Winter is going to be here way before I even realize it. Kill me. Actually, I would give anything for the ground to freeze and the mud to be no more! I shouldn't say that though, because I'm really not ready for it to freeze yet. I am sitting here looking at 2 loads of limestone, and 1 load of gravel sitting outside. The limestone is for another drylot, the gravel is for the driveway. We had 5 loads of gravel brought in yesterday, and this one is the lasssst one. Since we ran the trench across the driveway for water to the barn, the driveway had turned into a muddy, bumpy mess. It's much better now, and the water in the barn is wayy worth it 
The limestone loads are going to make another drylot. Right now I have enough room for my 5 horses to all be outside, but I need room for 2 more horses to come home this winter. If you can't tell by now, I am WAY anti-mud. I hate my horses standing in mud, I hate cleaning mud off, I hate being muddy, I hate walking through mud. I hate everything about mud. So, I am very proud of my drylots. If done correctly, a few loads of limestone can keep mud at a minimum all year long. If you don't put enough down right from the beginning though, the horse's foot will go right through the lime and bring mud back up, mixing in all your limestone and wasting your entire load. I put limestone down right from the very beginning, and usually I add a load per paddock once a year. Keeping manure picked up in the paddocks is important also, but really simple and quick to do if you make it part of your daily routine. The pros of a mud-free facility are sooooooo worth the small effort required. We have a box scraper, so it's very simple the spread it out as well. I love my limestone 
The horses have been off the pastures for awhile now. It hasn't been dry for weeks. Ryan is out in the fields with the Combine today. It isn't dry enough, but at this point, it doesn't look like it's going to get any drier. The farmers can't wait on the weather. This is going to be a bad year for the crops. Yikes.
Pikzee and Rosie (the broodmares) are doing great. They are fat and sassy. Actually, they are almost due for their next ultrasounds. Guess I better call the vet. I adore my vet. He is a repro specialist who really knows his stuff. It is so important to have a good reproductive veterinarian when breeding, and I am very lucky to have found my guy since I moved here. I trust him completely. Both girls were a little difficult to get in foal this year for their own reasons. Plus we were racing the clock, since they didn't even arrive here in IL until June. So I was estatic when both girls checked in. Now I'm just hoping both babies are still cookin' in there!
Sully, Rico, and Daisy are just hangin out. Sully should be schooling FEI by now, Rico should be in heavy training, and so should Daisy, but right now there are other things that need my attention unfortunately! Someday their time will come! haha. I love them all, they are very important members of my family, so it's ok. Ryan and I enjoy having Rico and Daisy here to trail ride, so I guess that's their job.
Ryan and I made a checklist of things we need to accomplish before winter. It ended up being about 5,000 pages long! Hah! No, really we're getting close to being set for winter....but there are still several things left to get done. I need sliding doors on the barn. The wind out here gets strong and makes it bitter cold inside. I need to finish this new drylot, but actually, it's a better idea to wait until the ground is frozen (or at least DRY!) to spread the lime. That way the big heavy tractor won't make a mess. We did get electricity in the front part of the barn, where Sully's stall and Daisy and Rico's run-in are (YES!) but not the back yet. The back of the barn is where Rosie and Pikzee's run-in and huge drylot are. There are also 2 more stalls back there. (One is the goats' new home). The other stall needs rubber mats, then it's good to go. I wanted to clean out the hayloft and redo the floor, but I don't really know if that will happen. We were planning on cleaning it out and plowing the old straw under when Ryan plows the cornfields, but it's getting so late already and they're just starting to harvest. We'll see!
Besides the ponies, all the other critters are just dandy. The goats have totally settled in and dig it here. They are still behaving, so they still have freedom to roam where they please. They know to go into their stall once it gets dark, and if we're a little late for feeding, they've already put themselves away and are already curled up asleep by the time we get there. They are super sweet and friendly. They come right up to us for scratches and attention. We feed them black oil sunflowers as a treat, and they love them! The doggies are all curled up around me on the couch. They troop it out and stay outside with us still, but the temperature won't have to drop too many more degrees before the Italian Greyhounds demand to stay inside, warm and cozy! Ellie is the epitome of a farmdog- if we're outside, she's outside. We bought her a fabulous doggie coat for the colder weather from Foggy Mountain Dog Coats. They make AWESOME horse-style dog blankets that fit super well, are really durable, look adorable, and are affordable! We bought a coat for all 4 of our dogs. Dogcoat.com is the website. If you're looking for a coat that actually keeps the dogs warm, that's your place! Ellie really needed one though, as silly as it seems. She'll stay outside with us even in 0 degree snowstorms, shivering away but happy to be helping. And the Iggies, of course they needs coats. The Iggies are pathetic little shivering babies. Speaking of which, I just learned how to play with Imovie on the Mac, so I made a video of our doggies. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0AKC_e9FmR4 Check them out!
Well, I better go switch laundry around. I hate doing laundry. Then soon it will be time to go bring in and feed the horses. Ahhh....I love my life on our little farm. Halloween night will be our 1 year anniversary living here. I'm really excited for year 2.
