will i ever be able to straightenn out the barn and all teh paraphenallia thT GOES WITH HORSE OWNERSHIP...- I SAT IN THE SHADE AND WENT THRU IT ALL... SELENIUM -- WHO KNEW... YEARS AGO THAT THE HAY FIELDS OF CANADA AND TEH USA WERE BECOMING DEPLETED OF SELENIUM.. even dr pol talks about that in mich..... SO ONE OF TEH THINGS WE NEEDED TO TRY AND GET MO THE AMISH MULE BACK ON HER FEET THRIVING, WAS TO ADD SELENIUM TO HER GRAIN.. IT IS A SANDY SORT OF STUFF-- AND SHE WAS TO GET A COUple SPOONFULLS A DAY. IT CAME IN A 10 POUND CONTAINER AND SHE RESPONDED QUICKLY TO SOMETHING ( COULD HAVE BEEN NICE HAY, ENOUGH GRAIN AND A BATH) SO AS SHE LOOKED BETTER WE FORGOT TO GIVE IT TO HER WHICH EXPLAINS TEH 7.75 POUNDS OF SELENIUM left in the barn..
TEHN THERE IS BRAN... WE ALL KNOW HOW USEFUL BRAN IJS-- AND THERE ARE TIMES WHEN A HORSE WOUOLD LIKE A NICE WAARM BRAN MASH WHICH YOU MAKE WITH MOLASSAS, SALT, HANDFUL OF GRAIN STEAMING HOT WATER,, BRAN AND COVER WITH A TOWEL TIL WARM... SMELLS WONDERFUL-- PROBLEM IS IT ONLY COMES IN A 50 POUND BAG... AND BEING LIGHT FLUFFY, THAT 50 POUND GAG IS TEH SIZE OF A COMPACT CAR... SO AFTER YOU USE MAYBE A SHOEBOX FULL ON TEH COLD NIGHT YOU ARE BEING SO KIND TO YOUR HORSE.... THOU THEN SET THAT BAG OF BRAN INT EH CORNER WHERE THE RATS CAN ENJOY IT FOR TEH REST FOr TEH WINTER... HAVING EATEN A HOLE IN THE BOTTOM OF THE BAG SO WHEN YOU PICK IT UP-- THAT LIGHT FLUFFY STUFF GETS DISTRIBUTED ALL OIVER...
TOILET BRUSHES-- YOU SHOUOLD HAVE ONE BY EVERY WATER SOURCE... LIKE HOSE.. SO YOUCAN QUICK SWIPE OUT THE Wter buckets without contaminating with soap that needs to be rinsed very thoroughly. theses bucket scrubbers wander.. so every time y9ou are in walmart and walk by teh toilet brush section where they are only $1.49 you buy one.-- seeing as you rarrely park your car at the end of a hose, they are inclined to collect. sometiemes in an effort to look like you rtan teh stable that houses secretariat , you buy a heavy duty official bucket scrubber... a beautiful thing w=wooden with leather handle... which looka terriffic, but is so cumbersome it precipitates the walmart episode of buyint teh $1.49 that really works.
palm sized rubber grooming devices... or more accurately back scratching ( horses backs..)-- these come in teh wooden/leather variety also--- only teh best of stables would own those that is so teh jack russell stable dogs can chew off the leather handle ... but the $1.49 4H variety are better... problemis the y all get tgerrib ly dirty and are not kept anywhere hear the end of a hose...so you never clean them and for $1.49, you buy anorther and toss the other in the bucket in the corner.
buckets ! aye there's the rub.... from lightweight dip and carry to flat back ones that lie against teh wall, to the corner feed tups with the ring so the horse does not flip his grain onto the floor in teh excitement of eating his dinner.-- they come in such lovely colors.. and all do 2 things... they crack.. and eventually loose whatever it was they had to hang them by. water buckets must be matching in size and shape-- the usual 5 gallon ones are a good example... in morning in the winter it just takes 1/2 a bucket oif warm water and go down teh line of frozen buckets dipping each in the hot water for 4 seconds and tippin g out the block of ice. you can empty 7 to 10 frozen buckets that way and the ice cleans them out too. .....they just have to match in size and shape.... therefore....
all the mis matched buckets get stored in teh corner in case.......
cracked buckets have a particular value... they can be hung outdoors and will not collect rainwater.
muck buckets also in colors very cheap ?$7? at walmart about 24 inches diameter-- however those do not stand up tohte usual 4H type use where some kid attaches a short rope to it and drags it all over and to the manure pile the bottoms wear out of teh cheap ones... a good muck bucket will last for years.
kids don't use a wheelbarrow as they usually keep the stalls very "picked up" by picking just the puckies..
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OK--- so i just remembered a horse pucky story .. my friend lynn was a quarterhorse nutt... and she and i ended up in canada at a farm that raised and sold hay to the big truckers from whom i bought hay in massesschuettes - the family had a bunch of boys... who used to flatten a newly produced horse pucky and use it for a hocky puck. she had married one of the sons and moved to mass when he joined the bruins.. teh rest of that hay story was wayne and his broithers were at my house in lynnfield -- the origional crazy acres... i had just had 30 tons of hay delevered and wayne did not like the way it was stacked, so he and brothers threw it all out the door and tossed it back up... without a hay "elevator" and stacked it the way they wanted. they were quick... they had done that all thier lives... talk about upper body stregnth. !! i don't remember exactly , but i don't think it took an hour.
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so today... i will be bucket scrubbing off the puppy hill camera.... as long as the shade lasts...
won't that be exciting?
p..s....fyi last night , i learned that the F and J are tehet wo keys on teh keyboard thwt have tiny bumps so blind folk and others ??can positon their hands...
like teh # 5 on all telephones calculators tv remotes etc...
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