Any guesses as to what that is? Click on the pic and blow it up if you'd like. Here's a hint, the nest will have to be destroyed before we load any horses in the trailer. For that matter- I wouldn't even go inside to close the roof vents. But I did close all of the windows hoping to bake the little boogers in the heat!
Sunday night as I was getting Aruba ready to work, and afterwards as I was grooming her and getting her finished up to put away, I noticed a wasp or hornet, buzzing around the back door of our horse trailer. I rolled my eyes and groaned about it being the last thing we needed at the moment...
Monday morning I went out to work her and a few others. Figured I would take a peek and see what was up. There were about 30 wasps on the nest which is about the size of a grapefruit right inside the back door, up on the ceiling in the horse compartment of the trailer. I snapped the one pic, shut the door and closed all the windows up. I worked my mare and got the two babies out for their workouts, but I am steering clear of the back of the trailer.
Although her workout went well, she is giving me the "hung dog" look and declaring she hates Monday's.
She's coming along nicely in the front end. Starting to build up some muscle, launched into a nice canter a few times with little encouragement from me.
Here she is showing off her recently clipped bridle path, shortened mane and fancy look. She needs to muscle up through the butt a bit, but I also put my saddle on her and Hooray! Hooray! It looks like it is going to fit. Of course as she gets more and more fit, develops, progresses and comes along- that may still change. Time will tell.
Before anyone asks, yes I clipped her mane for the length. Being around Arabs for starters- you do not clip or pull their manes. You just don't. So my experience there is a bit limited... but I did effectively pull Peppers mane and evened it out quite nicely. I wasn't armed with the cell phone camera when I did though, so no pics as of yet. Maybe in the morning? We shall see.
ReplyDeleteI will still have to pull this mares mane a bit though to thin it out some. Then I forgot the comb was in my pocket and took it in the house. Like it belongs there...
And in looking up info on the little stingers-
ReplyDeletePurdue University has a page stating they eat spiders, clean out the nest in the fall and never return to the same one again. it will in time fall apart on its own and cleanup is easily done. Just be aware of where it is and leave them be...
Still not fond of the idea of having yellow jacket wasps around.
I prefer my bald faced hornets as their primary diet is flies. Have had active nests around the barn for years, and never been stung...knocking hard and fast on wood.
ReplyDeleteAre they really yellow jackets? They look kinda like paper wasps to me, I can't really tell from the picture. Either way, they'll be gone in the fall, but one has a more painful sting. I prefer spiders anyway...VBG
Nice looking mare. Doesn't look spoiled at all.
She's blooming nicely, CNJ, with your great care!
ReplyDeleteI run from nests, but I've read that paper bags, "blown up" to look like nests and hung from various trees/shrubs, will discourage them.
We have an old nest left over from last year, overhanging the pond. Haven't seen many of the little buggers this summer, hope I didn't just jinx myself..
They go to sleep when it is cool(does it ever cool off there?) , that would be a good time to spray them and deal with them. (Just drive the trailer here and I will nail the little buggers first thing in the morning (it actually cools down here overnight )They may do good , but horse and them don't really mix well so I would kick them to the curb so to speak
ReplyDeleteThe fancy pony looks good , can't wait to see pics of her under saddle!
WTW- they are yellow jackets or the paper wasps like you ask. I looked up google images of wasps and found a bunch of them, just like they were in the pic and the ones flying around.
ReplyDeleteI am steering clear of them, but I also understand they eat the spiders and other insects- for which we pay the exterminator to eliminate! Like snakes and other 'critters' if there is no food here, they move on to where there is... eliminate the food source and they leave too.
For now though, we are leaving them alone. Let them do the job the humans can't seem to manage so well. We will put the money towards a better use is all.
Some of the info I have read about them is that they also store food in the nest. Destroying them and leaving the nest- the food will decay, start to smell and attract other things. Blech! Since they do leave in the fall, clear everything out before they go and never return to that nest- when they are gone we will take it down. Until then we will just give them space and hope they can respect ours...
GL- she is shaping up nicely, but still needs a bit of work. not rushing anything, just letting her work towards it. I set the saddle on her back, now I have to set it up there again and get the girth out to see if it will fit too... Kind of an important part of the matter and I didn't bother to check it? Yeah. Way to go me!
I am having the one neighbor make me a bridle for her. He does nice work in leather and I am going to ask him to be creative, but don't break the bank. I have only a few things I am a bit 'rigid' on but otherwise, I am flexible and can't wait to see what he can do.
Fern- it does cool off here, to some extent. Yesterday was only 102 degrees, low was in the 80's... *grins* It is not unusual to see the little time and temp thing in the corner of the tv screen reading 100 degrees at 10pm though. All of the buildings and pavement that soak up and hold the heat down town is the reason behind that. They can keep it.
I worked the little man last night. Have to keep him going, now that she is home. He has been put on the back burner too many times before. I am trying not to let it happen again. May be putting the video up. He was running around and striking out in front of him at a full gallop. I wasn't able to catch that though. :/
Ewwwwwwwwww...gross nasty stinging insects. Nice mare...
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ReplyDeleteWhen I brought the mare up for her workout last night, I put the saddle on her. This time I remembered to try on the girth too!
ReplyDeleteMy 48" string girth will fit, but it's use here is limited. It was on the third hole on one side and second on the other... This mare muscles up and forget about it working much longer. It has no elastic on either end. So at some point I may be in search of a new girth. Always something to buy...
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ReplyDeleteWhat a pretty mare she is turning out to be!! :-)
ReplyDeleteGood luck with the wasps... I HATE them almost as much as I hate ground-dwelling yellowjackets. Such angry li'l critters....
I have a little comb that a razor blade fits into. Great for shortening manes without that "chopped" look, espec. if the horse's mane isn't thick to begin with.