it, Ribbon! That meant the sleeping mares needed to wake up.

Karin pulled in Jenis, Marika, Eliza, Zalena, Indy, Ribbon, Ayanna and Anna for the first trail ride. She had 10 wanting to ride so 2 of the horses were ridden double.  Rodney took Ava for a bit on Eliza then Ava was moved to Bethany who was riding Jenis.

  Bill went double with Mackenson on Ribbon. Above is the group heading out and below is the group after the trail ride. 

 Those that wanted to took their horses into the field for a fun gallop. Below is Ayanna with Karin.

 Hannah and Anna had a ball racing with Indy and Anna. 

 Bethany had to show us a rear with Jenis. 

 Ribbon is all stretched out at a gallop with Bill.

To see the rest of that trail ride pictures click HERE. 

We left the horses tied up in the arena so we could get the hot water heater hooked up to get some of the dried mud off these 8. Karin brought each mare to the water heater while I soaked the bad spots. That water heater works great. The hot water dissolves the mud balls right off the feather and the mud clumps off too. 

 Jesse Stickling showed up just as we were finishing up.  He decided to ride Zalena bareback.

 Karin talked him into using the bareback pad for the trails. 

 He was able to trot and canter her without losing his balance on this ride. 

Tim finished up tightening the screws on the solar panel's once Bill left on the trail ride.

All the panels are up now, Mark just needs to hook up all the wires and this first batch will be ready to start producing electricity. Mark would like to put up 16 more panels but has to earn some more money first. Maybe next year for the next set. He, Spark and Jake were down at the civic center for the home show showcasing these solar systems, heat pumps, air conditioners and furnaces. He got home late tonight, will go back tomorrow afternoon then tear down at 4:00 pm. They were busy today talking to lots of people. Mom left for church early this morning for church cleaning then lunch set up. She and Rhonda are giving lunch tomorrow. Mom said there was a big group for cleaning and once it was done many stayed to help set up. What servant hearts we have in Peoria. I have to take my last trip up to the barn right now to feed and water Walter then will hit the sack.