I wish it had JUST snowed!

[Terri]

But instead we had a whole day of freezing rain, then a hard freeze last night. UGH, my entire corral is under 2 solid inches of ice. I tried to spread some old dusty hay everywhere behind the barn to give traction but that didn't do much. The mares and Rio are locked in the barn. My two older geldings, Mico and Prince are gingerly walking around trying to pull the crappy old hay outta the ice (there is plenty of new hay in their open stalls). If we don't get a thaw they will be locked in till Spring!!! Where is that stupid ground hog? :hitting

Then on top of that, someone didn't drain the hose properly and it is all frozen. :evil:

If it had just snowed I coulda let the horseys out!

[CarolU]

It's snowing here Terri...you want it?

But I agree with you...I'd MUCH rather have snow then ice. The ice with the horses SCARES me so much...especially when they're nitwits who think skating is a new sport. :twisted:

[tinomino]

I hear ya Terri! It's awful here. There are like three inches of ice everwere. Good thing I don't work at the barn til sat. :smile: But I am sure they aren't going out. The paddocks are all a skating rink I'm sure. They were already icy before the storm since the rain from weeks ago hadn't really drained yet. I can't wait for spring!!!! I thought it was supposed to be right around the corner? :-?

[PasoJoy]

You want snow, Terri!!!! Here ya go....come and get it....you can HAVE IT...



http://pasofyd.smugmug.com/photos/129809626-M.jpg

[Terri]

Yes Joy, believe it or not, I would much rather have a foot or two of snow. By now the driveway would be plowed and the horses dug out and playing in the snow. As it is, with a 2 inch covering of SOLID ice over the ENTIRE corral, they will be stuck in the barn till we get a couple of days of thaw. Unfortunately, that is NOT in the forecast. :evil:

What I would really like is what Erin has in her corral right now - NOTHING, no snow, no ice, just horses. GRRRRRR.

[Terry Wallace]

Go down to Sam's and procure a couple big bags of kitty litter!!

Those horses will eat that hay ya know...and pretty soon it will mold too...
Then you will have a hay mess to rake up....

If you want more snow to COVER that hay.... we could send you some from Colorado!

[Minouri]

Terri,

I completely understand the ice issue. My whole backyard is a skating rink.

I put some soiled shavings near their paddock and that stuck right on. It gave them an area to walk on outside yesterday morning. I haven't seen any slippage around their doors. Of course, it will be a pain to clean up when this melts.

For the main area....that night I put on big boots and trudged footprints through most of it. That didn't help with the parts that were slush. I went to Lowes yester afternoon and got sand....the kind you'd put in a sandbox.

Knock on wood, they seem to be ok. My boys have been out both yesterday and today and although they are walking slowly....no one seems to be slipping.

The urine soaked shavings stuck right onto the sheer ice parts. Not pretty, but gave good traction.

I'm so glad we didn't try to plow out the paddock. At least with the layer of snow under the ice you have some crunch in parts. Our driveway was plowed and when it rained it gave us a nice inch thick of ice.

I hate ice.

[Terri]

Well, the ice claimed a victim yesterday. My neighbor's elderly quarter horse went down on the ice. They worked a long time to get her up, but when they did she started having seisures and went down again. They had to put her down. Now she was very elderly and was already struggling with other issues, but the ice was the last straw. Very sad :cry:

[Minouri]

Terri,

That just broke my heart and made me a little sick. It's one of my greatest fears. You hate to keep them locked in. You hate to let them out. Ugggg.

[Terri]

Exactly Ruth!!! Mine were out for a couple of hours yesterday on top of hay I had spread everywhere before it froze so it was frozen into the ice to give traction . But it is scary. One spook and you have a broken leg. But they can't stay in until Spring. My neighbor had spread dirt around his paddock. He couldn't lock them in he has no doors on his stalls. The horses are blanketed, with plenty of hay. She just hit a bad spot.

It is suppose to be sunny and in the mid 30s tomorrow, maybe we will get some melt.

[Carol Nelson]

I sympathize with you totally, Terri....we had so much ice this year. I had two horses fall...both older ones...but they didn't hurt themselves badly. I HATE ice...
Go to your feed store and buy a bag of mixing salt or they may call it livestock salt. The large grain type. You can spread a thin layer of it all over your paddock, and it will pock the ice just enough to give them traction without breaking your pocketbook.
We use it in their grain also so we always have it on hand. Of course, you need to get it BEFORE the ice storm...but it worked well for me. You can also put it on your sidewalks and steps.

[PasoJoy]

Ice is very scary....once I found a HUGE spot of blood in my pasture on top of 'the ice' and I freaked...I mean it was a LOT of blood, with drops of blood leading to, or away from it, I didn't know which...(I was not a CSI back then... :roll: )..checked the legs and bodies of all three horses I had in there and could not find one speck of broken flesh....I could not figure out what the heck had happened...thought maybe a fox had killed something there and dragged it off to eat it...
A few days later I just 'happened' to be fooling around with my Mountain horse and opened his mouth. I caught a glimpse of something red and upon further investigation I found a HOLE in the inside of his lip (back side of his muzzle)... :shock: ...If it had been on the outside of his body he would have surely needed stitches...but vet said it would eventually fill in and heal..which it did....I figured he must have slipped on the ice and his head caught the brunt of it,and he probably punched the hole with his front teeth ....poor boy...
lesson learned to look in mouth if blood not seen anywhere else on horse. :-?

I hope the sunshine today helps to melt that ice of yours so your horses can go outside....

[jodiTowne]

Terri....that is sad. Hope your ice melts soon. :(

[TrueStepPaso]

Well, tomorrow will almost 40 degrees and sunny, so that may help some.... :D

[Minouri]

I'm going to look into livestock salt. Thanks for sharing that one. Last night I went out and bought more all purpose sand. The parts I had treated with sand the day before were nice yesterday. My worry is if they go beyond the area I've treated for them. Today I'll be looking at temporary fencing possibilities.

[dana]

you can also get a 50lb bag of chicken grit (#2 i think) for under $5 at the feed store. i like it because it goes a long way and doesn't kill the grass in the spring.