I’m sitting at home in my PJs at 10 a.m. on a Tuesday morning, crawling out of my skin, because 4-6 inches of snow is dumping on Northern Virginia today. I made it to the barn, but turned right back around, choosing instead to be stuck at home with office work.
Unpleasant precipitation aside, winter storms are a real threat to horses and horse businesses, and we take them very seriously. Here are some of the things we do at Sprieser Sporthorse to prepare, and weather, the weather.
1. Hydration, hydration, hydration. The biggest killer of domesticated horses is colic, and one of the leading causes of colic is dehydration. Horses don’t drink as much in the winter, whether there’s precipitation or not, so all winter we watch water levels really closely. We keep water buckets refreshed with warm water, as horses are more likely to drink warm than cold water, and we add liberal amounts of a product called Horse Quencher, a grain-like formula that most of our horses INHALE when added to water.
When storms hit, we think about where the water comes from—at most farms, including my own and Morningside Training Farm, where we’re camped out for another three weeks while construction at Clearwater finishes up, that’s a well. And wells are powered by electricity, which isn’t something you can rely on in a storm, especially in the country. At Clearwater we have a generator; at Morningside, we filled up big buckets and wheelbarrows of water to have around just in case. And in really cold temps, we’ll open up the taps to keep them flowing, to make sure pipes don’t burst and freeze.
2. Movement. We’re big believers in turnout, but Virginia specializes in ice, so we’re very careful about turning out in yucky weather. It means that our horses are going to be spending some time cooped up for the next few days, if not longer. It’s not ideal—keeping horses stallbound means more work, of course, but it also means stiffer bodies and pent-up energy, two things that aren’t just a pain to deal with—they present some health hazards.
First, we address that stiffness with longer warm-ups, and even some time on the longe line for a second trip out of the stall, if they need it. Stiff horses are more likely to hurt themselves, as improperly warmed-up tissue is more inclined to tear.
Then, the energy levels. I love a tummy supplement my friends at Uckele Nutrition makes called GUT. It’s available in a powder that all of my horses get every day, but it also comes in a paste, and it’s great for those internalizer horses. We’ve found it really helps with horses who get the runs from worrying in their stalls all day. We try to keep the horses busy, keeping hay in front of them and giving the really loopy ones toys in their stalls. And we cowgirl up for the really squirrely ones, including getting on before our clients if we’re worried about extra va-va-voom.
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3. On-Site Help. This one is tough for us right now, as we’re not at home—every person on staff, including myself, is having to drive to Morningside from somewhere else. (We are all so peeved at this storm because we move back to Clearwater in exactly 17 days. This couldn’t have waited?!) But Morningside does have staff on-site, so in case of total disaster, we’ve got people on hand to help out.
We’re also smart about keeping a truck at Morningside, in case we have a serious crisis and have to get a horse out of there in an emergency. And we’ve got vehicles with four-wheel-drive distributed amongst the staff to keep them at their most mobile. (As my car is not one of those, I’m stuck at home!)
4. Communication. We make sure we have phone numbers for all our owners, especially cell numbers, as land lines can’t be counted on in a storm. When we’re at home, we’ll change the message on our answering machine to include a road report, in case we’re away from the phone when someone calls. We use email when we can, of course, but the Internet, too, is not something that can be depended on with foul weather. In short, we get information out in at least three ways—Facebook, email and phone—when we have something major to communicate. And we try and keep everything charged in case power does go out. In general, our policy is that if the weather is questionable, it’s safe to assume that the roads are dangerous, and clients should NOT come out to ride; we don’t want anyone hurt out on the roads getting to us!
5. Planning ahead. This is the big one. Of course, some storms are sneaky, and none are completely predictable, especially here in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains, where weather conditions can change in a blip. But we had the gift of foresight on this one, so we made sure we had plenty of hay and grain to get us through. We made sure horses all got out of their stalls on Sunday, the first day of scummy weather, knowing that they’d be in for a while with the second blast coming through Tuesday, today. We armed the vehicles with plenty of windshield wiper cleaner and a scraper (though an important note: make sure the scraper is not trapped inside your vehicle during an ice storm, or you may be forced to sacrifice your best wooden spoon for the task of breaking into your car. Ask me how I know this.)
At at the end of the day, make good choices. Horses are tough. And we’re no good to them stuck in a snowbank on the side of the road.
Be safe, to all our friends in snowy climes today!
