Country fried

Fried things that are good:

1. Chicken

2. Pretty much every other food 

Fried things that are bad:

1. My pastures/grass

2. The horses

3. Myself 

Crispy.

We are currently in a hot/dry spell in SE PA that is not showing any signs of slowing down anytime soon. The ground is rock hard and dusty and the pastures are pretty much done. The bug situation has been insane also, which is surprising considering how dry it has been. There are some upsides to this though, Frosty does not have to wear her grazing muzzle anymore which I'm sure she appreciates and there is no flooding of the usual things around here that flood.

This weekend was mostly based around avoiding the heat as much as possible while still spending some time with the horses and dogs. 

John had his horses shod and picked them up from their "vacation home" field in northern Chester County while I was at work on Saturday. When I got home I bathed both horses and all 3 dogs, I thought they would appreciate this but I was incorrect! Later in the evening when it was a bit cooler and less buggy I trail rode Chester at Spring Valley, we took it pretty easy since he has been off for a little while and just recently had his hind shoes pulled**. 

Angry dog is angry after her bath

I had big plans to go trail riding EARLY Sunday morning but didn't make it out until around 9am at which point it was already hot and the deer flies/horse flies were out in full force, Chester handled the crazy bugs like a champ and I was very proud of him because he really hates bugs but was a good boy anyway! I was getting a migraine during this ride...generally not feeling it, Chester kind of wasn't either...or maybe he was just feeding off of me, who knows! When we returned home I pulled Frosty out of the field and took her for a quick walk around the farm which was nice and relaxing. Frosty recently had her shoes pulled as well**, so again taking it really slow. 

**note: I have pulled Chester's hinds/Frosty's front shoes due to the shoes getting stomped loose from the bugs and me just not riding all that much lately. I unsuccessfully tried to transition Frosty to barefoot last winter and only had Chester for a short time without his hind shoes. Any tips/tricks from people out there who have gone through a barefoot transition would be VERY much appreciated!!**