How Do You & Your Horse Cope with Winter?
BellehavenfarmDawn
Posts: 248 Member
We have a real problem with ice. One year we iced over for 3 weeks. I mean the barn was crazy. We made old manure tracks/paths for the horses. Most kept their horse in but then many developed stifle issues.
Anyway...I discovered what I call every day Crampons at the hiking store. Not the ones with tiny knives on the end for say, Mt. Everest! Mine have coils and I pull them onto the bottom of my boots and hook something over the top to keep them on. I could then walk up and down hills!!!
One step further I tried Renegade Snow Boots on Sunny's barefeet and they worked like a charm. We were the only ones riding out! All gaits too. He was so happy when he realized he didn't slip. Of course shod horses have borium.
Now I use Easy Care Glove Boots and have put Quick Studs on the back half. I wear them on all four and Sun doesn't slip. I think I even ride with my crampons on!
Anyway...I discovered what I call every day Crampons at the hiking store. Not the ones with tiny knives on the end for say, Mt. Everest! Mine have coils and I pull them onto the bottom of my boots and hook something over the top to keep them on. I could then walk up and down hills!!!
One step further I tried Renegade Snow Boots on Sunny's barefeet and they worked like a charm. We were the only ones riding out! All gaits too. He was so happy when he realized he didn't slip. Of course shod horses have borium.
Now I use Easy Care Glove Boots and have put Quick Studs on the back half. I wear them on all four and Sun doesn't slip. I think I even ride with my crampons on!
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Replies
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Sounds like you found a good solution! It rarely snows here, but we're into flooding season now, always something to keep things interesting.0
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I'm coping by staying indoors! My "other" horse, Oreo, has had a bit of a rough winter. Poor guy.
Oreo is the literal gift horse, he is my horse's companion horse. A very well fed pasture ornament. Oreo's always lame on his right front due to angular limb deformities. This fall, right around my birthday, he grew an enormous hoof abscess deep in his left front, also known as his good leg. Sometimes Oreo will get little abscesses, and I let them run their course, and he's not too much more lame than he normally is. This one was a doozy, poor guy was 3 legged lame, carrying all his weight on his bad leg. I bit the bullet and had the vet out for the full abscess treatment. I had to coop him up in a little pen, which he hates, and we were off: Mucking twice a day, convincing a horse to take antibiotics, and bute, the dreaded dressing changes... I do have to say, however, that the last major hoof abscess he had was 10 years ago, before hoof boots were in regular use. I remember nightmare dressing changes wrestling with dirty sticky duct tape that doesn't want to come back off, and Oreo loosing patience and threatening to kick me, and big behavioral discussions, etc... Hoof boots have really changed that game for the better, what a relief!
We made it through the convalescence without complication, and I let him out of jail on Thanksgiving day. His foot remained tender, and his other leg was feeling the stress of the extra work. Then we got an unusual heavy snow, and then a cold snap that lasted for weeks. My horses live in a big field of basically dry lot sand with sagebrush and occasional tufts of bunch grasses. It's not a lush green pasture, and the ground was icy, choppy, and frozen solid. Oreo's feet hurt him, and watching him pick carefully about hurt my feelings. Just this last week, the snow finally melted and the ground unfroze, and Oreo's feet got a break! Yesterday and today both, he gave a squeal and a buck and came running at lunch time. What a relief it's been to see him moving easy again.
In the mean time, my horse is living the good life. I didn't want to take Nugget out when Oreo was in jail, because Oreo gets really really upset when left behind, and I didn't want him to do anything to hurt himself further. I've ridden a handful of times since Oreo's recovery, because this dang weather is yucky. Today I was hopeful I could ride, because it was sunny, but when I looked out the window it was also hailing, and hail fell on and off all afternoon. Maybe tomorrow I can ride, although the forecast is 50% snow...0 -
Oh poor Oreo. so glad he is out of jail! Hope he keeps his good leg, a good long while!0
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Where's Home again, OK? So what do you do in flooding season? Can you ride at all?0
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Perhaps the solution is to move where I am in FL?
We have maybe a total of a couple of weeks or so where it gets around freezing at night. The most you need is a medium weight blanket! 0 -
LOL a blankie in Fl!
but how do,you cope in SUMMER??? And showing?0 -
Just been cleaning tack. Again. All that salt from the roads...0
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We ride early in the morning, or later in the evening. You learn to find shade when you show, and be smart about how long you're in the sun. Staying hydrated all the time, horses too of course. However, we're used to it and I've been told your body adapts over time. When it gets below 70 I am FREEZING!!!0
