Snowed In

We've been BURIED by a major winter storm this weekend, nearly 18" new snow, drifting, horrible roads, needless to say I didn't go anywhere near the barn for days!

But today I made it out to the barn after work, I'd gotten a message from one of the boarders on FB today, wondering if I'd made it out at all. I got concerned...apparently as of last night the driveway hadn't been plowed and it was impossible to get in!

The driveway(s) was/were still unplowed, at least 18" of snow blocking the way, even a Subaru can't get through that (without a good head start). There was a set of BIG tracks but it'd drifted over and almost erased...the house was dark, Bob's Kia was parked by the house, covered in snow...but no sign of his big dually pick-up.

I ended up parking out on the road with my 4-way flashers on so nobody'd hit (thankfully it wasn't snowing out there...no lake effect bands around, though in town it was nasty!). I got down to the barn area and was greeted by a near-hysterical Willow (Bob's wife's mini Aussie Shepherd), and equally hysterical chorus of whinnies and neighs. Turned the light on, trash all up and down the aisles...Willow had gotten into the trash and had been entertaining herself with it. She was locked in the barn.

Long story short, the barn is snowed in, and the horses have all been in their stalls since Saturday night (when they were brought in). Quzqo was apeshit in his stall, NO water, just some ice at the bottom of his bucket, and his bedding, my God, it was black and saturated...obviously
it hadn't been cleaned in 3 days! I was NOT happy, needless to say.

Got Quz out and turned him loose in the arena, he rolled and then tore around a bit, with Willow chasing him.

I called my FB friend boarder and gave her an update...she and her daughters do the weekend chores and she said Bob had called her, telling her to not come in on Sunday, or Monday, as the weather was too bad, and he'd take care of the horses. I guess that didn't include cleaning stalls. Not even picking the solid piles out, GRRRRGH.

The outside horses all had their huge super-sized bales of hay, so they were set. I tried to open a door to look, but they were all iced shut, probably with big drifts on the other side. My friend said Bob said the tractor was broken, so he couldn't clear the barn or the driveway (it's got a front loader on it).

Considering how clean Quz was, it's obvious the poor boy didn't lie down to sleep. Who'd want to in inches-deep shit and soaked sawdust. I cleaned his stall (filled the entire wheelbarrow!) and put in fresh sawdust, so at least ONE horse is in a clean stall tonight.

As I was leaving, Bob showed up (and another family of boarders who also parked on the road with their flashers going) and said he'd get the tractor fixed this evening and the driveway should be cleared by tomorrow. I sure as hell hope so!