Re: Winter Management

["cookie hickstein" <cookieh@trib.com>]

Lori,

I keep my horse shod all year as well.  Spray the hoof with Pam cooking
spray, the snow won't stick if you do this.  Another thing I do for winter
riding is to ride bareback all winter.  Ours horses get such thick hair we
have to use hair dryers if they get wet so I don't use a saddle to help keep
the sweat level low.   It can take us as long to cool out the horses as it
does to ride them!  We don't ride when it gets 10 or lower we feel it's too
hard on their lungs, and it's hard for use to keep warm too.  So if we have
a hard winter our horses get a longer rest from outside riding, we end up
using an indoor arena sometimes.

Where are you moving to?  Northern California has alot of nice places to
ride and unless your in the sierra's you shouldn't have so much snow that
you can't ride.  The lower elevations get snow but it does melt off.  I miss
the riding we had atTahoe and before that we lived in Nevada City which I
still miss since that is where I grew up.  I miss the Trees, I live in the
high desert and we have no trees to speak of in our area.  Alot of sand and
rocks!

Cookie & Tezz

>Cookie, what do you do about your horses hooves filling with snow when you
>ride? I have a mare that cannot go without shoes. I would like to ride her
>some this winter, but if we get any snow that could prove to be a problem.
>This winter riding stuff is new to me, what having originated from
>Bakersfield, the land of sand and sage.
>Lori B.
>
>----------
>> From: cookie hickstein <cookieh@trib.com>
>> To: Ridecamp@endurance.net; Madeline Olea <molea@ucla.edu>
>> Subject: Re: Winter Management
>> Date: Sunday, November 01, 1998 4:47 PM
>>
>> Madeline,
>>
>> Yes you can use the pipe corrals in cold climates, here in Wyoming we get
>> to -50 (not wind chill) and we have pipe corrals.  You can get a water
>tank
>> with a heater in it Richie makes a good one in different sizes and they
>work
>> very well.  We already have ours turned on since we could get cold
>weather
>> any day.
>>
>> As far as the snow, that's not a problem, we moved from Tahoe where we
>would
>> get 6 feet of snow over night.  We had our horses there year round.
>> Sometimes we had to wait to ride during the winter months or trailer to
>> where there was less snow  towards Reno.  Where we live in Wyoming we get
>> the cold and some snow but never move than a couple of feet at a time.
>>
>> You'll love riding in the snow on a nice day!
>>
>> Cookie & Tezz
>> -
>>
>> >hear from people who live in snowy winter climates:  can you use pipe
>> corral
>> >or is there a danger the horses will lick the pipe and get stuck to the
>> >frozen pipe?  Is there a similar problem if you want to cover corners of
>> >wood in the barn with metal to keep the horses from snacking on the
>frame
>> of
>> >the barn?  What is the safest way to heat water for the water trough?
>> >
>>
>