Feb 7, 2012

by Patty
So recently, after a very wet past 2 or 3 weeks, a friend asked me if we regretted purchasing the land that we purchased to be the home of Healing with Horses Ranch.  I can honestly say, "nope I do not regret it for a minute!"  I can say that I am tired of rain and mud, but I still love the land and the promise it holds.

The rain has taught me much.  For those who have come out and gotten a tour, you have heard me say, we will not build anything until after it floods.  I thought we would have to wait months and maybe even up to a year for that to happen.  I was off on my estimations.  It has flooded!  Twice actually!

The things that I have learned thanks to the flooding:

1. We put the feed room in the WRONG place.  It flooded.  My hay has gotten wet and is now probably all ruined.  The horses are not really upset because they are getting the bags of chopped hay that they think is quite tasty! 
2. The round pen needs mulch and a 2X8 retaining wall so that the water will divert around it. 
3. The arena (that is not built yet) is in the right place!  We have had 2 lessons where it will be and have used PVC pipe to show where it will be.  It is one of the few areas that is not holding water!
4. We need a round pen on the east campus.  Thanks to Becca Moore and Laura Bailey, we got the posts to the new round pen pounded in.  We got our arm workout done for the week!

Though it has been very wet, it has been a productive 2 weeks. 

1. The Wrangler Mavericks came out and started fencing the next pasture.  We still have a long way to go on that.
2. The Darlins came out and cleaned up the branches and logs from the 5 or 6 trees that Bill McKee cut down in the east campus pasture.
3. Another shelter was built, though we still need to put real roofs on the shelters.  The tarps are just falling down with any amount of rain fall, so they are not so useful!
4. A temporary pasture was created on the east campus so that they can have access to the yummy green stuff (thanks to all of the rain!)

Lots of stuff is in the works:

1. The volunteer training and appreciation is next Saturday (Feb 11th) from 10-12:30 and 1-3. Come out and see who the volunteer of the month is and celebrate our January and February volunteer's birthdays!
2. Project 7 is coming out to do a volunteer workday on Feb 18th
3. The Mavericks and Baby D's are coming out to do a volunteer workday on Feb 25th
4. We are starting to plan both the Healing with Horses Ranch Open House and our first Volunteer Appreciation/ fund raiser at the Ranch Road Rave.  Stay Tuned!

Thank you to everyone that is making Healing with Horses Ranch an amazing success!  What a ride!