This message is from: Jean Ernest <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> On the news they are hyping the cold weather in the East, etc. as if it something out of the ordinary! Gee, I told you that the big mass of cold air that was causing all the frigid weather in ALaska would move out and east into Canada to descend upon the Lower 48! Did you guys think you'd have warm weather ALL winter? LOL
In some ways I have it easier horsekeeping in the cold weather than you, Vivian. I don't stall my horses but they have a run-in shed. So I don't muck stalls, usually. I have one stall for emergencies and could squeeze everybody into my little 12'x 20' Stable if necessary. this "barn" is made of 6"x6" solid timbers and the roof is foamed inside, so it warms up to about freezing if I put three horses in at -50. I have one insulated and heated water tank and I run a hose out to top it off every day. I feed in the Run-in shed by walking out on a deck level with the barn but which is higher than the floor of the shed (Built on a hill) and put their hay in a bunker type feeder running the length of the back of the shed which is off the back of the little stable. Manure handing consists of raking and shoveling the frozen apples into piles and removing them, unless they get covered up with snow, in which case I forget about them until spring!(which is the case now) I get the corrals scraped out in the apring after it dries up. The snow stays for 6 months, no mud, etc. and the horses stay clean. I don't blanket unless somebody is sick, shivering etc., in which case I move them into the stall. Old Bjarne was shivering before I fed in the early part of the winter, but never shivered through all that -40 and below stuff. I feed extra hay in the cold. My fjords move around a lot, and play in the cold weather. They are healthy and active have beautiful thick coats. Would I like to have a big heated barn with a big box stall for each horse and an indoor arena? You BET I would! Also, I'd like to have it attached to the house like Julie Will's setup is. I can't help being a bit (A LOT) envious of Peg Knutsen's barn and Julie's set-up and the ability to have help and trainers, etc. but I feel very fortunate to have what I have and be able to do it all myself , AND IT'S ALL PAID FOR! I suppose I could mortgage my place and build a big barn and arena, etc. ...Well I think about it sometimes! But I sort of like living without a mortgage and other debts and my Fjords are healthy and happy so I figure I am pretty lucky! Now if I could only get my Farrier out to put those borium shoes on the boys..Does your Farrier work on their feet in -20 degrees Vivian? or do you have a heated barn so their feet get warm? My farrier won't work on their feet when it is colder than +10 or so as their hooves will split. But their feet son't grow much at all here in the cold part of the winter. Jean in Fairbanks, Alaska, where the snow has stopped after dumping 14 inches and it is a balmy +23 degrees! Aren't you glad we sent that cold air mass down to you folks? >Jean, >I think often of what horsekeeping must be like for you when it gets -40. >It's been > -15 several mornings in a row and with no snow cover to speak of it seems >much colder. By the time I've cleaned stalls and turned horses out with twice >the normal amount of hay, schlepped buckets and changed Marnix's blanket >configuration I am usually pretty sweaty underneath all the layers. ************************************************************ Jean Ernest Fairbanks, Alaska [EMAIL PROTECTED]
