I guess I’m rather obsessed by the winter this year, at least it seems so looking back at my last few blogs. But the truth is there’s no getting around the fact that horse care in the winter is a lot tougher for some of us than it is any other time of the year, and it gets a little more difficult each year.

We’re pretty used to heavy snow and cold winds, but usually we can get to January or so before they start. Not this year. Horses in the Northeast are being challenged, as they are in the Midwest. I’ve already heard from friends about a couple of impactions, as well as a colic that ended with euthanasia (I just can’t seem to get over that one). It’s possible these incidents had nothing to do with winter, but I’m not taking any chances.

The other morning I noticed that Bonnet didn’t clean up her hay, which is really odd. Her stall was normally dirty, and her bucket was its typical half full status (not enough water, I know, but still “normal” for her). A quick inspection found no evidence of illness—no increased pulse or respiration, she wasn’t acting strangely, I could hear good gut sounds and she had no fever. Her mucus membranes were a healthy pink, and I found no swellings, lameness or joint heat. However, the dehydration “pinch” test failed.

I’m fully aware that this isn’t an accurate diagnostic test. It may or may not indicate adequate hydration, but I wasn’t taking any chances. My husband immediately went to the feed store to get bran (despite the fact he still isn’t feeling well), as he decided Bonnet was going on a regular mash schedule.

As you know, bran is high in phosphorus, and it can throw off a horse’s calcium: phosphorus ratio. That’s a worrisome thing for a young horse or a breeding animal, and it’s not a good thing for any horse. However, it was the lesser of two evils for me. A few months on a regular mash isn’t going to cause too much of a problem, and I added the weight-gain supplement my husband suggested, as it is high in calcium and will help with the balance. (I’m all for proper nutrition, but you can get a little nutty about all this, so be sure you include common sense in your feeding program.)

The mash is soaking up a lot of water, and I’m making it very soupy, which Bonnet just thinks is wonderful. She neighs when it’s time to come in, and she stands in front of her feed tub and nickers the whole time, waiting for the mash soup to arrive (by the way, the automatic spell-check on this system tried to change “nickers” to “knickers”! Clearly, it wasn’t written by a horse person!).

Anyway, mixing the mash has become fun. Bonnet dives in and comes up with a mouthful of wet, sloppy bran and oats, looking like a kid in a candy shop. Enough, so actually, that Sally began insisting on having her share of some mash, too.

It’s inexpensive, easy to make and they love it. I bring warm water from the house, soak the mask, and add additional water from the barn to make their lukewarm oats-supplements-bran mash soup. Of course, Bonnet’s getting a full two tablespoons of salt to entice her to consume more water on her own, while Sally’s on her usual one tablespoon (Sally loves to drink). They’re getting over a gallon of water just with the mashes.

So, I’m cold and hating the biting wind, but I’m having a ball “cooking” for the horses. My husband’s probably stuck with soup and grilled cheese tonight, but I’ll also be sure he also gets an extra blanket for the night! The wind chills are going below zero.

Speaking of blankets, a reader asked about what winter blankets we’re using. I’m using the ones that were recommended by Horse Journal in September 2008 and September 2009 (see www.horse-journal.com). I’m partial to the blankets that include a Velcro closure with the front buckles, as it makes for a much warmer fit.

What else could it be when you have horses to spend it with? As a little girl, my best Christmas memories were when I found a saddle, boots and other horse things left behind by Santa. He was so smart to know exactly what I wanted, and I couldn’t wait to get to the barn to use the stuff on Queenie, a tiny bay Shetland mare who taught my sisters and me how to ride.

As an adult, my favorite Christmas memories were the ones when I worked on a Thoroughbred farm in Lexington, Ky. The staff split Christmas chores in half, with one group doing morning and the other the evening, so that everyone could have as much of the holiday off as possible. My husband and I always chose the morning shifts, since we are early risers anyway and because there’s just no place like a barn on a crisp Christmas morning.  It was just the two of us in that barn, taking care of 20 horses, but that day it didn’t feel like a chore. It was more like a gift from Santa.

No one can convince me the horses didn’t know the difference between Christmas morning and any other morning. They pranced as we led them out through the bright snow, running out into the field like a celebration of life. The straw glistened like a golden nest when we finished the stalls. The entire barn glowed with warmth and love.  Horses don’t need presents, glitter and bling in order to feel something special about the day. It’s just there. In the air. In the snow. In the frosty breaths they take.

As a kid, we were told that you cannot enter a barn at midnight on Christmas Eve, because that’s the one chance each year that the animals can speak, and they talk with God. I wonder if that’s how the horses knew the next day was so special. I’ve been told that if you are in the barn at that time, you steal that wonderful opportunity from the animals. ( I was also told that if you go in the barn at that time you may be knocked unconscious, so you don’t know what happened. As an adult I realize that’s wrong, but I still won’t take the chance if I can avoid it!)

This year, my husband and I decided to tone down the whole Christmas ordeal a bit and concentrate on what truly matters. My dad used to say that all he wanted for Christmas was “peace and quiet,” and I guess we’ve reached the age where we completely concur. We’ve limited our decorating and our shopping—although our Papillons will tell you that they know there’s something special for them, hidden in the guest room—and we’re maximizing the time we have to spend together as a family.

This Christmas Eve, I’ll look out our window at the glistening snow and barn and anticipate the fun we’ll have in the morning, long before the day’s festivities begin for those less fortunate (the non-horse people, that is). It’s the best time of the year, I agree, and if animals can feel the true holiday spirit without all the added glitz, we can, too.  It really is all about Peace on Earth, isn’t it?

It’s snowing like crazy here this morning, and I just finished battling putting turnout blankets on horses very anxious to get out in the snow and play!  I sure am glad these blankets stay in place well, because they’re tested to the max.

It reminded me of our upcoming January issue, which includes a section on winter care that I find an extremely useful, hands-on article.  Maybe it’s because we’re currently dealing with older horses, including a Thoroughbred, and we live in Upstate New York, where the winters can be particularly vicious.

I was amazed by this report to learn that you actually need to be concerned about winter laminitis, especially if you have a horse with a history of metabolic issues or if your horse might have the body type that’s prone to this syndrome. It’s a wake-up call for a lot of horse owners. As any reader of this website surely knows, anything you can do to head off laminitis is time well invested.

We also discuss talks about blanketing, which tends to be a controversial issue among horse owners for reasons I can’t comprehend. I frequently hear from readers who claim that wild horses don’t need blankets or that they’ve never blanked their horses in the 40 years they’ve had them. That’s just great! And I envy you because the fun of blanketing your horse every day runs thin pretty quickly.

But the bottom line on this issue is that either your horse gets cold in the winter weather or he doesn’t. If he’s chilled, he needs a blanket. Of course, thinner-skinned breeds and older horses need help sooner than a young adult thick-coated horse. If you’re raising foals, you of course realize that younger horses also need to be monitored.

Clearly, this can be done with a run-in shed and/or stabling, but I think all horses should go out every day. The length of time they stay out depends upon paddock availability and weather conditions. Adding a waterproof-breathable turnout blanket can significantly increase that time.

We also talk about warming foods (it’s not grains!) and the increased risk of impaction colic. That’s another topic that’s dear to my heart, since we lost a horse a long time ago to this. He was old, and he had a long history of not drinking enough water. I didn’t know about the salt-in-feed trick back then, but I can assure you that our horses all get that now!

Horse Journal is here to help you with your winter horse-care questions, and we continue to search for products that help.  That non-freeze water tank is doing really well in our early testing. Stay tuned!

When I first began writing this blog, I talked about dealing with mice and other wildlife around the farm. Well, it’s worsened.

One of our 2009 goals was to have an old building dismantled by the time the year ended. It was a useless eyesore that we basically ignored, that is, until my husband found out we were being taxed for that 20 x 30 foot building. This amounted to quite a chunk of change, and it became an obsession. That building was coming down, if he had to take it apart by hand. Turns out, he did.

Because the building was a haven for bees, wasps and yellow jackets, it had to be worked on either before the first thaw or after the first killing frost. We missed the first thaw because of the run-around we received from the company we had hired to demolish it. We got three bids, and we took the middle one. We liked the guy, and he seemed honest. Wrong. It was a four-hour job, according to him, with his “giant” machine that rips buildings apart. Payable at the end of the job, which was fine with us. He missed his first appointment to get the job done. Frustrating, but nice people that we are, we believed his excuse that his current job had run over estimated time.

Next thing we heard was that he needed a signed contract. OK, that’s legitimate, wondering why he didn’t ask for it the first time. We said to fax it, and he said he couldn’t because it wasn’t legal. He had to have someone bring it by, and they would pick up the check while they were there because he had to pay his staff in advance. No dice, we said. OK, then, I’ll fax the document, then just fax it back. Huh? Long story, short: He never faxed anything and he never appeared for the next two appointments. We told him to forget it. A few weeks later we found out he declared bankruptcy. Squeaked by that one, we did.

Sick of contractors, my husband decided he could take the building down by hand. After all, that’s the way it was done before big equipment. He and a friend have literally taken that building down by hand, piece by piece. It’s nearly done, and with that monstrosity out of the way, I have clear view from my back deck of the barn and the horses. So, I’m happy. My husband will be happy when he returns from telling the tax assessor to adjust her records.

And that reminds me, if it’s been awhile since you’ve gone into the assessor’s office to be sure everything’s being taxed right, make time for it immediately. Right after we bought this property from my mom, we went into the office to question the re-assessment (sadly the original beautiful piece of property was split in two when it was sold because both my brother and I wanted it, so each piece was re-assessed). We found out that the farm was being taxed for a swimming pool it never had for over five years! It’s off the record now, that’s for sure.