One nice thing about the colder weather on Friday/Saturday - the mud in the paddock froze solid! I feel bad for the horses though- it's like walking through a boulder field filled with lots of ankle twisting rocks. Miserable when I'm hauling hay across the paddocks too! Why can't it just dry up a little bit before it freezes - sure makes it miserable!
I put a yard of gravel in front of the barn, in front of the waterer and around the feeder the day before the sloppy snow - thank goodness! The purpose was to force the horses to walk across the gravel to help toughen up their feet. My timing was good, it will not only help out their feet, but it kept those areas from turning into deep mud which is so much nicer! I think what I really need to do is to gravel all the paddocks with class 5 driveway gravel. That would be perfect - I'd have horses with rock hard feet and no mud! I think I'll be hauling a lot more rock next summer..... worth it to buy it - at least I don't have to load it this way! :)
Next week, I need to get a couple of horses trimmed. It's been interesting to work with the horses and see how their feet progress. I need a new rasp - working with an old rasp is way too much work! Cisco and Trapper are both due. Trapper is growing out the nail holes from the shoes had on when we went to SoDak in September. To shoe or not to shoe is always a bit of a dilemma for me. I would really like to keep them barefoot, but have struggled with the boots for long rides. I may need to work with a boot expert to figure out what I'm doing wrong. It will be really interesting to see what happens with Max. He's very tender footed (at least he was when I first got him - he's been in shoes since October). He gets his shoes pulled on Tuesday evening after work - I'm hoping to work with him over the winter and transition him to barefoot all the time. More to come as we work through this process....
Good night!
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