RicelandMeadows

July 9, 2025

I snapped this picture of our little garden on July 2nd. We were getting ready to leave for Michigan to attend Horse Progress Days. We had a good time. We saw lots of innovative horse-drawn equipment, plenty of old friends and some great horses. It was a good time, but boy are we ever glad to be home!

July has been hot. Our temps had been in the 90+ F range. That is hot for man and beast. Hoeing the garden or pushing the cultivator, waited until almost dark, trying to take advantage of a cooler time. Still hot and muggy, but better.

The construction project of the small barn renovation, will continue this week. We had to wait on our hardwood stall lumber. I want to use native oak for its strength and durability. I don’t have enough on the farm to cut our own, so I bought it from a local source. I picked it up today.

Breeding season is winding down. In just a few weeks we will be done with that job and harmony returns to the farm. Our stallion thinks every visitor is a potential mate for him. He calls out to the mares, but they are busy with their babies. I was finally able to put him together with Maggee. She is confirmed in foal for 2026. They can now be pasture buddies.

I am not a huge fan of a white stripe or blaze, but these two match pretty well. They get along good now, so we shall see what the future holds. The nice thing about two in a pasture together is they keep each other company. They swish each other’s flies away too. They are most always together waiting at the gate for me and dinner

Our hay making here at the farm has been delayed by the weather, over and over. We finally had a great stretch of dry weather while we were gone. Thankfully our hay guys stayed steady. We came home to a full barn of small square bales. Our fields here on the farm, will be used for round bales for our big outside manger and pasture feeding as needed.

The month is rolling by. Thankfully we are getting some normal July weather. The pop-up showers make it hard to dry hay, but the lower humidity makes working outside better for everyone. We have one more mare to foal yet this year. Perhaps the full moon will encourage the little one to make its appearance? More that likely it will come at night…when it’s cooler!