As I am typing, I am looking out over a very green and grey scene above the Snohomish River. However, there are some pretty white flakes of snow drifting down out of the clouds. We are bracing ourselves for some very cold winter weather and possibly some accumulating snow. Winter is not our favorite season in terms of the farmstead workload, working in the dark/cold/wet conditions just isn't the best. But we know we have it so much easier than many other areas of the country!
Fern, Phil & Carl have been doing well - there have been just a handful of concerns over the last year. Fern tends to get hoof issues in the early fall and had to have some extra farrier care but has been doing well since. She also HATES fireworks and struggled to eat for about a week after New Year's Day. Phil gets his usual tummy issues whenever we get a new load of hay but with research we have found some ways (increasing soaked pellets) to help him. Carl had an apple-choking episode during Christmas break (while we were away). Luckily he recovered the same day (thanks to everyone who helped out with that while we were away. These things are a normal part of caring for horses and we like to keep it real with our future horse owners! :D
The horses all missed the hustle and bustle of lesson activities during December and are happy to have our students and trainer back to keep their lives active and interesting during the long/dark winter. Liv has been doing well in school and is back at Edmonds this quarter in running-start.
We are both excited to work with our Winter students on Mondays this quarter!