I love fall. I love
the crispness that comes with the cooling temperatures. Such a relief from summer’s oppressive heat
and humidity. This year though, fall is
acting like a recalcitrant two year old that doesn’t want to go to bed. September 21st was the first day
of fall with equal amounts of daylight and night time. Once those nights get longer, though, Mother
Nature is by turns grumpy and glorious.
What I don’t like, especially for my horses, are the wild
swings we’ve had so many of this season.
From 80 degree days to 25 degree nights.
This time of fall they aren’t ready for that. Fall starts for the horses around the end of
August. Their coats lose the slick shine of their summer do and edges towards a
soft velvet plush that hints at the thick hairiness of their winter coat. Horses don’t grow their coats in response to temperature;
rather their coats thicken in reaction to the amount of daylight.
So in October, they don’t have their full coats and if it
starts raining or snowing when the temps dip below 30 degrees it can be brutal
for them.
Even more so because they won’t use the run in shed to stay
dry. That I will never understand. They’ve lived on pasture for the past 5 years
and haven’t seen the inside of a stall that entire time. You’d think they would have figured out by
now that: roof=dry and dry=not
freezing. But, nope, they’d rather
shiver standing under a pine tree.
I guess that’s what happens when a 1500 lbs body is paired
with a brain the size of a grapefruit.
This past weekend though, was just a little over the
top. Thursday it was in the mid to
upper 60’s, sunny and a sparkling fall day.
On Friday, Mom Nature got a little grumpy and on Friday night she had a
full blown temper tantrum. In the 30’s,
6 inches of snow and to top it off, no electricity. And by Sunday, back into the 60’s and snow
almost completely melted.
Saturday during Mom Nature's temper tantrum
Sunday, after she smiled again:
I really, really, REALLY hope this is not a harbinger of things to come. It would almost make me want to move back into town.
Almost.
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