Winter routine

As winter rolls along, we settle into a routine; early morning chores, afternoon chores, evening chores..... but it's not bad! Mornings I feed the birds, a gallon of black oil seeds between the two feeders- and there is usually a few birds hopefully chirping as I fill their breakfast bar. No sooner do I turn and walk away, than they come, seemingly out of nowhere and flutter around, vying for the choicest spot.

Gold finches, common redpolls, house sparrows, redwinged blackbirds and mourning doves have all munched happily. I wonder where they go at night? I don't see them in the trees around here, or in the rafters of the sheds.
Sadly though, the barn owl that we have seen many times here became a meal for a great horned owl a few days ago. I guess the snow cover has diminished the availability of mice and voles.
After the birds are taken care of, I head over to the horse pens. Beamer gets his "Mornin', Mr. Handsome, got a kiss for me?" and he obligingly lifts his muzzle through the bars of the panel for me. Meanwhile, the mares impatiently wait for the first forkful of hay to be tossed in; greeting me with little whickers, and Coyote Belle tosses her head at the other two so that they understand that she gets the first mouthful.
Rio, meanwhile stands patiently in his pen, unless of course, he has eaten every last scrap of his hay and thinks he's STARVING and then he bangs his feeder and whinnies. He is normally a mild mannered fellow though, and I'm really happy with him.

Still sticks his tongue out when he's drinking and leaves it out afterwards, silly boy.
I did his feet over the last couple of days- he was so good- better than the rest of the herd! Of course, it probably helped that he had something to occupy the attention of his juvenile mind- ropes to chew, o boy!

I just draped his leadrope over a rope that I have tied across the entrance to the cement pad and when he wasn't chewing the lead rope, he was working on the cross rope. Ok with me, it kept him quiet! when we were done, we had to go past the log splitter which is covered by a tarp- Rio seemed to think he should investigate whether or not it was tasty.

Anyway, back to the chores- midday is poop scooping, bring in wood, and any other outside chores that need doing before dark, and in the evening I feed again. They rarely run out of hay, I believe it's better for their digestive system to always have some feed in front of them, but sometimes I make them clean up- hence the earlier remark about Rio when he has eaten all his hay.
I'm all caught up on hoof trimming now- only to start all over again in about 3 weeks!
I just finished making 4 halters, one for Beamer and one for Gussie, and two for the upcoming foaling contest prizes.Yes, it's getting close! Will probably get that going around the end of February, after the mares start bagging up. I'll post photos of the halters tomorrow, two are blue and two are camo, and there will be one of each as prizes.
Anyway, we are enjoying this (so far) mild winter, and spring really isn't that far off! (Remind me of this when I get the February Blahs!)