Snowfall at WW

...AND TALES OF THE TOTALLY EXPECTED...

 

 

I am writing this post, because without exception, when it snows, someone always asks me 'how are your horses in the snow?', to which I reply to surprised faces 'they love it!'

 

...and so does Min!

 

 

 

 

It's snowing again, the boys spent the night indoors of course, because we're not going through mud-fever again...seriously.

 

This snow time last year was when the abrasive nature of snow rubbed Henry's pastern and he got mud fever, remember this, snow can be fun, but it can cause problems too.

 

 

They were living out too, that didn't help, this year, they're indoors at night, their feet and legs can dry, we are MF free.

Snuggled up in their clean beds with lots of haylage, their drinkers didn't freeze because john has cleverly wound greenhouse heating wires around the pipes.

 

 

 

The yard is clear and danger free, the yard buckets are filled and snow is building up in the surface.

Tom & Henry would always rather be rug-free, but since its their nature to play and roll, and more snow is due, i put their outfits on suitable for the nippy weather and let them out.

 

 

Tom & Henry are gorgeous trakehners, but this does not mean they tip-toe around the snow because they are too posh to dip a toe in...NO! they love to play in it, eat it, lick it, roll in it.

boys!!!

 

Here Tom & Henry are looking gorgeous.

preparation, preparation, preparation...

SNOW:

Preparation is key to surviving the weather in the yard.

 

Last night, knowing it would snow all night, I prepared my yard with a sprinkling of salt&grit. 
 

 

 Not terribly romantic but John bought me a palette last autumn and it's very handy indeed.
 

I emptied the outdoor haybars ready for a new bale the next morning.

 

This morning then, when everywhere was covered in 5cm of snow, my yard, where I'd treated it, was clear and slip-free for the boys, and there was no fiddling with hay covered in snow, i just topped it up.
 

 

 

I put their medium weight rugs on, since they do like to play and roll in the snow, and out they went for a munch leaving me with an easy to sweep yard.

 

Once I have swept I sprinkle more grit on.

 

RECOMMENDED: Salt&Grit.

 

 

Also, we stocked up on horse feed too so we don't have to make any mad dashes to the farm shop for emergency supplies.

 

it's the Brownie Motto but 'be prepared' is the key.




 

 

 

TCJpart80 Tom & Henry

GETTING UNDER MY FEET:

Now, please understand, I love Tom & Henry being around me when I do stuff.  I love it that they find moving my broom, eating out of the bin, going into half mucked-out stables, flinging hay all over my carefully swept floor amusing....it just means they love being with me...doesn't it?

...but there are times...occasionally...when I just wish they'd let me get on with my jobs....! But I don't really mean that, because every time I'm with them I learn something more about them.

MOVING YOUR HORSE:
Getting your horse to move out of your way, or move where you want him can be as easy as pointing at him, remember horses communicate entirely with body language.  Subtle changes in movements: a flick of the ear, a nod of the head, a swish of his tail, can tell us all what our horses are saying.  If you can get good at this, and you’ll need to spend a lot of time with your horse, the things you can do on the ground can help you in the saddle.

Going backwards:  firstly I started with my hand on his chest and add pressure. Horses don’t like any pressure, they’d rather move out of the way, this we can use to our advantage to teach our horse to yield.  So add pressure to your hand, and say ‘back,back,back’ give him a food treat.  Progress to laying your hand with no pressure, and then work with pointing your hand at his chest, and keeping thaat perceved pressure on until he moves...and he will do.

When he arrived here Tom didn't like brooms, not scared, just irritated by them I think.  I sweep my yard twice every day, so he's used to it by now, but only quite recently has he been able to tolerate it to the point when he got in my way and I accidentally jabbed him with it...he just stood there!

I can now sweep right under him and between his legs and he doesn't even bat his long eyelashes at me.  Only because he gets around my stuff whilst I'm using it, is he now relaxed about the whole affair.

So being around all my 'stuff' apparently is good for them.

Henry likes to go into my just finished stable, all clean, new fresh shavings, swept to within an inch of it's life, and roll...when there's 3 acres he could be using for that!!

Boys!

Not scared of bins, plastic bags, logs, buckets, stools, brooms...or any of the pieces of equipment I use around the yard or my poo-picking devices either.

They see these things every day, as as we know with horses, repetition is key.

Jobs take longer though, I can never be in a rush because they just want to be under my feet every step of the way!

In fact I have begun swapping their fields to a new one on Saturday mornings (proper deep cleaning day), just so they're occupied with new territory and not getting in my way whilst I go about the job of the BIG muck-out, haybar empty etc.

But, if it sounds like interesting things are happening...like I'm standing in my bin to make more room....well, they can't resist wandering over.

 

Everything you do with your own horse is an exchange of understanding between you both.  The more things you do with him, the more situations he can share with you the easier his coping mechanism will be out there when you're riding.

 

.

..if only I could adequately explain to T&H that hay is tidier IN the haybars and not taken out and spread all over the floor....hmmmm!