Wednesday, June 24, 2009

If I'm going to live in a jungle-like atmosphere, I want the monkeys and the parrots in the trees

Mother Nature is relentless.

First the never ending gully washers that put my riding on hold because of the mud. Now, not only are we getting gully washers and frog chokers, we are also getting 87% humidity with 98-degree temperatures. It's hot enough to roast an elephant. How fun is that? If I WANTED to live in jungle-like conditions, I'd move to the jungle. My horses are hot and miserable, I am hot and miserable and these dangerous temperatures are doing nothing to move my Gabe training program forward. I won't ride when it's this hot, for his comfort and mine.

Instead, he (and the other two sweat machines) get evening showers and plenty of fly spray. They have finally decided that the woods aren't big scary horse-eating monsters and are (THANKFULLY!) spending a good portion of the hottest part of the day squirreled away in the cooler shade of the woods. For a couple of days those morons were standing out in the middle of the field just baking and sweating and obviously beyond miserable. Sometimes, the DO have brains! They do! They do!

I have kind of found a more effective fly repellent program that seems to be working. Somewhat. Well, better than before any way. I now have three bottles of different kinds of fly spray plus a can of OFF! I rotate the sprays in the mornings (a different brand/kind each morning) and in the evenings, their legs and necks get Deep Woods OFF! and it seems to work really, really well. At least, so far. I've also put out a couple of those Fly Jug fly traps in the hopes of capturing as many of the nasty biting flies as I can. The more in the trap, the fewer on my critters. Word of warning though...when the instructions say to pour the liquid fly bait into the jug while wearing a pair of gloves...heed that advice. I thought "me? Need gloves? Naw. I won't spill a drop." WRONG! My hands now smell like rotting flesh mixed with catfish bait and I can't get the stink off. Kind of makes eating anything at all a bit disgusting because it all smells like it's rotten.

But this not riding thing is frustrating. Very frustrating. I know the horses don't really care whether they are ridden or not, but dang it, I enjoy riding! I NEED to ride, but it's just too hot, and dangerous. If I had arena lights I'd be out there at 10:30 p.m., riding when it cools off enough to be tolerable.

10 comments:

  1. If you're St. Louis-ish no wonder you're even hotter than we are in Chicagoland. Our pastures have no shade, so our horses have been coming in early to a cold shower and fans. And I was just getting ready to ride again - my mare is coming off a bout of laminitis - but I agree, it's way too hot and humid. Here's hoping for better weather!

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  2. Rotting flesh scented fingers...what a great dieting idea! You are brilliant! That would SO cure my habit of eating when I'm bored! And it would cure people's finger biting and nose picking and thumb sucking habits, too...

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  3. I sooo agree with Amy. Great dieting technique - bravo!! Rotting flesh on my fingers would deter me from eating too. :)

    Sorry about the blasted heat. It seems like just the other day we were all talking about the never-ending winter, and snow, and cold that seemed like it would never go away...and now, the heat across the country is burning people up and coupled with humidity, yuck!! That kind of mixture can be dangerous, even deadly for some. You are smart not to ride. I sure hope you get less humidity and some cooler temps soon.
    We use Deep Woods Off all the time, especially on the ears and face. Works much better than the horse fly spray. We also get our monthly shipment of "bag-o-bugs" and they seem to be helping. I highly recommend them.

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  4. Hot here also, only triple digits. The horses are miserable. I got home from work yesterday and tied them up to hose them down. And the idiots acted like the hose was going to kill them. I guess they forgot about hoses from being at Heather's for so long, but sheez! Sometimes they are such silly creatures.

    Oh, and I was literally dripping from no effort and standing in the shade. Nope, ya can't really ride in temps like this.

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  5. :) i had the same thought amy had "a new way to diet, hummmm, might have something there! :)

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  6. i know I need my riding fix!!! for me it's the ridiculous cold in winter that depresses me... you'll find a way methinks

    keep your cool :)
    gp

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  7. I think you and I were commiserating during the winter when we got no relief from the cold. We've had the heat/humidity, too. I haven't been on a horse for 6 days... this morning was okay, but felt like I needed to give the horse a chance to enjoy the break, too! Then the humidity rolled in about noon.

    I'm planning to get up early and meet some friends at the trail head for a 3 hour ride. Should be back before noon. I'll get my fix.

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  8. Kate, yup, we're about an hour northeast of St. Louis and it's been miserably hot. I feel so bad for the horses because they just can't escape from the heat. At least I'm keeping the bugs a little more under control for them.

    Amy, c-ing spots and A. Di...the stink lasts for about five days. That's a good start to a no-eating diet!

    Leah...don't you just hate it when they won't let you help them feel better? Chief still refuses to be caught when he sees the fly spray bottle. He's such a butt.

    Manker and Tammy...we're supposed to get a break in the heat Sunday, down below 90 with low humidity. Saturday will be the worst with real temps hovering around 101 and the heat index up to 110. Yuck.
    It never even really cools off much at night or I'd be up at the buttcrack of dawn to ride!

    Tammy...have a GREAT ride tomorrow! I hope it stays reasonably comfortable out there for you and your friends.

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  9. Jenn, please drop by my blog to retrieve you Honest Scrap award: http://onceuponanequine.blogspot.com/2009/06/honest-scrap-award.html

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  10. Darn it all the heat! Sorry for the temp down time for you...Glad the horsefaces wised up to the shade factor of woods.
    I left today and looked into the filed where Wa and Romeo are..he was under a shade tree and she was standing in the hot sun..wierdo mare!
    Hope you get to ride or some arena lights soon!

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