It was hella hot over the weekend (note use of the word hella to demonstrate hip, cool, and knowledge of today's youth culture), so I thought it would be a good time to install our new Ritchie waterer. We had had a couple of cheap stall waterers and Jessie would crib on them or their supply line and I'm hoping this will permanently solve the problem.
The Ritchie folks recommend installing their product on a cement slab and bringing the supply line from underneath. Saturday morning was a perfect time to get started and I moved the PVC lines, set up the concrete forms just in time to start mixing concrete about 2 PM - the hottest part of the day) (note the lack of good judgment and common sense demonstrating senility and dementia generally associated with geriatric culture).
Oh, and Jessie was a BIG help. I moved some panels to keep her out of the way, but every time I left a shovel too close or a 2 x 4 in reach she was right there to "hold it for me".
I finished around 6 and took a quick shower and we went for a short ride. We are mostly working on transitions right now. She walked out with her head on swivel again and that just annoys the hell out of me. After an afternoon in the sun I wasn't interested in getting into a fight, so every time she would look anywhere except forward I would trot her and when she looked straight I would let her walk.
Sunday, Ranae was back from vaykay and we did some afternoon gw and went for another short ride. This was the first ride on Dusty since she got dumped back in July. She did very well - loped him a couple of times.
This morning Jessie and I went out early. We did some trotting and loping. The morning was cool and the sun was just coming up as what's left of the moon was still high in the sky. It was a very nice morning.
4 comments:
104? Wow it's only 77 here today! LOL on Jesse. I can just picture it in my head! So how do you like the waterer so far?
It's still not hooked up. I have to drill some holes in the concrete and the waterer is bolted down, so I'm letting it cure. I hope to have it hooked up this weekend. They are kinda pricey, but they are built really tough. If I don't screw up the installation I think it will be a good deal ;>)
Gotta love helpful horses, eh?
So tell me, with automatic waterers, don't you worry about not knowing how much your horse is drinking? I've always figured that's the first sign of a potential problem, when I notice the water bucket isn't down as far as usual...or down much farther... Major pain come winter, of course, as I despise packing buckets.
Oh, and good use of the 'hella'. I'll need to remember that when I want to sound hip and cool!
You are right it is a bit of a double edged sword. On the one hand tank waterers are hard to clean, here in hot So Cal they build algae, and they breed mosquitoes.
Other auto waterers had hoses or pipes that were exposed and Jessie does enjoy breaking things. This waterer has the supply line come from underneath, it's built hella stout :>), and the water seems to stay cooler.
I am fortunate that I get to see my horses at least three times a day and I am relatively confident I can spot an illness. If I do need to check her water consumption I can always turn the waterer off and set the tub back up. My real hope is I never have to replace another waterer.
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