And Suddenly, Winter
Oct. 21st, 2004 06:46 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
dancinghorseJust got in from the first of the winter horse rituals: the mad dash with blankets to get everybody covered before the deluge hits. I never make it. Always end up getting soaking wet, wrestling large expanses of color-coded waterproof-breathable-flappy-stuff over large, wiggly objects that insist they must stand in the rain, not nice and dry under the shelters.
We've had this storm predicted for days. It's the same one that hit NoCal with high winds and major rain. The wind's a mere 40mph and the rain is only coming down about an inch an hour, in bursts. However it really didn't look like much all day. We had tumbly clouds. We had sun. (The day's high got all the way to 81.) We had lots of wind, but still not too bad for me to manage a ring ride on Capria and a somewhat skittery trail ride on keed before lunch. I started to think we might get a windstorm but no rain--it would blow off north of us.
Come evening, the Fall of Numenor made its appearance. That's a wall of cloud that rolls down from the north. When it swirls over Tanque Verde Ridge, I have 20 minutes to get the horses under cover. Later on in the year it would carry snow. This time it carried rain with edgy bits of sleet, and dropped the temperature from 65 to 49 in a few minutes--it had been 75 an hour before. This time of year, with winter coats only partway in and temps in the high 80s just a couple of days past, anything under 55, if there's wind and rain, is blanket territory. (Later, when they're all in full coat and daytime temps stay mostly in the 60s, the threshold will go down to 40 or so.) As I explained to Joni one year as to why her horse, newly imported from Idaho, was shivering at 55 degrees, it's not the temperature--it's the gradient. When you drop 30 or 40 degrees between day and night, then add in wind and wet, it's more than the horse's system can adapt to. When it's consistently below freezing, they can stay bare nekkid and the snow just sits on top of all the fur. Our horses have to make too much of an adjustment. They're better off with help.
Or, Why the local vets get backed up solid with colic calls during and right after winter storms.
Pooka was bouncing up and down demanding his dinner NOW!!! but in that particular way which says he's Coooooooooold, Mom! Pook is a weather wimp of the first order. So I feed everybody, then run to dig out the blankets from summer storage. By that time it's raining hard. Lucky for me they all, except keed, were delighted to see their blankies. Keed wigged--it was dark, I was backlit, I was carrying this big shapeless mass. Finally got him to believe it was his blankie, and got it on him. He was glad then. In hatrack stage, he has nothing much to keep him warm--he's all bony bits.
Just in time, too. Everybody who was blanketed was glistening wet even under shelter, and the wind had a distinct edge.
And now it is officially Winter. It will be in the 40s overnight, and wet. Tomorrow is forecast to be 75 and sunny. Back up to 80 over the weekend. But we've had our first winter storm. The air smells different. Summer storms have a hot-creosote smell. Winter storms are cold and raw, and the wind cuts sharp. The thermometer may tell you it's mild, but go out there and wrestle tarps and blankets, and you realize how cold it is--and the rain comes down in sheets.
More of the ineffable glamour of life at DHF. Tomorrow: Mud. Lots and lots of Mud. On the ground. On horses. Slathered all over blankets.
We've had this storm predicted for days. It's the same one that hit NoCal with high winds and major rain. The wind's a mere 40mph and the rain is only coming down about an inch an hour, in bursts. However it really didn't look like much all day. We had tumbly clouds. We had sun. (The day's high got all the way to 81.) We had lots of wind, but still not too bad for me to manage a ring ride on Capria and a somewhat skittery trail ride on keed before lunch. I started to think we might get a windstorm but no rain--it would blow off north of us.
Come evening, the Fall of Numenor made its appearance. That's a wall of cloud that rolls down from the north. When it swirls over Tanque Verde Ridge, I have 20 minutes to get the horses under cover. Later on in the year it would carry snow. This time it carried rain with edgy bits of sleet, and dropped the temperature from 65 to 49 in a few minutes--it had been 75 an hour before. This time of year, with winter coats only partway in and temps in the high 80s just a couple of days past, anything under 55, if there's wind and rain, is blanket territory. (Later, when they're all in full coat and daytime temps stay mostly in the 60s, the threshold will go down to 40 or so.) As I explained to Joni one year as to why her horse, newly imported from Idaho, was shivering at 55 degrees, it's not the temperature--it's the gradient. When you drop 30 or 40 degrees between day and night, then add in wind and wet, it's more than the horse's system can adapt to. When it's consistently below freezing, they can stay bare nekkid and the snow just sits on top of all the fur. Our horses have to make too much of an adjustment. They're better off with help.
Or, Why the local vets get backed up solid with colic calls during and right after winter storms.
Pooka was bouncing up and down demanding his dinner NOW!!! but in that particular way which says he's Coooooooooold, Mom! Pook is a weather wimp of the first order. So I feed everybody, then run to dig out the blankets from summer storage. By that time it's raining hard. Lucky for me they all, except keed, were delighted to see their blankies. Keed wigged--it was dark, I was backlit, I was carrying this big shapeless mass. Finally got him to believe it was his blankie, and got it on him. He was glad then. In hatrack stage, he has nothing much to keep him warm--he's all bony bits.
Just in time, too. Everybody who was blanketed was glistening wet even under shelter, and the wind had a distinct edge.
And now it is officially Winter. It will be in the 40s overnight, and wet. Tomorrow is forecast to be 75 and sunny. Back up to 80 over the weekend. But we've had our first winter storm. The air smells different. Summer storms have a hot-creosote smell. Winter storms are cold and raw, and the wind cuts sharp. The thermometer may tell you it's mild, but go out there and wrestle tarps and blankets, and you realize how cold it is--and the rain comes down in sheets.
More of the ineffable glamour of life at DHF. Tomorrow: Mud. Lots and lots of Mud. On the ground. On horses. Slathered all over blankets.
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no subject
Date: 2004-10-22 02:16 am (UTC)I'm hoping this will pass and autumn will come back for a while, even if it's not as distinct here (NorCal) as it was where I was raised.
Enjoy the mud ...
no subject
Date: 2004-10-22 06:22 am (UTC)By the way, let me know when you're ready to emerge from the bunker -- Iris and I would like to come down and see the gang.
no subject
Date: 2004-10-22 09:00 am (UTC)But I never thought Arizona would have snow before Pennsylvania.
no subject
Date: 2004-10-22 02:31 pm (UTC)---L.
no subject
Date: 2004-10-22 03:46 pm (UTC)Macy's had a sale of Dearfoam slippers. Little booties. About $10. I bought a pair and tried them out last night as bed socks. Perfect. Let my feet be all toasty, then let me kick them off in my sleep later. No constriction around the ankles either.
My house gets very cold in the wind. Very.
no subject
Date: 2004-10-22 04:56 pm (UTC)Even damp from rain, it is better to cover horses than let them stand in the wind? This makes sense--wind dangerous, especially cold wind.
Here, we cooled off to the 50s at night, now back to 70s, with 90s in day and steamy.
no subject
Date: 2004-10-22 10:29 pm (UTC)Feeling Your Winter Pain
Date: 2004-10-24 03:04 am (UTC)Here's something for you to laugh at: my Halloween costume. Trailer Trash Barbie
I'm sure your fertile mind can fill in the details! LOL
Re: Feeling Your Winter Pain
Date: 2004-10-24 05:47 am (UTC)Do I get to see your costume? I mean it's...archetypal. Yes, archetypal.
Coda--
Date: 2004-10-25 05:12 am (UTC)And the temp drops thirty or forty degrees in about an hour.
We've had odd weather, but no blue northers yet.