Pitchfork, Ice, & a Slobbery Stocking

Well the first news is quite sad. After only 6 months of fairly light use my first pitchfork has a fatal injury. He (yes all poo forks are male) was a Christmas gift from my best friend and a starting point for the bring ponies home project.

RIP pitchfork

Secondly, we finally had a cold enough night to get an idea what the Smartpak bucket insulating cover can do. This was after putting fresh out of the tap barn water in it the night before, so not warm at all. Temperature was 20F in the barn when I took the picture. Side note – does anyone else have bedding that creates so much dust from their horse walking around? Ugh.

Impressive performance so far, interested to see how even colder nights go this week.

I think one of the bigger and somewhat unexpected differences in horses at home are the blanketing demands Stampede makes. I always knew him to run warm at the boarding barn and would dress him in less clothing than most despite his inability to grow a winter coat. At home though he started refusing to leave the barn because he was cold in similar clothing. So evidently my horse needs to be all bundled up now to survive the tundra.

Marshmallow horse

I had never used a neck rug before but bought them for the boys in preparation for their first winter at home and I love them! Actually just ordered one for Maestro today.

In Maestro news, I finally gave in due to excessive neck sweat and gave him a very small clip job. My friend D assisted (fed treats, told me not to make crooked lines, etc) and let me borrow her awesome Andis clippers to complete my first body clip since I was senior in high school who body clipped Phoenix using a trusty pair of Wahl Stable Pros! Maestro came with the side note that he was afraid of clippers and hadn’t been clipped at all before. I had maybe done 4 sessions of desensitization with his head and neck culminating in a bridle path trim over a month ago but that’s about it. Despite some initial fear at the sound of the clippers the young man was great if a bit wiggly for his tiny little clip job. Tested out the extra ventilation last night and it seemed to work well!

Not cooperative but shows my made up pattern that only hits his sweaty areas.

Generally Maestro is a fairly mouth busy and food motivated guy. He loves to get things in his mouth – spray bottles, flowers from jumps, his blanket bag on the stall front, etc. I mistakenly thought if I put his stocking behind his halter it would be safe. Oops. So I get to the barn and all that remains is the little loop on his halter hook. I wonder a bit where the stocking is but it’s not on the ground in his stall so I figure well maybe someone threw it away. Nope.

It’s the best toy, covered in slobber and stored in his feed bucket for later.

I guess at least he entertains himself?

Love the little white spot!

I hope everyone is having a good week and getting prepared for the holidays!

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19 Comments

  1. Rachel - For Want of a Horse

    I am glad the SP bucket wraps are working well for you. At least Maestro only put it in his bucket. Luther trampled his. I keep forgetting to ask you where you got your feed bucket. Win needs one cause he can’t get his giant face in his bucket. LOL

    Reply
    1. stampyandthebrain (Post author)

      Trampling seems like the normal thing to do to me, lol. I got the bucket at TSC although trying to remember if they have them at masserants as well…

      Reply
      1. Rachel - For Want of a Horse

        I looked at massetants for it this weekend.

        Reply
  2. Leah

    Oh Maestro ? what a ham!
    Super interesting to see the insulated bucket cover working – we have electricity in our barn, but the outlets are too high to plug in the heated buckets I have (things you don’t think about when you have electric installed haha) without using extension cords, which you’re not supposed to do. I know lots of people do, but they make me nervous :-/ three of my stalls have insulated bucket holder things that do seem to help, but one of those covers might work well for my last stall!

    And RIP pitchfork 🙁 the first one I had lasted an ungodly long time (like actual years even with daily use) and I was legit sad to see it go. I think I even posted a FB tribute, hahaha.

    Reply
    1. stampyandthebrain (Post author)

      I made the same outlet mistake I guess…I put them high thinking I wanted them where the horses couldn’t reach. I hadn’t heard anything about not using an extension cord (I mean I use one for the outside trough heater…). I got the insulator to try to minimize use for most of the weather since our amps to the barn are limited. Actually I ordered a second one during this most recent smartpak sale so I can have one in each stall. Although funny issue with the insulator cover and you can see in the picture it’s not closed completely – Stampede can’t fit his head in the bucket very far because he’s “oversized”.
      I had really grown attached over those 6 months. You get used to the weight of it and the feel in your hands and all that. Plus it was such a sign of the start of our journey. Yep emotional over a pitchfork. I still have it too, just hanging up with the broom and such…

      Reply
      1. Leah

        Yeahhhhhhhh you’re not technically supposed to do it with the outside tough heaters either, but like 98% of the people I know do…. Because who has an outlet like 3 feet from their water trough?? I guess the extension cords are a fire hazard? But at any rate, the bucket covers seem like a safer alternative anyway!

        Reply
        1. stampyandthebrain (Post author)

          So I was talking to the husband about this last night. He said while it’s better not to have an extension cord that about impossible and the main thing is to make sure cords stay up so water doesn’t run down them and to use a proper extension cord. Evidently this goes back to when people would try to use those puny indoor cords to use for heaters and xmas lights and they would overheat. Interesting stuff! Certainly not having electricity and water together is always safer though.

          Reply
  3. emma

    my horse will actually grab his entire blankets off the rack outside his stall and drag them in with him. lord knows what he does with him once they’re in there tho…. maybe he just wants an extra blankie? luckily they haven’t suffered too much from the abuse… yet.

    Reply
    1. stampyandthebrain (Post author)

      Oh yeah, he will rip down my blanket bag on the stall front if he can, lol. It hangs low and out of his reach now. I guess I just got used to the chestnut boys who aren’t into that kind of thing, lol.

      Reply
  4. Stacie Seidman

    It’s been my experience that horses that steal things from stall fronts are generally really wonderful horses despite that little quirk 😉 Clearly Maestro shall be one of those wonderful horses!
    A word of advice from a braider… if you use the neck cover on Maestro, keep an eye on his mane. I tried to braid a horse that wore one of those and most his mane had been rubbed off from it!
    I’m impressed with the bucket warmers too! My boys are spoiled with their heated house, but I may grab a few of those in case we lose power in one of these blizzards.

    Reply
    1. stampyandthebrain (Post author)

      Well I hope so! My friend has an ISH as well and it’s crazy how much they have in common personality wise. We know they aren’t closely related or anything but we need to compare pedigrees.
      I plan to only use the neck cover for really cold weather so it won’t be on too much barring a rough winter, lol. Numerous people at my barn use them and haven’t had problems, wonder what the difference is?
      Bucket insulator did well again overnight but I can tell we are nearing the limit with me not doing it all with warm water. Guess I’ll start filling a bucket in my bathtub and carrying it out? Lol.

      Reply
      1. Stacie Seidman

        Maybe it was just that particular horse’s confirmation? Who knows! I’m sure he’ll do just fine, and let’s cross fingers for a warmish winter!
        Ugh, that sounds like a real chore schlepping warm water buckets!

        Reply
  5. HunkyHanoverian

    hahahah! Love that he stole his stocking! That is too funny. I really love when horses have a playful personality like that. I think your clip job looks excellent, well done!

    Reply
    1. stampyandthebrain (Post author)

      He really has such an interesting personality, I need to try to get him on video sometimes. Often people think he looks angry but really he’s just analyzing everything going on. Thanks, I’m really happy with the result and he didn’t get all sweaty last night!

      Reply
  6. draftmare

    The amount of dust you are dealing with seems really weird to me. I have never seen bedding make that much.

    Reply
    1. stampyandthebrain (Post author)

      It seems weird but I’ve tried two different brands of bagged bedding. I will say it’s worse in Stampede’s mega stall and he does manage to break down the bedding into dust walking around before it ever gets dirty because he poops in corners and along walls and only pees in specific spots. He’s special!

      Reply
  7. Teresa

    Is it one of the bucket pitch forks? I went through those like you wouldn’t believe. Then I got the wave fork. So far I’ve used it for 2+ years and it’s going strong. I love that he stole his stocking. That’s adorable.

    Reply
    1. stampyandthebrain (Post author)

      No it’s just a plain jane type. The tines are all fine but it cracked at the base so it’s weak. I got a wave fork but I’m turned off by the weight of it and that the one holding spot is not in the right place so the metal is super cold! Who knew pitchforks could be such a big deal?

      Reply
  8. Tracy - The Printable Pony

    Poor pitchfork!

    Reply

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