I got out this morning and rode Tyra. And this evening I rode Hrimmi. Pete rode Raudi. Hrimmi is grass obsessed, so keeping her head up is sometimes difficult. Who can blame her? It must be excruciating to be ridden through a field of greens after eight months, an entire winter, with no greens.

As I was riding Hrimmi, I sang a version of Paul Simon’s song Graceland. Mine was Grassland, as in, “we’re going to grassland.” We have to let them eat some grass, so their guts acclimate to the dietary change. This is going to be important once we get out on the trail.

Alys and Hrimmi

One year, we pastured the horses in Colorado. They were ankle deep in lush grass. Siggi and Raudi both foundered. It was mild, and they did not go lame.

Never again, I said. Lesson learned, the easy way.

Having horses is of course very expensive. At the same time, the amount of time spent caring for them exceeds the amount of time spent riding them. I think, overall, that this is a truism. There is the regular, day-to-day stuff that needs to be done. I clean the pen morning and night, and often at times in between.

There are also ongoing maintenance tasks. I was kicking myself because I didn’t clean the horse gear in the winter. Far better to do this in the dark of winter than the light of summer. Did I learn my lesson? We shall see.

Yesterday I cleaned one saddle, two leather halters, two bridles and three saddle pads. Today I cleaned one saddle and four girths. I spent an equal amount of time, both days, doing this. Tomorrow, I will clean at least one saddle. Oh, and I also vacuumed the trailer tack room, the reason being: I could. Pete bought a new shop vac. We have an old one that Mike, the former owner, left here. It’s big and it’s noisy. It might have more suck than the new one, but having something quieter outweighs the noise drawback.

It was cold, but the sun was shining as I worked. I could (when I wasn’t vacuuming) hear the birds.

Goats and chickens are also high maintenance animals. I’ve been making sure that the chickens and goats get out of their pen at least once a day. The goats are barren because they’ve not been bred. The chickens have resumed laying eggs, meaning that Ruth, Bader, and Ginsberg are still what I call high production animals.

Gardens aren’t expensive, but they do require considerable time and effort. Pete remains the head gardener. His gardening efforts are incredibly extensive, so much so that he gives tours. Tonight, I was a tour recipient. I liked checking out the apple grafted trees. Our veterinarian Zach has been grafting different varieties on a large crabapple for the past couple of years. They even labeled the grafts with tags.

Today I turned the soil and pulled the weeds out of the upper garden bed. I actually enjoyed doing this. Maybe it was because I saw that this endeavor had a beginning, middle, and end. Hard to say.

Next: 153. 6/5/24: Greatest Of All Time