First Snow!

We were lucky to make it until almost mid-November before getting any snow this year!  

We got a decent amount on Wednesday, but in true Colorado fashion most of it has already melted.  

The cold and snow definitely add a bit more work around here, I had to unpack the heated hoses and get back to the morning routine of breaking up ice, but Denali loves it and it is definitely a pretty sight to come out to a snow covered barn.  

All our horses seem to enjoy the cold weather, Dolly was covered in snow! 

 Denali in her happy place.

I'm always sad to seem my flowers go.  

"All horses deserve, at least once in their lives, to be loved by a little girl"

Yesterday our animals were lucky enough to get loved on by two little girls when Stephanie and her girls came to visit!

Dolly is always a big hit with the kiddos.   

Oscar and Chloe love the extra attention, Chloe was especially fond of Steph and the feeling was mutual!

As fun as Dolly is, she's not the smoothest ride so we let them have a turn on Sadie.  The girls did great and just wanted to go faster and faster!  

The kitties were definitely the biggest hit!  The girls were so good with them and Tig and Chibs were so patient.

There is something special about kids and animals when they interact.  

We get so much joy in sharing Sadie Acres with the little ones, come back and see us again soon girls! 

The Dolly Llama

When I mentioned in my last post that our mares looked so good after shedding out their winter coat, you may have noticed one little mare not being included in that post...

I keep waiting for my beautiful little Dolly to reemerge, but right now she looks more like a shaggy llama!

Summer Dolly

Along with my trusty sidekick I decided to groom her a bit today in an attempt to get rid of some of that shaggy winter coat.

We left a nice trail of Dolly hair, but there's still a long way to go.  Looks like the clippers may be coming out soon...  

The after picture, she's still so shaggy!

Leave it to Dolly...

When I moved back to Colorado one of my top priorities was being able to walk out my door, straight to the barn and to my horses.  I never take that walk for granted, I'm thankful every single day, but during wintertime I'm thankful at a much faster pace!  

This evening was one of the first evenings of the season where it was warm enough to take my time feeding and enjoy the amazing sunset.  

It was one of those water color sunsets, beauty in every direction.

The cottonwoods add such a dramatic contrast.

Since I was taking my time and enjoying the nice night, I let the girls out of the round pen to run and play a bit more while I finished scooping their feed. Sadie loved it and took her time making her way to the barn.

Not Dolly, Dolly ran straight to the barn and upon discovering her feed was not in her stall yet she went right to the feed room.  Buckets flying, she was on a mission!

She never ceases to amaze me with how smart she is, we have 7 trash cans full of different feed and she went straight to hers.

She pulled the lid off like it's something she does every day!  

Ok, Dolly, I get the message.  I'll enjoy the sunsets AFTER your fed :)  Leave it to Dolly to bring the humor and chaos on such a peaceful and serene evening.

They are all tucked in, fat and happy for another night as I admire the perfect view from my door.

Winter Wonderland

I knew it, I was tempting fate by even saying the word Spring!  No more 70 degree days, we are back to full on winter!

Having the animals can definitely be challenging during wintertime.  They have to eat twice a day and need fresh water whether the sun is shining or it's a full on blizzard!  

Luckily this past week I've had my snow-loving sidekicks to make those cold trips to the barn more fun! 

They aren't the only animals enjoying the snow though, strangely, my Arizona horse loves the snow and cold weather.

Sadie has the least shaggy winter coat and spends the most time standing out in the snow!

Just looking at her makes my ears cold!

A little snow won't stop Dolly from her constant food hunt! 

Daisy has definitely become an indoor dog, but she even enjoys a little playtime in the snow!

Schumi is definitely an Arizona dog, he has very little tolerance for the cold and does not see much fun in it!  A few flakes and he's done!

The girls, like Schumi, opt to view the snow from their nice dry barn!

I'm ready for the warmer weather, but don't want this little snowball to grow up too quickly!  Nothing cuter than a puppy playing in the snow!

Happy Valentine's Day from Sadie Acres!

With the variety of critters that we have here at Sadie Acres, it's quite amazing how they all co-exist pretty peacefully.  

Sure, Dolly and Penny have their morning food battle, the chickens pick on the rabbits, and although Rowdy adores Sadie in their stalls he will chase and kick her when they are turned out together (I guess you always know the boys like you when they pick on you!), but overall there is a lot of love in our little barn.

No bond is stronger than the bond between Chloe and Oscar.  Before we got them we had planned on only getting one rabbit, once we started researching we quickly learned that these guys form extremely close bonds and live much happier and healthier lifestyles when you have them in pairs.  Watching these two together I can't imagine them ever being separated!

Sadie and Rowdy are best buds in their stalls, although Sadie paces a little bit less since we got Dolly as her companion, she's still happiest when Rowdy comes back in the evening from turnout.  

Penny and Rowdy are definitely the most bonded of the horses, they were together in their previous home as well and their behavior definitely mimics an old married couple :)

Since Dolly was purchased to be Sadie's companion (aka BFF) I had high hopes that they would bond right away. Unfortunately, Sadie preferred hanging out with Rowdy and Dolly preferred tormenting Penny, but with more turnout and trail rides together these two finally seem to be enjoying each others company more and more.

Every once in a while you'll even find an unusual pairing.  The hens are usually pretty inseparable, but on this day shortly after Dolly came to Sadie Acres Lady Mary opted to spend a little time with her. Worried she was looking for an escape route I almost rushed over to move her, but I soon realized she was perfectly content hanging with Dolly, she perched there for a good 15 minutes, and Dolly hung out just as happy to be with her visitor.

Hopefully Mary will warm up to Denali like she has to Dolly, poor Denali didn't receive quite the same warm welcome from her!

I guess we can't win them all! 

Sadie Acres hits the trail

We are finally thawing out here at Sadie Acres, with a high of 57 today most of the snow has melted and I haven't had to break any ice in almost a week...yay!! 

That being said, we have some really muddy runs and some super dirty horses!!   

Sadie's run may not dry out until spring!

So, we decided to take advantage of the nice weather, clean up the horses and hit the trail!  

Dad and Rowdy patiently waiting on the girls

After an incident a couple months ago when Sadie slipped in mud and fell with me on her (we were both ok, thank goodness!) we took it nice and slow today, which is just the pace Dolly and Daisy like.  

Quite the caravan, can't wait until we have our little Bernese Mountain Dog joining us on the trail!

I continue to be amazed at how well these two do on the trail together.  Dolly is such a trooper keeping up with those short little legs and Sadie has endless patience with Dolly's complete disregard of her personal space and her endless attempts to speed up and get a quick bite to eat before she runs out of slack :)

Giving Dolly's little legs a rest

One of the best things about our "herd" is they truly love being around people. Even when they are free to go graze after their ride, they still would rather be with their humans :).

Penny tends to be the least affectionate of the horses, but she is sure getting bonded to Mom!

You sure you don't have any more peppermints??

It was a fun day, I could get used to these temps...how many more days until summer??