Darkness Can Hide Danger

 In the winter our normal feeding times end up happening in the dark most days. This can present some challenges because even with a flashlight we aren't seeing as well as we would during the light of day.

The other day we almost missed some fox tails in the bales of hay we were feeding our horses. Some animals like cattle (cows) and most goats are fine with fox tails, but horses are pretty "picky" and their mouths are sensitive.

This is a reminder to check over the hay each day before passing the food around. The last bale was fine, but fox tails are extremely difficult to prevent entirely while growing the hay and may be missed during the baling process.

Once the horse gets the fox tails, they may not eat as quickly as usual or they may stop eating all together. The fox tails can prick their gums or tongue causing pain and keep them from wanting to eat at all. An additional issue with this is that even if they only get one serving of hay with fox tails, if the fox tails remain in their gums or tongue (unnoticed by the owner) they might continue not eating for days on end. So keep an eye open.

Here's a picture of the hay we found with fox tails. Can you see them?

Cleaning Muddy Boots

When we get lots of rain or snow we have mud to deal with while working the horses or cleaning their stalls. In addition to being careful with our footing, so we don't end up sitting in the mud--which we have all done at least once--we also find that it works best to clean the boots before leaving them for the next time.

By cleaning the boots every time we have better traction, the boots last longer, and walking is much more comfortable when we aren't carrying around extra mud with each step. Besides all of these reasons, its always a good idea to get the boots clean before getting into the saddle so less mud gets on the saddle or in the stirrups.

To clean the boots we have tried several things and found that a combination of a few work best for us. Using an extra hoof pick seems to work relatively well, but this means you have to bend over or sit down to scrape the bottom of the boots.

Right now our boots have a rubber bottom and canvas top. To clean the rubber bottom when they are extremely muddy, we are now using a product called The Scrusher (https://www.scrusher.com/). It is made of stiff brushes so you can push and pull your boot through while its still on your foot. The one we chose also has a steel base with room on either side to stand. This helps hold The Scrusher still while we pull our other boot through.

We placed The Scrusher on the back porch and have noticed that the use of it keeps us from tracking too much mud around. Mud from the boots flips a little to the front and back of The Scrusher, so we placed it in a corner where most people won't be walking.

Since The Scrusher is short, it only cleans the bottom of the boots and the sides down near the soles. For the upper part, we have found a stiff brush works well.

Helpful Clips

 Since we now live where it gets cold, we have to plan ahead so the manure we collect from the horse pens doesn't freeze in the bins. If this happens, the manure stays in the bin until it thaws out.

We have found that these small clips work really well for holding the 95-96 gallon bags open over the trash can while we fill them. Then we just remove the clips when we put the bins out at the street and the manure slides right out with the trash bag when the bins are turned upside down! AND the bins stay clean which is always nice as well. Our clips are magnets as well so they are versatile or we can magnet them to a board when we aren't using them for the bins.

When it Rains...it Snows!

 Planning for our ranch has taken on some new and interesting challenges now that our "slice of ranch" is located where it snows.

The existing barn has room for our tack room, but we altered our first thought and are now placing the tack room in the center of the building because the existing walls are perfect for hanging saddles. We are planning to add shelves on one side for tack boxes, buckets, and ingredients for our homemade fly spray. Nails across the back wall will be perfect for bridles, halters, spare cinches and other tack that hangs fairly flat. Each horse's tack will hang together except for the saddles. The saddles will share a wall since they take up a lot more space and hang a lot deeper.

 We are looking forward to finding just the right place for each item so we can find it and use it at the appropriate time.

 Make a comment and let us know what you do to prepare for the snow! We'd love to hear your ideas, what works, and what doesn't.