Winter Buffet

We took hay over to our horses a couple days ago.  We had below zero(f) temperatures and a little under a foot of new snow with no wind, so the grass in the meadow they like to eat at was pretty well covered.  As I drove up in the truck with the bales in the back, I saw Ranger pawing at the ground to get to the snow.  I over heard him muttering:

"This is the dumbest place I have ever lived.  In the before people time I lived in Nee-va-da.  The white stuff did not fall ALL OF THE TIME like it does here.  When I lived in Air-a-zona I never saw the white stuff."

He continued his monolog until he noticed me bringing a couple bales to the fence and tossing them over.  Then he and the grays came at a run.

None of them seemed worse for the wear, but they were glad to see some food they didn't have to dig for.

The wind picked up last night, and has blown things clear, so we won't need to take them any more hay right away.

Horses are well designed to handle cold like this.  Juanita commented this morning that with that long nose warming the air they breath, they are pretty well equipped for these temps.  I'll bet it's not usually too pleasant on the Mongolian steppes this time of year, and their ancestors did pretty well there, without our help.  

On the other hand, for us hairless beach apes...

Stay warm.

Bill