Wellness

Saturday, January 07, 2023

Today will be horse-focused and busy. A load of hay is scheduled to arrive and be stacked. It’s a “relief infusion” that will provide food aplenty for my equines until well into next summer. For a change, I’ll be relieved from having to scramble in early summer to locate available hay, as drought has shortened supplies. This winter is wet enough that next summer’s yields may be greater. I’ll resupply from later summer’s second cutting.

My farrier, Russ, regularly drives from his home base in California and works locally for a few days. Today, he’ll be here to trim my trio’s hooves. Russ knows his business. He watches as a horse trots, sees how its hooves strike and its weight shifts, and then shapes hooves so that each lands most efficiently. I trust Russ’s skills, and moreover, think he’s unique among farriers. Russ has politically liberal views. Today, he’ll offer an interesting perspective on the House’s choregraphed voting to tame a potential leader.

Last night, I couldn’t resist watching a live video stream from the House, as Representatives entered their fifteenth voting round. Theater!

Small wonder that so many people worldwide are addicted to Tik-Tok’s unending, brief, funny videos.

Anyway, I digress from my original point, that today will be busy and interesting. Plus, the local weather is warming up again. Today will reach into the mid-forties, and maybe slightly higher here at the ranch. Weeks of freezing temps make the grounds frozen. I can’t drag the dry lot to clean, so it’s a territory of frozen muck. Walking on those solids is like navigating an ancient lava flow, carefully placing each foot to avoid tripping on protrusions.

Still, it’s the mid-forties! Ah, summerlike.

Dear Friends: Hay, hooves, warmth, and humor; everything a doctor would prescribe.