Seven tips for making winter weather a great time to get horsey
There’s so much to do at the farm on any given day, but when footing or blustery conditions cause us to choose to stay out of the saddle, there’s still an opportunity to spend time with horse scents and activities that allow us to connect with our companions (and get excited about the coming of spring). As you start to get frustrated about the weather and grumpy because you can’t seem to figure out how to replace the spiritual energy that comes from the equine connection, here are some ideas to get your mind right and your time well spent:
- Spend quiet time with your horse. Even if it’s simply watching them enjoy time in the paddock and/or observing how they spend time with other equines, hanging out in the stall or catching up on grooming or handling activities that you may have neglected a bit in active months, you can use this time to learn and bond.
- If you don’t already have one, buy a calendar or planner that records and tracks all care and issues with your horse. Include records and schedules for vaccinations, the blacksmith, worming, medical surprises and results, mare cycles and findings if you’re breeding, training schedules or objectives – whatever is important for you and your horse to ensure continued health, happiness and success.
- Start a journal. Really watch your horse and strive to learn from him. You might be amazed at how seemingly little observations can reveal patterns and teach you more about you and your horse. Horses are great teachers when we let ourselves see what they try to say. There’s also a great opportunity to grow in quietness. Winter provides a time to watch, reflect and connect.
- Go through all your tack, brushes, equipment, supplies and tools. Clean it, check it, fix it, discard it and replace or repair the damaged. Think about creating a good first aid kit and having it handy (see http://horsesenseandcents.com/blog/2009/09/page/2/ for some ideas to include).
- Devote extra time to giving your horse attention he enjoys. This is a great time to learn what he really likes and grow in your knowledge by watching how he responds to you as a result. Use this time to try to better understand how horses communicate and find ways you can develop a language your equine can more easily understand.
- Explore new ideas for learning more about horses. This could include forum participation, books, conversations with trainers, finding blogs that appeal to you, going to equine conferences or demonstrations or even really listening to what your horse is trying to tell you.
- Get ready for spring! Share all your plans and excitement about the coming season with your horse and you may be surprised how quickly he absorbs your enthusiasm.
Some mares are more obvious than others, but if you’re trying to get a clear read on cycling for breeding, it helps to get to know your mare so you can time ultrasounds and/or better schedule live breeding to save money in this challenging economy.
- If you’re seeing pink snow in the paddocks, at least one of your mares is likely already cycling.
- Mares often begin to mimic the herd with their rhythms. If you can catch a heat with one mare, it’s likely that others on the property are close in their cycle, particularly as the season progresses.
- If you don’t have stallions on the property, often a gelding is sufficient to tease a mare (and with some, anything on four legs). The easiest and safest way is to leave the gelding in a stall and bring the mare to him on the lead. If she winks and squats, she’s probably in heat.
- Get to know your mare. Some are more obvious than others, but all tend to follow patterns. We have one mare who will tease heartily but when she’s really getting ready to ovulate, she stops and winks just about every stride on the way out to the paddocks with no horses in sight.
- Keep copious records of your mare’s heat dates and follicle sizes/tone (if you’re using ultrasounds) you have them to see patterns. These will change as the season gets later, but helps for next heats and future years.
- Get a good reproductive vet on board to help you learn, spot issues and provide the best assistance for your mare that’s possible.
Editors Note: Friday’s Opinion appeared on Wednesday of this week due the timely (and scary) nature of the issue addressed. So, this week’s usual Wed. quick tips feature is a bit delayed.
Whether you are housing horses in a stall 24/7 (a tough life for a horse unless injury layup is an excuse), offering limited daily time in a paddock, giving horses ample pasture time during the day or night (depending on the season) or operating with a primary turnout situation that has horses in stalls only during severe weather, vet appearances, blacksmith visits, foaling times or training preparation activities, you need stalls. These quick tips assume your horse spends daily time in the stall, but could also apply to those who don’t (and run in sheds).
Quick tips for stall maintenance
- Know your flooring and address the issues. Wood and mats when wet can be very slippery. Make sure you have enough bedding (sawdust provides better footing on these surfaces than straw) to ensure foals can get up (we bed foaling stalls with straw, but have found that it’s necessary to put a thin layer of sawdust under a bale or two of straw for some less coordinated foals), excited horses don’t fall and periodic accommodations are made to dry these areas out. Wood rots too, so keep an eye on deterioration and fix it before a collapse results in a vet bill. Cement is too hard on horses that spend a lot of time in the stall. Invest in mats if this is your only surface option and bed deep. Dirt encourages digging and urine will produce holes too. We put mats in our dirt stalls (sans one for our mare who has a proclivity for producing slow foals) and pull them out annually to level out the dirt. Still, dirt, although high maintenance, is probably the best solution for your horse. If you’re building from the ground up, put stone down about seven inches for good drainage.
- Picking stalls saves time and bedding costs. It’s relatively easy to remove manure at feeding times and doing so makes the full stall clean a lot quicker, keeps the stall a lot neater and makes a great impression on visitors. We have a couple of churn machines in our barn and staying on top of the deposits reduces bedding and labor costs dramatically.
- There are ergonomic tools you can put to the task, but we’ve found a standard plastic pitchfork to be the most durable and easiest tool for the task (even on the straw stalls – so much sold in our area today is so chaffy, standard metal straw pitchforks just don’t work well). We also use a broom in stalls to clear wet spots thoroughly.
- We’ve found the best stall construction material to be 1” X 6” rough cut oak. It’s tough and affordable. If you screw (vs. nail) the boards in, they’re easy to remove when broken or chewed through. Having cordless power tools (circular saw, drill, etc.) makes it’s simple to render quick repairs and keep your barn in pristine shape.
- Inspect stalls (and run-in sheds) daily for loose screws/nails, eye-hooks that may have been mangled, boards that are loose, items that may have been pulled in by the resident and other potential injury issues. It’s amazing how some horses are magnets for trouble. Save yourself the heartache and headache of injuries and vet bills by striving to prevent potential mishaps.
Life is about continuous learning. This year we decided to fence in twenty-six acres. We learned a lot about herd dynamics, best practices, time saving (and depleting) practices, the effects of changing the equine routine and the wishes of horses. Whether your methods involve 24/7stall confinement (a tough life for a horse), a combination of turn-out and stall care or full-time pasture life, you can make it easier on both you and your horse by being smarter about how you decide to make this so.
Ten tips for good turnout strategies
- Give your horses shelter. Surprisingly, this is more critical in the summer months with the bugs and the sun then in the cold, windy and snowy season, but it’s a necessary component for comfort and health year-round. Run-in sheds can be purchased or built, but know that one horse will likely command the space, so ensure there is an overhang or L-shaped construction so that others can get some protection.
- Develop a rotation management plan. We had twelve horses on twenty-six acres this year (divided into three herds) and figured such small numbers would make it easy for the acreage to support the grazing demands. We were wrong. It’s important to restrict access and move the herds on a regular basis to ensure good pasture food and maintenance. It was amazing how much the quality of the pasture improved after we took the horses off a particular pasture, mowed the field, and gave it a month or so to regenerate.
- Provide an ample, clean water supply. We have water piped to some of the paddocks, but truck it into the rest (with a 325 gallop tank on a trailer that hitches to the back of the pickup). In our area, municipal water (3 miles down the road) is inexpensive and saves wear and tear on our pump and water purification system. Horses can drink a lot and you never want them to be without water.
- Ensure you provide dry, clean and maintained pastures and shelters. Run-in sheds should be cleaned at least daily, preferably more frequently. If you can get one that is mobile, that’s even better as some herds will urinate in the sheds and this creates a very unhealthy condition for the feet. If you can’t move it, fill it with absorbent bedding that is cleaned at least daily. If areas of the paddock tend to get muddy (this will always be the case by the gate and in front of the shelter) see if you can restrict horses access to these areas and reseed.
- Stick to a routine. Horses are more comfortable, and stay healthier, if they can plan on a schedule. Try to feed, water, train, bring in and out of the barn, rotate herds, do any doctoring, etc. at the same times each day.
- Keep an eye on every horse in your care. Check the feet and eyes daily (small issues here can turn into major problems quickly). Give each horse the once over daily to ensure there are no open sores that may lead to infection, swollen areas, leg concerns or other medical issues that may need attention.
- Watch the weight and the manure of each horse. Forage quality can change quickly and you don’t want to be dealing with founder on a horse that has been allowed to get obese or fighting to put pounds on a horse as winter sets in.
- Respect the herd dynamics hierarchy (and make sure you are seen as the leader when among the critters). If you want to move a herd, start with the alpha. Don’t get between horses that can get combative with one another. If you are supplementing with hay, make sure it is set up so that all horses are permitted to eat (multiple locations for placement or an adjustment to the herd groups usually works here).
- Set a schedule for the blacksmith, shots, worming, etc. and keep good records. Just because a horse is turned out, doesn’t mean he can go without basic care.
- Give your horses a job. While it may seem idyllic and beautiful for a horses to be grazing freely day and night, most horses aren’t happy being ignored. Even older retired horses can help teach the babies a thing or two and the youngsters love to be challenged with training. Frankly, we were a bit surprised at how much the horses at the farm happily anticipated being put to work. Those in training were the first to come running to be brought into the barn.