Farmer Strong

We stopped by the farm supply store on the way home from dinner tonight to pick up one last bale of hay for the ponies. When we got home, I said to my husband, "Honey, will you take my purse in the house while I bring the hay into the barn?" I didn't even realize how silly that sounded until he started laughing at me. "Okay, I'll take your purse in while you stack the hay."

And he did bring in my purse. And I did bring in the hay. Damn straight. 'Cause guess what? Turns out I'm strong.
I just noticed that two months into the horse adventure my arms are strrronggg.
Farmer strong.
I'm a petite kind of girl, so while they don't exactly look strong, I have developed a pretty decent set of biceps.
For me, that is.
Remember, I am little.
I still shop at Gap Kids.

I actually just googled "Farmer Strong" and this is what Urban Dictionary said:

Farmer Strong

1. A person who doesn't look strong, but is actually extremely strong.
2. Claiming you're strong without being noticeably strong.

Boom! That's totally me right now! Definitely #1 and, okay, maybe #2. (Or actually, is it maybe #1 and definitely #2?) 

Doing farm chores for three hours every morning (every. single. morning.) for two months straight has definitely made an impact. Lifting 50 pound bales of hay. Carrying 40 pound bags of shavings. Sweeping. Pushing wheelbarrows. Carrying buckets of water. Shoveling poop, and lots of it. And that horse poop is heavy, shoveling it every morning in the stalls and every evening in the pasture. And it feels good. It feels good to have earned muscles by doing something that matters.

I got this, Babe, you hold my purse.

(I can say this because my husband is very muscle-y in his own right.)

But sadly, these muscles are not going to last. I'm at my peak for a while because.... 

The ponies are leaving on Saturday. 

Ugh.

So, so sad. And yet I knew it was coming. We had a two month agreement. And then to add to it, our home insurance sent us a notice of cancellation when they heard that we were boarding horses. And how did they hear that we had horses? Because, way back when we first were looking into boarding these horses, I called our insurance broker to look into buying additional insurance to cover any incidences involving the horses. See how responsible I was being? Pro-active? Well, my pro-active intentions got us in trouble with our regular home insurance company. (Ya try to do the right thing and look where it it gets you. Sheesh.) Anyway, we were given a 30 day cancellation notice from the current home insurance company, and "luckily" the horses will be back in Vermont before those 30 days are up. So we've dodged that bullet for now. But obviously, we're looking into different home insurance coverage for the future that will fit our needs better.

So, yes, like it or not, the ponies will be heading back to their beautiful home in Vermont. It was such a great experience for my whole family. My kids are going to miss them so much. I am going to miss them so much it hurts. Even Jonathan is going to miss them. But you know who I think is going to miss those ponies more than any of us? My dogs.

My dogs freaked out when the horses arrived. Freaked out like we had released two dinosaurs in our backyard and it was the dogs' responsibility to keep us safe from them. The barking was constant. The chasing was dangerous. And Cooper. Poor Cooper got kicked at least four times. Well, I saw him get kicked four times, so who knows how many more times it happened! But Cooper pretty much deserved it every time. And even though the ponies kicked him, they clearly did it just to deliver a message, not with the intent to hurt, because Cooper was never injured by it.
My heart stopped every time, but Cooper was fine. :)
I never saw Jessie get kicked. I did see Jessie get the tiniest nip from Meghan once. Jessie jumped a mile high and ran for cover through the fence. Again, it was just a message with no real intent to hurt her.

The first few days the horses were here the dogs had to be on leashes at all times.

Yes, those leashes are keeping you from getting yourselves killed. You're welcome.

After a week the barking became less. And within 14 days you would have thought these four creatures were... well, not best buddies, but more like siblings. They irritated each other on purpose, but they also hung out together on purpose. They might not ever admit it, but they all seemed to be happy to have each other around.

Chillin' together in the back pasture.

Scheming together on how to get in
that forbidden poop area behind them.

The dogs loved to eat any pellets
that Aisling dropped.

Interspecies Peace

Cooper and Jessie totally think that I absolutely need their help getting the horses in and out of the barn, when truthfully they are the opposite of helpful. But the look on their faces is so cute because they're all like "I got this! I will make sure this dinosaur walks nicely with you! And I'll do that by irritating the crap out of them." They also think they need to alert me whenever the ponies change locations. "Attention humans: The dinosaurs are moving!" Or if they run. Running horses always brings out the big barking from Jessie. No matter how many times I explain to her that the ponies are allowed to run. Jessie does not appreciate a running horse in her yard. And when the horses run, Cooper thinks it's his job to stop them in their tracks. With his body. Heart attack for me. Again. In other words, the ponies have given my dogs a job, a real job. In their minds anyway. And the ponies have been very patient with these dogs, letting them role play their best efforts of working farm dogs.

I even caught a sweet moment of affection.
Just a little smooch between Aisling and Cooper.

So, even though Meghan and Aisling are actually leaving Glen Hill Farm on Saturday, they will always be a part of our Glen Hill Farm family. Maybe they will even return next year? In the meantime, I will continue to blog about them, because I will actually have more time to write once they are gone. And I still have a few videos and stories about the ponies that I just haven't had time to share...because of the ponies! :)

And that brings up what I have learned.... that yes, horses are a lot of work. It's true what everyone says. I loved every second of it, but that doesn't mean it's easy. And in a previous blog I said that having horses wasn't hard. I didn't really phrase that correctly. What I meant was that it's not like rocket science hard. But it most certainly is HARD WORK. As in a constant, physical, long hours, many details, no weekends kind of hard. I really enjoyed the work, the time flew by, but I'm not so sure I could swing it full-time year-round at this stage of my life as a mother of two young boys. I certainly found it challenging to have ponies and also do all the things I used to do (mom, wife, cooking, cleaning, laundry, helping at school, kids' activities, book club, freelancing, blah, blah, blah...) Everything else got put on the back burner. Which for two months was fine. Not so sure that would fly very well all year long, for many years ahead. 

It's going to be very strange next week with a part of our family missing. First thing I'm going to do? Sleep in. Second thing... I'll wake up and immediately wonder what my sweet Meghan and my sweet Aisling are up to back in Vermont. Sigh. My poor chickens and dogs are about to get a lot more attention to fill this void. Oh yeah, and maybe my kids and husband, too.