PonyTracks

We start out the morning chores about 7:00 A.M. The sun is just starting to come up and it is very COLD! This morning when I went out, it was -18 degrees below zero. We have ponies that are all anxiously waiting for breakfast. This is the most welcoming part of my day because as soon as they see me coming out the door, the ponies all whinny their greetings which makes me feel so loved. Most of them will crowd around the gate when I enter so that they can get their pats and hugs before breakfast. I always want to yell “Okay guys, crowd control!!”, but I truly enjoy it. It’s a good thing I get all of those warms hugs from the start, because right after that the cold stuff begins.

It is so cold many days during these winter months that sometimes it’s just hard to get through the outside chores. Winter always adds a LOT to our work load. One of our major (repeat MAJOR) concerns during the cold season revolves around water. Of course horses need water to survive, but it is even more than that. They actually require more water in the winter than they do in the summer, but often they don’t drink as much because their water is too cold or even frozen. Statistically more horses get sick and die in the late fall and winter months than any other time, but not always from things like pneumonia. Instead it is more often simply that they don’t drink enough water to keep things moving through their system.

When we first started with the miniatures five years ago, the first thing that I used to have to do is break all of the ice off of the water troughs. Water heaters are expensive so we have tried to add at least one or two new ones each year until we could finally get one for each trough on the property. We now have heaters for all of the water containers – Yeah! Depending on how thick the ice was, it used to take me only moments to clear off the ice, or it may have taken me 20 minutes of hacking with an ax to clear the ice out of the troughs. Whether the ice was in thin sheets or solid through half the water trough, once I had broken through the ice, it was not enough just to give them access to be able to drink. I had to make sure that all of the ice is taken out of the water. How would you like to stick your whole nose and mouth in a cold bucket with sharp ice shards floating in it? We then brought out buckets of hot water from the house to add to the water that was still remaining in the troughs. This makes the cold water warmer to drink and also keeps it from freezing back up quite so fast. On an average, we would carry about 10-12 buckets of hot water out to the ponies. These are 3 and 5 gallon buckets. Can you do the math to guess how much water we were carrying? And we would have to repeat this whole process again during the evening chores. While we are hauling the buckets of water, we have to walk very slow and be really careful that we don’t spill any of the water out of the buckets. Not only would the spilled water freeze and become icy wherever it landed, but also sometimes the water sloshes on our pants and down into our boots which is REALLY cold when it freezes!

Now as I said, this is the first year we have heaters in all of the horse’s water troughs. Wow, that makes life soooooo much easier! Plus we have some wonderful neighbors 2 doors down who like to have some of the ponies live in the tiny little pasture in front of their house. Normally I would bring those ponies home for the winter because of freezing water issues and no way to haul hot water down to them. But this year my neighbors offered to buy the ponies a solar heated water tank, which would then allow the ponies to stay with them. Hmmmm……how long did I have to brood over that offer?!? So now those spoiled little ponies actually have warm water any time they want it! How sweet is that?

I ponder over the subject of water more often than I would like to, yet I am also go very grateful for modern conveniences like heaters and water running from a spigot. I can’t even begin to imagine how people used to care for their animals in the horrid Midwest winters just a century ago. I can’t imagine having to haul water from a creek or pump it out of a well and then carry it a long ways to the barn. And let me tell you, when water totally freezes in a bucket or trough, there is no getting it out until the thaw comes. Every time as we are here at Hope Springs are whining about our water issues in the winter, it is good to get a reality check and remind ourselves how much we appreciate the contemporary conveniences we have. I plan to post this message and then go think about how very much I value water as I soak in a nice bathtub full of the hottest water I can get!

Posted in Winter On The Ranch by Bev | 2 Comments

Winter At The Ranch

Winter has definitely come to Pine Valley. What this means is that there will be no pony outings or visits until spring. Snow and mud makes the dirt road leading to our property impassible for our horse trailer. There will be times over the winter when the road will get dry and during those periods we might try to scurry out quick to make some visits, however you can’t depend on the weather and we never know when the snow is going to come again. This makes it really hard to plan outings such as nursing home visits. Most places need to schedule us in advance and it’s hard to say “The ponies will be there next Wednesday.”, because by Wednesday the snow may have come again.

While we don’t get out during the winter, we also don’t get too many people coming to our little ranch to see us either. It’s just way too cold! The high temperature for today was 19 degrees. As I am writing this, it has dropped to a -5 degrees below zero. Brrrr……. Most people don’t have any idea what it’s like around here in the winter, so I thought I would start a dialog of what “winter on the ranch” is like. As most of you know, school kids are some of the biggest fans of our ponies. They might have met the ponies when they came to our place with their class for a field trip, or maybe it was when we brought ponies to their school. Sometimes a class will even “adopt” a pony and collect “pennies for ponies” throughout the year to help support their class pony. Often the teachers will print off news from our web site to share with the classroom so that they can keep up with what is happening with the ponies. School kids from St. George, Las Vegas and other warm areas will be hearing of this and of course many of them have never even seen snow. So please join me over the next few freezing months as I try to paint a cold picture of what winter is like where the ponies live. And as always, feel free to chime in with thoughts or comments, whether about something that I have shared or maybe telling us what winter is like for you – we always love to hear from you!

Bev.

Posted in Winter On The Ranch by Bev | Comments Off