Monday, September 5, 2011 - Hay Pickup and Travel Day to Rhode Island

Woke up early to gray and rainy skies, but the radar showed that the rain was all west and north of where we would be picking up hay this morning in Waterville (south of Utica), but by the time we got there the rain was everywhere! We managed to get the pickup loaded with a nice fresh 20 bales at $2.50/bale, but since we couldn’t cover it well while driving, it got wet along the way. We kept hoping for a break as the morning radar had promised, but it didn’t come until we were already in Massachusetts. For about the last hour and a half, it stopped raining long enough to kind of dry the hay out a bit, but the rain was fast catching up to us, so we’d have to cover it again quick once we stopped. Arrived a few minutes late at Jock’s Horse Farm near Cranston, but Angela was waiting for us, and quickly directed us to where we needed to be. We agreed we would leave the horses in stalls in the barn for the night, then mix them with their respective herds in the morning. She has several large pastures, and she keeps one for mares and one for gentle geldings, while another on is reserved for the more rambunctious geldings. We put Apollo and Clio about 5 stalls away from each other, so there was some whinnying going on for a bit, but they could see each other when they stuck their heads out of the stalls, so they eventually quieted down. Should be interesting to see what happens tomorrow when they’re in separate pastures! That’s never happened before! The pastures are next to each other at one corner, so they’ll be able to see each other, and frankly, this is a good opportunity for them to go through at least a mini-weaning (I know, I know, but they’ve never had any reason to be apart before!). We set up the RV outside their out-barn, which was a good quarter mile from the house, so we would both have our privacy while still being accessible and in the midst of things. The concrete was slightly leaning for draining, so we had to prop up one side, particularly since there was a lot of rain in the forecast. The inside of the RV has gotten so wet in the past few weeks that it feels damp and musty inside, we definitely need a good drying and cleaning out! Hopefully we’ll have a chance before we leave on our next trip. Hubby decided not to try to get the satellite dish out since it was getting dark by the time we finished setting up, and we were fading fast due to the long hard drive in the rain, the early morning hour that we got up, the heavy lifting load the truck with hay, etc. One short movie off the PVR and we were ready for bed!