We're currently under an "Extreme Cold Warning" here, and they're not kidding: the temperature this morning was -28c, with a windchill of -43c! As such, while the schools in town are open, they suggested that out-of-town kids stay home; that was fine by me, as I didn't particularly feel like going anywhere in this bitter cold. The only ( Read more... )

It seems to me that I just updated this thing, yet I look back and I see that over a month has passed since the last entry! So much for more regular updates. :/

Things have been busy both at the shop and at the farm, and they will likely only get more so as the weather warms up and more and more stuff comes in. MARCH came in like the proverbial ( Read more... )

     It was (as it often is) a busy weekend: With winter weather due any time, we've been trying to get as much of the outdoor work done as possible, even though that actually means we've barely made a dent in the amount that needs to be done.  Our neighbour delivered a bale of hay on Friday, so the horses will have food for another month (roughly ( Read more... )

I finally got my buffing machine set up, and tried to duplicate why I had seen in the YouTube videos about sharpening knives that way. This was also how we sharpened the knives at the three-day hoof-trimming course that I took at Old's College before we moved out here. I don't think I'm doing it properly though, as the knives don't seem to ( Read more... )

I managed to get Bonnie's fore hooves trimmed this afternoon. The left was rock-hard, and she was constantly leaning on me, or pulling back, putting an incredible strain on my left arm as I tried to hold her foot up to work on it. By the time I got it trimmed down to something more reasonable I had no strength left in my arm, and I was ( Read more... )

     NOT having a good day today.  I was trying to trim the horses' hooves, but my knives are so incredibly dull that I doubt they could even cut cheese now.  The video that I referenced earlier is fine and dandy, but I don't have that equipment at this time, so I still can't get an edge on these knives.  I have a little sharpening tool, but I ( Read more... )

Finally go around to getting Dirk's hind hooves trimmed this afternoon, and also trimmed all four of Bonnie's hooves. Both of them are still quite sore and pussy-footing around, though I suspect (I hope) that they will feel much better in a day or so. It's interesting (and upsetting) that their response is so delayed, yet when I trimmed ( Read more... )

Bonnie has been having issues with her hooves for a while now, and it's pretty obvious that her feet are very sore. At first I thought that it was just because they were too long, but I've been trimming them back and it doesn't seem to be helping much. I also noticed that she seems to have a bit of Thrush, so I've been treating that with ( Read more... )

We dodged another bullet this weekend as the heavy snowfall that had been predicted never made it here, though I hear Calgary got quite a dumping. We got a dusting, and there were a few moments when it was coming down fast enough to make for nearly white-out conditions, but the overall amount was minimal and much of it melted on contact. ( Read more... )

The Kidling helped me trim Bonnie's fore hooves this evening. Despite the fact that he grumbles about how much he doesn't like the way horses smell, or having to get muck on is shoes, I get the impression that he actually enjoys helping in this manner. It could be because he really doesn't have to DO anything except stand there and keep her ( Read more... )