Rolling Dog Farm Blog

Each spring our target date to start taking the horses out to pasture is June 1, although in practice this means we usually begin on Memorial Day weekend.  Because of our climate, it takes longer for the grass to "green up" and grow to a respectable length before we can turn the horses out for grazing.  We got a bit of a head-start today and took 16 of the horses out. 

We have to introduce them gradually to pasture after a winter of eating hay, because too much of this rich spring grass too soon can make them sick.  For right now, they will go out for a few hours at a time, and over the course of a couple of weeks their intervals on grass will get longer until they’re out for the entire day.

I took these two photos this afternoon when Alayne and I went out to bring in the "three blind girls," as we call them.  That’s Destiny on the left, Nikki in the middle, and Lena on the right.  (On the far right is blind Guadalupe.)  We were at the gate to their pasture and they heard us calling to them, which is why their heads are up and they’re looking in our direction.  Destiny is, um, always a little "off."

And a minute later, here they come, headed straight for us.  Destiny managed to re-set her gyroscope and got a course correction.  It really helps to have two other horses to follow, you know?

(Click on photos for larger image.)