Cleaning Lots

I put out a reminder on my Chat Group about worming. You should worm after a killing frost. Ivermectin should be used in spring and fall, alternating with other types of wormers during the other times.

I just got my worming done. Some of the horses I didn’t even have to halter. Then there are always those few that said, “you aren’t catching me to stick that thing into my mouth.” So I walked off, did something else, and walked up to one of the young horses with a hand full of grass that I found. I think she forgot that I was after her earlier, and she left me halter her easily while she eagerly ate that grass that no one else was getting. She wormed easily, and after I took the halter off, she searched the ground for more grass. She wouldn’t find any there!

We had the horse's teeth checked last week for sharp edges, A few of the horses have been floated. Hopefully, that helps to keep the weight on some hard keepers.

Lots are being cleaned as I type, so they are not so messy next spring. These pictures make them seem really wet and slimy now, but they weren’t too bad to scrape. At least I didn’t fall on the slime! Tom liked running the bobcat. Must be a guy’s toy.

Then he gives me, “what do you want” look. LOL

My 2 helpers were helping me. Posie, the Aussie, and Lady, the Springer Spaniel.

Then I think Posie went to sleep for awhile. Lady is always on the go. You would never find her sleeping.

Water Heaters are going into the tanks. We put the extension cords of the heaters through PVC pipe and tie the pipes to the fencing.

Then those pesky horses can’t play with the heaters and destroy them. I just need to find 1 or 2 extension cords. We'll plug them in tomorrow night, as we are suppose to be getting nights with temps down in the teens. Horses don't like to drink really cold water, and will limit their intake if the water is freezing.

It is important to keep the water source from freezing. I like to put 5 gallon buckets over the hydrant handles to keep them from freezing shut. Oops, didn’t get a pic of that, but I think you can imagine what a bucket looks like over a hydrant.

I need to replace salt blocks. I still want them licking salt, and that will help with water consumption. I have 4 lots of horses, but we usually buy a couple of large blocks and I have hubby break them into quarters.

Hay is ready. I feed brome round bales, but one lot of hard keepers will get alfalfa squares for a few months. I realized today why my shoulders are achy and waking me up during the night. I thought it was from moving boxes of tack to the store 3 weeks ago. But today, I was forking hay back into the hay feeders, trying to keep the lots clean from the hay getting mucky. I could feel the strain. I have been forking hay over to a horse that was in it’s own lot for a month and a half. That was a lot of torquing on my shoulders. I wasn’t feeling the soreness until the last 2 weeks. I don’t think I’ll be pitching hay any more. I’ll give that job to hubby!

Grain is ready. I'll start graining soon. I'm graining Purina Strategy to supply the nutrient level for 2 broodmares that are having foals next spring, 3 young horses, and 2 pleasure horses that can use the extra energy over the winter. I’ll feed Senior feed to the lot of older teenage horses that are my hard keepers.

Horses have had trims, and may need 1 more trimming late December. Then I find over the winter that I can go 2-2 1/2 months before the next trim if I'm not riding the horses. I don't mind them a little long, just not breaking off. All of their feed goes to keep themselves warm, and their hooves don't tend to grow so long. I just keep hay in front of them so they aren’t shivering as much when the weather gets damp. Chewing on hay keeps internal temp up.

We also got a load of clay dirt, to spread in the low places. (Sounds like a song) (Who can name it?) We spread a couple bobcat buckets under the lean to where the water runs off. Hubby needs to spread it over in the horse lot where the summer rains washed out dirt and made a ditch. And we will spread the rest of the dirt where we drive into the lot. There is always a low spot there.

What else? I think I'm ready for winter. Except for the snow. I better put the shovel at the back door! Maybe if I’m ready for snow, it won’t snow as much as last year!

Oh, and I better get my turtlenecks and overalls ready, and insulated boots and gloves. I was freezing yesterday, but today I wore my fleeced lined jeans, a long sleeve T with a sweatshirt, and a hoody with a winter jacket. And gloves. I was much warmer in this 30 degree damp weather.

I better go check on hubby. He should be about done playing in the horse lot. I need him to get a bucket of sand to put under the big lot’s large round water tank. We keep it a little higher so the horses aren’t constantly kicking the bottom of the tanks, which causes them to leak. The level tool is ready so we can make sure the water tank is laying even.

I went outside and waited on Tom to finish blading the section of the lot that he was working on.

The horses were at the round bale. Shaggy walked up to me. He dropped his head for me to rub it. He actually turned sideways and seemed to want me to rub his neck and back, which I did. Honey walked up and wanted to be petted also. Shaggy pinned his ears slightly, but he is so gentle, I was surprised by his actions, as that certainly is the most I’ve ever seen him do. After rubbing Honey, I walked to Shaggy’s other side, and when he was done wanting to be rubbed, he walked back to the round bale. Then Savannah walked over, wanting me to rub her forehead. When I went to walk away, she followed me.

I wonder if my horses have missed me, as I haven’t done much riding the last 2 weeks. It was nice to walk out into their lot, and have them walk up to me. Tom caught me rubbing them, and asked when he was going to get his back rubbed? LOL

HT Photo Challenge "COLD"

We are definately snowed in....


The Horsetales Photo Challenge word was "COLD". I submitted the photo of the frozen eyelashes on one of the horses. Later in the day, they were rolling in the snow!

Well….the blizzard hit last night. According to the weather station, a blizzard is a snow storm with 35 mph winds and less than ¼ mile visibility for at least 3 hours. The wind was howling all night at 45 mph. We had at least 8" of snow by 4 pm yesterday, with more falling. With the high winds, I wonder if there was going to be any snow left or all in huge drifts.

This morning was bright. The wind had decreased to 25 mph. I didn’t think to look out the east windows. As the sun was rising, sun dogs were visible. I’ll need to always look out my east windows on mornings after a snow when the air is still crisp. The crystals of the moisture in the air, combined with the rising sun, caused the bright lights that were streaming vertically to the ground.

This morning’s temps were in the single digits, with minuses coming tonight. Even though the wind had decreased, my cheeks were very cold when the west wind belted us as I rounded the corner of the tree line.

I had 12-18” of snow to walk through to get to the barn door.


Other areas had 3’ foot drifts, so not bad.



I think that all of the tree lines help to control drifts. Checking on the driveway and road that ran past my acreage, I knew the 2 miles to the highway would be drifted in. My husband didn’t make it home last night as he had to stay at work late. He stayed with friends in Lincoln, 15 miles away from home. I wonder if he will get down our road if the road grater doesn’t plow today. Actually, I had hoped that the north wind would have blown the snow straight past my driveway, which it did. But the areas on each side of the driveway had at least 2’ of snow. I used my 4 wheel drive truck to break up the snow, driving back and forth a foot at a time. We really need to get a bigger tractor that can blade or a plow on my truck!

My driveway is under there somewhere!

Horses were actually playing in the morning coolness.

Go figure! Frigid air and they were running around. Starlet even laid down and rolled! I think she was trying to get her wintery blanket off her back.


The crusty snow on the horse’s back is actually an insulation for the horse, and should not be removed if the horses are going to be left unblanket. Once you rubbed off the snow, the hair gets wet and the horse could become cold.


The horse's eye lashes were frozen!

The only problem this morning was that the water tank crusted over.

The horses had kept drinking enough to make a small opening, but I had to break through 1-2” of the frozen top. As I broke the ice, all of the horses came to drink.

The water heater should keep up with warming the water now, as the wind is decreasing, and wind chill is less.

The horses were staying warm, digging their heads into the round bale.

Later in the morning, they were sunning themselves. I think they are warm now!

December is here...

December is here, and with it came the first really cold morning! I bundled up with sweat pants over my jeans to do morning chores. I need to dig out the overalls. I checked water tanks first. Will they have a layer of ice on top? Steam was rising off the water. The water tank heaters worked! Yea! No breaking ice outside this year. Even with the colder weather, below 20 this morning, the horses had drank about ¼ of the water.


But inside the barn, I didn’t do so well with the pet water bowls. They were all frozen. I took the easy way out and just poured more water on top, as we are to get into the 30’s today and the water should melt. The cat’s water was plugged in but was frozen. I’m prepared though, as I just bought 2 new water bowls. The cats will need one of the new water bowls. The dog’s extension cords just need to be plugged in, which I did this morning to 2 of the water bowls. The 3rd bowl needs an extension cord ran so I’ll need to do that tonight.

Ok, check off winterizing the water tanks. Now on to the barn. This weekend, I’ll need to drain all hoses. Have you ever tried to curl a frozen hose? They don’t bend very easy. I keep a few hoses in a heated room to keep them thawed for filling water tanks. I’ll need to wet the sand down in the arena before I put hoses away.

I have round bales for the winter months. I just put out 2 salt blocks to the horses. Water tanks are heated. Hoses are in the barn, staying thawed. I think I’m ready.

Now, where are my overalls, insulated gloves, winter boots, hood, headband….

Getting Ready for Winter

And winter is definitely coming. Monday and Tuesday were in the high 50’s - 60’s. Late yesterday afternoon, the temp dropped into the 40’s, with a strong northwest wind blowing.

Monday, with the afternoon high near 60, I decided it was time to get ready for winter. That meant, if I didn’t want to break ice in the mornings, I better get water heaters into the tanks and electric cords run. I have always had to break ice for a few mornings every year, as I delayed too long in getting water heaters into tanks. Some years, the ice got so thick that I’ve had to break through the ice with a fence T post! Have you ever tried kicking through the top layer of ice, to have it quickly break? The force of kicking through the ice takes your boot into the water, leaving you with a wet foot. That doesn’t feel good at all.



Not this year. This year, I am ready. Getting ready for winter means getting water tank heaters and extension cords ready. From the top shelf in the storage barn came down 2 of the water heaters. We have plugged in up to 5 water heaters some years, and that is just for the horses. But this year, all of the horses are in 1 big lot, with Duke, my stud, in his own lot.

I have 4 or 5 more dog and cat pet heated water bowls plugged in the mare barn. Out of the feed bin in the mare barn came out 1 long extension cord to plug in Duke‘s water heater. The other extension cord hangs permanently from the storage barn to the outside shelter. All I had to do is unroll some of it to be able to plug it into the large lot’s water heater that is about 25’ away.



Now all I have to do is make sure both the water heaters and extension cords are still good. Last night, it wasn’t cold enough to see if any water tanks had ice on top. That is about to change. North winds are even brisker today. Temps are dropping, with highs tomorrow only in the 30’s. that means that tonight’s temps will be in the teens. If heaters don’t work, I’ll find a layer of ice in the water tanks!



I hope the water heaters work. I don’t want to break ice in the morning. I really don’t want a wet foot! And my horses will love the warmer water!

Cold Mornings!

The mornings are getting colder. I always seem to delay getting the winter heaters into the water tanks until after I have to break ice a few mornings. This year, I have been breaking ice for more than a few mornings. Some mornings, there is just a thin layer of ice. Some mornings, there is a heavy layer of ice. Some mornings, I can’t break the ice with the grain bucket, and I need to use a T- post to break the ice.

We have had lots of horses who think it's neat to play with the water heater and get it outside the water tank, pull them apart, and tramp on it! Those early years, I have found bits and pieces all over the lot. What do they do? Run with the pieces or fling them around? I always wonder if they get their mouths burned on the element when it first comes out of the water. The element does automatically turn off when it is out of water, but the heater is hot to the touch when it first comes out of the water. I suppose the wire cage around the element protects them while they trample it!

I have learned to put the extension cord of the water heaters through PVC pipe so that the horses can’t chew on the cord. To keep the water heaters IN the tanks, we wire the PVC pipe to the fence posts. It is wired right below the electric fence, and when they touch the fence a time or two to try to play with the pipe, they eventually get shocked. They have learned to leave the tank heater alone!

I finally got the water heaters into the tanks over this past weekend. I plugged in 2 water heaters and the electric fencer to 1 outlet. The heaters were only plugged in for 1 night before I blew a fuse! No extra fuses in the barn! Where are the fuses, and how do you open this darn fuse box? My hubby told me that he hid the fuses…why??? I’m back to breaking ice until I get my husband to show me where the special fuses are!

I’m back to breaking ice this morning. I find one extension cord in the steer lot! How did it get there? Luckily, the cord wasn’t frozen into the mud and I pulled it out of the lot. It seemed a lot longer now! I stretched it out toward the barn where I have TWO separate outlets. My extension cords were long enough to get TWO extension cords from 2 water tank heaters into the barn and plugged into 2 different outlets. Yeah, I have electric to 2 tank heaters. Now I hope that those 2 outlets are on 2 different circuits! I’ll find out tonight at chore time whether I have ice or water.

Now, I just need to get the fencer back on and electric to 2 more tanks. I need to find more extension cords to run to 2 more lots! I’m back to breaking ice until then. Do I have enough water heaters for 2 more tanks? I think I’m missing one. I need to replace the one that I picked out of the pen in bits and pieces last winter. Time to run to the farm store.