Up and at ’em this morning only to find there had been snow last night…..
and a large quantity of rain too. Everywhere is soaked, saturated, sodden and revolting.
I am not sure what the official meterological term for this is – sludge comes to mind.
The horses were all looking hopeful and waiting by the gate and their feed bowls. Everyone was shivering except for Haakon, Iacs, Hetja and Hjalti.
I hate seeing horses shiver. It worries me. They looked so depressed, wet-through and miserable. The weather had got to them and, after giving them a nice hard feed, I opened up the stable, put out some hay and also let them finish off the remains of the silage bale outside.
They soon perked up and the shivering quickly stopped.
Lambie and Ster are not too keen on this weather either. On the dog walk, Lambie and I met a dying hill sheep. Lambie didn’t understand at all. He was trying to make it react but it wouldn’t so I called him away. Poor thing had laid down to die – it was beyond help. Horrid. This kind of weather kills animals. Snow is fine – it lies on the tops of coats and is insulating but sleet and a north wind (with a high wind chill factor) is the killer – soaks right down to the skin.
Tonight the horses have access to their stable and the field if they want.
(Taktur has the Wug of Wugs (Rambo high neck) and Kappi has a waterproof rug. They also have 3 bags of silage, endless carrots and lots of buildings to shelter behind. They were not shivering this morning and seemed oblivious of the weather when I lugged their food over.)
know what you mean about the sludge, we had snow overnight as well and now it is just sludge – yuck – and my boots still leak
Have you seen Lambert on the hill? Just wondering if he is coping, and wishing he was warm and safe with you.
OH saw him the other day. He called his name and Lambert said “aww, Dad, don’t do this. I don’t know you”. Therefore he is fine.
So sad about the hill sheep. I think I understand now why I’ve never had foot rot in any of my Shetlands here in the wet Pacific NW; sheep with that weakness obviously succumbed long before Shetland sheep were imported to North America.
Sorry to hear about the hill sheep. Very glad you have the training barn to shelter the horses. We call that messy “boot sucking ooze” but sludge works.
The first picture reminds me of a Rothko. Beautiful.