Apparently the hot, sultry days of summer in the Northern Hemisphere have been called “the dog days of summer” for a long time. A little research tells us this time of the year is associated with the rising of the dog star, Sirius, and is connected with thunderstorms, drought, and extreme heat—the sultry part!
As a horse person, August is also a fun time of the year when there’s always so many great things to do. Here at Sweet Pepper Ranch, we’ve got horse shows, trail rides, night rides, lessons, clinics, and horse camping trips keeping us busy.
We’ve also got a lot of ranch projects going on, like our never-ending pasture irrigation challenges. Between being gone a lot and the fact that much of our ground is sloped slightly uphill, it’s always a struggle to get our pasture watered.
An interesting task we are working on is creating horse litter box areas in our paddocks. Some of our horses urinate in the same spot and an icky, stinky black spot builds up. We’ve been digging out the ick, composting it, and then filling the spot with pelleted bedding. We still have to clean this area regularly and only time will tell if it lasts through the rainy winter months, but it certainly looks and smells better now.
Got time for some summertime projects on your farm or ranch? Check out our low cost tip sheets to get you started, like How to Build an Outdoor Wash Rack, How to Build a Permanent Mounting Block, How to Build a Low Cost Horse Feeder, or 10 Reasons to Create a Small-Scale Trail Course on Your Horse Property.
We always love to hear from you, so let us know what projects you’re working on or what fun adventures you’re looking forward to before summer is out? I hope some of you will join us for our annual Horse Keeping and Land Management Masterclass series, which starts next month!
Alayne
