Sunday Nov. 13 turned out to be an interesting day. It had been quite cold and then it snowed. This combination was just perfect for our horses to walk across the frozen slough. At church a neighbour told us that he had seen some horses along the road. After church, Gregory took the truck to see which horses they were while I got the boys into the house with Grandma and Grandpa to look after them.
Gregory discovered the horses had in fact walked across the slough. We grabbed some halters and went to catch them. Joseph decided he wanted to come along. I put a halter on a quiet gelding and Joseph was able to lead him back into the pasture. I led a little mare and the rest decided to follow. Soon everyone was back were they needed to be.
After a quick breakfast, Gregory set out to get things ready so we could make our little fence across the frozen slough. The horses are very honest, and one wire keeps them on the right side. After a series of things that didn’t go as planned, including the fact that the batteries in the fencing truck were dead, it ended up being quite late in the day before things were ready.
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Before we could get there, a different neighbour called and said he hoped the ice was thick enough because half of the horses were already across the slough and the rest were coming. Gregory and I quickly headed down to the neighbour’s field. We were able to easily catch my gelding and Gregory gave me a boost up onto his back. We caught the other gelding and then I set off riding bareback with a halter, leading the second gelding. I called to the horses and they started to follow us.
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Mares were the holdouts
We got all but two mares across the frozen slough and into our field. In the dark, two mares had missed the nice spot to go down the bank and had run along the rim instead. After the main herd had wandered off to graze on our side, Gregory and I went back for the two mares. Gregory was quite tired and frustrated by this time because he was on foot in the deep snow for part of it. Both mares are very quiet and friendly but neither were truly broke to ride. Gregory put the halter on one mare, lad her over to the fence and then climbed on her bareback while I had the lead rope. We laughed about our “horseback date night.”
Finally, we got everyone on the right side of the fence. Then I went home to take care of the boys and Gregory stayed out in the dark and got the ice fence up.
We still had the slough feed bales and some flax bales out, so that week Gregory and John set to work to bring them home. The snow had drifted in a few places and the banks were quite hard. We were very happy to have the blade on the JD 4840. By Nov. 22 we had all the feed bales home, and a couple days later we celebrated with Thanksgiving. We have much to be thankful for and we love to celebrate Thanksgiving twice a year.
The next day, the guys set to work on the flax bales. They were able to bring four loads home. The following morning, they went back for the last partial load and the tractor. That load represented the last load of bales to be hauled for the year.
