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Chronicles of a Stable Owner are real-life stories about caring for horses and their people Written by Dr. Gwen Donohoe, Owner/Manager at Sagehill Stables It had been a beautiful 10 days of no rain and hot weather, and I finished baling all the hay. The tractors air conditioner quit working the last two days of baling, so it was like driving around in my own personal Thermea spa; hotter inside the cab than outside! I tried to keep reminding myself that people pay a lot of money for this experience... The air conditioner break-down was nothing compared to the last month's series of unfortunate events however... It started about a month ago... I started up the tractor to feed some hay, but something sounded not quite right. I turned around to park the tractor, but as I did the noise got extremely loud! I turned off the tractor. Smoke started coming out from the engine! I grabbed the fire extinguisher but there was no fire... The tractor was dead right in the middle of the parking lot... 
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Chronicles of a Stable Owner are real-life stories about caring for horses and their people Written by Dr. Gwen Donohoe, Owner/Manager at Sagehill Stables I was out in the field on a warm sunny morning, helping my dad change some section knives on the haybine. Something we've done many times before, but I sill wouldn't be able to tell you what size wrench was needed... Skills and knowledge that I hope is going to stay retained in my brain somewhere until one day when I have to do it on my own. After spending 6 hours doing maintenance on the haybine and baler, including running to the dealership to buy $500+ worth of extra parts and lubricants, I started thinking about how there are lots of aspects to every business that people just don't understand how much work it actually is. The same is true for the horse business as it is the hay business. Hay is a big deal for stables, in terms of horse health and is second only to labour in terms of biggest costs of production. I would say having to buy hay has been one of the most challenging and frustrating aspects of being a stable owner. However, making hay can be equally frustrating, something I think many barn owners and managers don't understand and don't have sympathy for when making hay purchases. As someone who has been on both sides of the fence, I have some important points to ponder when making hay purchases:
Chronicles of a Stable Owner are real-life stories about caring for horses and their people
Written by Dr. Gwen Donohoe, Owner/Manager at Sagehill Stables It had been a busy day, but a good day. My husband was working off property, my daughter was at daycare, and I was getting things done! I was getting things done so well, I lost track of time, and was 10 minutes late picking up my daughter from daycare... After rushing to pick her up, and with my husband still not home, I suddenly realized that part of the reason I had lost track of time was because no one had showed up to do afternoon turn-in... Chronicles of a Stable Owner are real-life stories about caring for horses and their people
Written by Dr. Gwen Donohoe, Owner/Manager at Sagehill Stables Do you have a love-hate relationship with going on vacation? Then you must be responsible for animals and/or own a business! For most people, vacations are one of those things that you try to do to relax and get away from your job and normal routines. However, if you are responsible for animals and a business, the preparation to go, the worrying during your vacation and the fixing of things when you return can be so stressful you are often left wondering if it was all worth it?! Chronicles of a Stable Owner are real-life stories about caring for horses and their people
Written by Dr. Gwen Donohoe, Owner/Manager at Sagehill Stables Have you ever... used a 1750 pound hay bale to cover mud in a gate entrance during a wet year? This was my first time, and I needed to use three! Note: In a year with hay shortages and extremely high hay prices, let me add that the bales had water damage and were of zero value as feed! We had record snowfall this winter, followed by a cool, slow melt in the spring. Significant rainfall before the snow had finished melting and before the ground had thawed caused overland flooding on our property that we've never had before. Our buildings flooded, pens flooded and gate entrances that have held up in the past did not hold up this year. |
