Just for fun

Barn owners Larry and Julie work really hard to keep the property in shape. Keeping it in shape means nearly constant attention to routine chores, plus the seemingly endless fix-it projects that pop up. There's so much to do that I would think both of them would be exhausted and wrung out, but they're always super pleasant, quick to smile and laugh, and ready to help with anything. With all they have going on, I thought it was really great that Larry could spend some time doing a silo re-do, just for the heck of it.

I had gone to the barn for a couple days in a row and noticed that the lower part of the silo was being painted. I just figured that they were painting the whole silo red to match the barn.

It wasn't until at least my third day of parking the car and walking by the silo that I noticed that the silo paint job was  mimicking the barn entry - part of which can be seen on the left. I asked Larry about the project and he just shrugged and said he thought it would be fun. Just for fun ... so simple!

A good afternoon at the barn

Because I was out of town last weekend, the goal today was to spend some quality time at the barn. A good hour after arrival was spent cleaning out my corner of the tack room. We've all been hearing the telltale rustling of mice, so I wanted to sweep out the corner and just sort of tidy up a bit. Plus, the weather forecast was for snow showers - it was a good day to bring in the winter wear for the horses. 

This is the "before" shot:

And this is the "after" shot:

Hmmn, it doesn't look a whole lot tidier, now that I look at the photos. :)

I brought another plastic crate to put blankets in, so that added to the stack. And I took home the English saddle and the bareback pad, which haven't been used in months. The English saddle makes my knees ache, and the bareback pad never fit Dude well. That was a plan that didn't work out at all. The pad kept sliding backwards, even thought it had the sticky bottom to supposedly keep it in place. I brought back Dude's Western saddle back to the barn. It's on the lower rack since it weighs about a million pounds. Well, close to 40 pounds.

I swept out the corner (tons of mouse poop, blech) and cleaned out the shelving (Banamine from 2006, anyone?) and brought home the jackets that had been hanging in there since last winter to wash them.

After all the cleaning, I saddled up Dude to do a little walk in the indoor. By the time I walked him down to the new indoor, which has the deeper, more comfy footing, the saddle had slipped back. He has so little muscle on his back, the saddle doesn't fit right. I got on him bareback, but just did one circle at the walk around the indoor ... I felt bad subjecting him to the combo of my bony rear end and his bony back, but he seemed pretty peppy and happy.

As I went to get off, I don't know WHAT I did, but as I swung my right leg over his back, I slid right off onto the ground. Wish I could have gotten a picture of Dude turning his head to look at me sort of quizzically - whatcha doing down there? It was pretty funny. What a good boy, though - perfectly well behaved after a good 6 months not under saddle.

After we got back into the barn, I tried Bestie's saddle on him and it seems like it will work. I'm going to bring the breastplate just in case. We'll have a go with that Monday night.

The mystery of stinky Dude

Dude's had a little personal problem over the last couple months or so ... a smell. It's kind of strange. I noticed it, but didn't think too much about it until our barn manager mentioned it. It's the usual horsey smell but a little mustier (I say) or sweeter (our barn manager says). It's like when people eat a lot of garlic, like the scent is coming out of his pores.

When the vet was out for the fall shots a week or so ago, I mentioned it to her. She sniffed him, but said she couldn't really determine what it was I was talking about. So the smell wasn't at all obvious to her, which I found kind of odd. She checked his teeth and filed down some points, so was really all over his mouth, and didn't find anything out of the ordinary in there that would be causing a smell.

She also cleaned his sheath. He's definitely on the 2x/year plan for that now; he needed the fall cleaning.

So with him basically all cleaned up, I started thinking more about what he's taking in.

In terms of what he eats, for most of the summer he was in a paddock with not much grass at all. Changes over the last several months included the addition of a vitamin E/selenium supplement (at the suggestion of our vet) and a new joint supplement.

To investigate the possibility that the smell was being caused by the joint supplement, I emailed our supplement company, HorseTech, to see if they had any record of the supplement he's on, HylaSport OTC, producing a smell. It seemed to me that the smell started about the same time that he transitioned to this supplement from another one of their products. It seemed like kind of a long shot, as the ingredients are not  that different from the other supplement, and our vet said she hadn't ever heard of the ingredients producing a smell in horses.

A customer service representative from HorseTech called me. She had no previous records of such a thing happening, and was pretty intrigued by the situation. We had a little chat about the circumstances so they could establish a record, and at their request I followed up with the lot number of the supplement and said I would keep them posted on any developments.

I took him off the vitamin E/selenium supplement a couple weeks ago to see if that would make a difference. I figured it probably takes a few weeks to get out of his system. Today at the barn I didn't think he smelled as strong, but I'm kind of starting to feel a little crazy about the whole situation,and not really trusting my nose anymore. Dude probably wonders why I'm always sniffing him.

I've googled ("odor from horse" "musty scent from horse" etc etc) to try and find similar situations, with no luck. Right now I'm weighing option A) - taking him off the HylaSport to see if the smell goes away or option B) - doing the vet-suggested metabolic work-up to see what that shows. I hate to take him off the HylaSport because he's responded really well to it in terms of joint support. And I hate to do the metabolic because I don't want to spend the money ... and he appears to be perfectly fine. Debating. Sniffing.. Driving myself crazy.

Nice to meet you, Wonder Dust

Twice this summer, Dude scraped up the inside of his front left leg. This photo was scrape #1, not too bad, basically a surface scrape. We think he's somehow catching himself with the edge of his shoes when he rolls. Scrape #2 arrived just after Scrape #1 healed. It was uglier. Pretty much a surface scrape again, but longer, and with a  little divot about half way down.

It took forever to heal. At night I would swab it with 3-way ointment and keep it wrapped with a layer of gauze and a just enough Vet Wrap to hold the gauze in place. Since it was fairly low on his leg, I didn't want mud getting in there, or risk him catching himself again. A week went by with not much progress. I think between the wrapping and the warm humid weather, it just couldn't heal. Then barn manager Paula suggested ...

I had never heard of the stuff; amazing, after all these years with horses. Luckily the barn had a bottle stashed away. It wasn't too full of the magic dust, so it took me a bit to master the proper poofing of the dust onto his leg. But once I got the poof technique down, it was pretty cool. The next day I could really see how the scrape was drying up. Went to Guy's Farm & Yard and bought my own bottle the next weekend. 

Back at it!

Last weekend at work we hosted a group of bloggers whose focus is healthy eating. I was lucky enough to sit in on some of their sessions related to blogging, and their creativity and enthusiasm were really inspiring, not to mention FUN to be around. Needless to say, the whole experience gave me a little kick in the pants to get back to this blog. They had some great tips on structure, photography, social media, search engine optimization ... all the stuff I haven't really focused on with this little effort. 

I really enjoy writing, but what I find is that I write so much for my job that by the time I get home, I'm pretty well fried. I need to remember that it is indeed fun to do - I'm doing it for that reason and because I also truly enjoy my time with the ponies.

Speaking of fun, doesn't Bestie look like she's having fun in the wash area? I'd say she appears resigned to her fate. :)

She looked absolutely gorgeous after the bath, all sleek and shiny. But of course, a day later when I arrived at the barn, she had rolled in the mud. Ah well.

This photo is of Dude's corner feed trough with the twigs he'd picked out of his hay and left for his servant to take care of. Um, that would be me. They almost look like pretzel sticks. It's so funny to me when I discover this. His hay flakes had been on the floor, so he was definitely picking the twigs up and putting them there in the feeder.

He has done this in the past; nosed out what he's not going to eat and left it in a prominent spot. One time I got to the barn and he'd left a rather sizeable stick several inches long in his feed bucket. Very helpful of him.

I'll end with a shot looking at the hillside across the road from the barn. It was a beautiful night with the clouds lifting after a gloomy day. It's the time of year when the leaves are starting to change so the hill glows a bit yellow. Such a peaceful setting.

Plenty of excitement in July ... and not in a good way

Poor Dude, July hasn't been too kind to him. On the 4th I got a call from barn owner Julie reporting they'd noticed Dude lying down in his paddock - that doesn't happen too often. They brought him in, and he lay down in his stall. Even more concerning, he didn't immediately attack his hay like he usually does. Julie reported, "He just doesn't seem right."

I was on the treadmill when she called, so I figured I'd finish my workout and then head over in 20 minutes or so. Then another call came in, this time from barn manager Paula checking to see that I was coming over, and kind of reviewing what she'd observed with Dude. It totally tracked with what Julie had said, but getting a second call kind of freaked me out. We decided to have the vet come out (yay, vet visit on a HOLIDAY!!);  best to play it safe as one horse in the barn had Potomac earlier in the month, and a couple others had minor colics.  I basically jumped off the treadmill and into the car.

When I got to the barn, he was up, and Paula had walked him. He had pooped and had a little water, but it was true, he didn't seem himself. Paula said, "He was snuggling - that's not Dude!" Hahaha, true, he is NOT a cuddler unless he's under the weather. We were experiencing a stretch of really warm, muggy weather, which he never does well with. They had been hosing him at turn-in time, and I had been hosing him when needed later in the day when I'd get to the barn.

Anyway, once the vet arrived, they sedated him and checked for impaction - nothing. He didn't have a temperature. He was slightly dehydrated, which could have been the root of the problem. Everything else looked good, but he is such a hothouse flower that the minor dehydration could've set him off. The earlier time he had a small summer colic - probably 7-8 years ago, but also on the 4th of July! - the weather was similarly hot and muggy. At the barn we were at then, they hadn't transitioned from previous year's hay to brand new really rich hay, and I think it was too much for his system.

By the time I left the barn, he was alert and back to his usual demanding self; i.e., pretty irritated that he couldn't have any hay. He was put on a program of really wet bran mashes and light grazing for a couple days to see how he did, and he did fine. All in all, a good reminder to me to watch him extra carefully when it's hot and humid. Typically we don't get too many oppressive periods of summer weather in Vermont, but this summer there have been a number of them. I know it's hard on me when it's like that!

A week later farrier Justin came for Dude and Bestie's trims. I was considering putting shoes on Dude for more support and also to get him out on the roads this summer. However, when Justin went to work on his left hind, Dude wouldn't stand. Something was bothering him; he wouldn't put sustained weight on his right hind. He'd been ok to pick out and treat his feet over the last few weeks, but standing on that right hind for any period of time - he just wasn't going to do it. In a sense, no surprise, as that's where he's been injured in the past, but I have no idea what he did to himself. He's in a flat paddock with another older horse and all reports are that they just hang out quietly all day.

So he's on Robaxin. The vet is talking possible arthritis given his age. It seems more like a traumatic injury to me; since he had been fine at the last farrier appointment. Reassessing after 10 days on Robaxin.

Tick season

It seems like ticks exploded onto the scene this year. We had a long cold winter and I know I assumed that it would delay the arrival of nasty creatures like ticks. Wrong. Apparently, the snow cover protects them, so they're worse on years with snow cover even when combined with frigid temps.

Back in late May, right about the time I heard at work that a few people had already picked up ticks while working outdoors, I went to the barn and found out that Bestie had come in with one on her muzzle.

The amazing thing to me was that the tick even got spotted on her, since her coat is so dark. A fellow boarder, Gina, who uses Bestie's pasture mate Sadie for lessons, went out to get Sadie and figured she'd bring in Bestie too rather than leave her alone. Gina noticed the tick while walking the mares in. I was so grateful.

This is the little contraption that barn owner Julie has on hand to extract ticks. I had never seen one before. It's about as long as my pinkie. Apparently you just position it so the little teeth/hooks fit around the tick and then twist and pop the tick off. There's even a YouTube video of people popping ticks off dogs (I think) ... many dogs. Crazy. And disgusting. I was trying to figure out if the contraption has an official name and the video came up in the search. Trying hard to get that one out of my head.




I have to say I'm a bit obsessive now about inspecting every little black speck I spot on them. Knock on wood, I haven't seen any more ticks on Bestie, or on Dude for that matter. Hopefully it stays that way.

B is for Bestie

Dude - king of the nicks and scrapes

Over the last couple months Dude has been getting so many nicks and scrapes in his stall. We solved one mystery - the mystery of the cuts on his hocks. He was getting those because there were nails popping out of the wall in the back of his stall, and he was apparently backing right into them.

But yesterday Reggie was cleaning his stall and noticed this scrape. It's pretty much a surface scrape, but still, it was a little messy. It's just so odd that he's getting all these - with no shoes. Michelle was on top of things and hosed him and cleaned it up with Betadine, which was very nice of her. I think her quick treatment help forestall too much swelling. By the time I got there in the afternoon, it was definitely swollen, but not too bad. I cold hosed him again and put a bunch of Sore No More on his leg around the wound, which I covered in triple antibiotic cream

He also has this one on his hock. Maybe it's from when he lies down at night. He had a scab there and it reopened this weekend. I've been treating the spot and it starts looking pretty good, and right about the time we seem to be over the hump, it reopens. Kind of frustrating.

The horses went out today so I think having that time outside walking around helped with the swelling from the scrape. I cold hosed him and also scrubbed all his legs with Betadine. This was our first warm weekend, so it was really nice out in the wash stall in the sun. And it's easier to see all the winter grime and crud on his lower legs in the sunlight. Looks like I'll be scrubbing him a couple more times before all of that is gone; his stockings are a little scurfy. Horsey spring cleaning.

An afternoon at the barn

I should know by now ... 9 times out of 10, when I'm feeling a bit draggy about going to the barn, when I get there, it's good. By good I mean that whatever was making me feel cranky usually disappears. When you're in the moment with Dude or Bestie, life is pretty simple and straightforward.

Yesterday I had a lengthy meeting to go to that involved a two-hour drive, so I left the house at 7:30 am and got back at 4:30 pm. It was a good meeting, but being gone for that chunk of time on a Saturday left me feeling less than enthusiastic about going to the barn. 

The horses are still confined to their stalls because the paddocks are really soupy. I brought each of them out to the indoor to have some stretching time. I romped with Dude off his lead, then handwalked him. Bestie strolled around as she's not much of a romper, then I handwalked her a couple of laps then grazed her outside on one of the few teeny tiny patches of grass available at this time of year.

Captured one of Dude's 3 rolls. Drop and roll, drop and roll, drop and roll.

This always makes me laugh. Who's the handsome guy in the mirror?

Checking out the action down in the new arena. At one point Jubilee was in the other arena staring back at him, but I couldn't get them both in the frame.

Bestie goes down much more daintily than Dude, and one prolonged roll is good. No multiples for her.

Hard to tell from the photo ... mud, mud and more mud.

The big melt

Over the last few days the sun has been out and the temperatures have been in the 40s, so we've lost a lot of our snow cover. With the snow gone and the warmer temps, the ground has started to soften up and get pretty muddy so we're expecting turnout time to be limited for a while. Hard to tell for how long.

The horses were in yesterday due to the paddock conditions, but they were able to get out for a few hours first thing this morning because the ground had firmed up overnight. They definitely have spring fever. Yesterday I let Dude out in the old indoor arena and he pranced around snorting, and worked himself up into a tizzy at the slightest little noise - and there were lots of noises because it was quite windy. Even though he's been in the arena a million times when horses and people have walked down the attached aisle to access the new arena, it was cause for much excitement yesterday.

When Turbo passed by, Dude stuck his head out to say hello. So cute.

After Dude got bored, I brought him back in and then took Bestie out to the indoor to lunge her. While she was pretty good on the lunge line, she definitely used the occasional appearance of people and horses passing by in the aisle to blow off a little steam - tail way up in the air, huge trot, eye rolling in the direction of the aisle.

Thank goodness for the two indoors. It seems that all the riders really prefer the new one (it is brighter and warmer), so when I've brought Dude and Bestie out to the old one, we haven't run into anyone else and they have had plenty of space and lots of time to roll, stretch and wander around. Looks like that will be our routine for a while.

Spring - vet visit and weather that keeps us guessing

"Spring" in northern Vermont. Since the official day on the calendar, we've had a few single digit mornings. The temperatures rose into the low 40s yesterday after a mix of freezing rain and icing Friday night, so the horses didn't go out yesterday. For sure they're not out today either, as it's raining and the deep snow is becoming a slushy slippery mess. The warming temps are great for the sugarmakers, who have been waiting for the sap to run, but these temps usually mean a period inside for the horses until the paddocks set up again.

Last week was spring visit #1 for the vet. They've been breaking the visits into two separate appointments for a few years, which is something our holistic vet had introduced us to even earlier. Concerns for the massive dump of innoculations into their systems; make sense. I cringe to think back to when we first got Dude and it all got done on one day. Sorry, buddy, we didn't know any better.

So this week's visit featured sheath and teeth cleaning for Dude, teeth cleaning for Bestie and the 5-way vaccine for both of them. Usually there is one of them that will receive the sedation, appear to be totally OUT, but then miraculously snap to as soon as the vet attempt to begin the teeth cleaning.

This time it was Bestie - she had to have a bit additional la-la juice because she kept hurling her head up into the air when Dr. Phil would try to clean her teeth. Which is bad, because it annoys the vet and because our barn ceiling is pretty low. She has a cracked tooth on her back right side, so we've been watching that since it was first spotted a year ago. No problems at all yet. I'm supposed to watch for nasal discharge, or difficulty chewing. She's a vigorous and enthusiastic eater, so I think that any difficulty chewing will be readily apparent.

Dude's visit with the vet was pretty uneventful, except that I guess I was a bad mom and should've had his sheath cleaned last fall. He's now officially on the twice yearly plan. He's all about the anticipation - gets a bit wild eyed when the vet comes in with the sedation, tries to back or lunge forward, but then succumbs to the inevitable. You just can't come in with the needle fully visible announcing your intentions.

I brought up Dude's weight - he seems ribby, and Dr. Phil thought he could stand to put on about 50-75 pounds. He also took blood to check his vitamin E levels, which can impact muscle development and maintenance if low. Dude used to be on a pure E supplement, because a previous vet thought it was needed (although I didn't test at that point). But in an effort to consolidate supplements, I had switched him over to the multi-component senior supplement, and it might not have enough E in it. Waiting for the test to see if it's back to buying the straight E to mix in. Apparently if he's E deficient, he needs to stay on the supplement, which I didn't understand before. Sigh.

The visit was Thursday. They were still a bit dozy when I had to leave about 45 minutes after the appointment ended so barn manager Caitlin fed them later. They were both at the point where they had started wandering the stall picking minute pieces of hay out of the shavings to munch on, but definitely not perky enough for full flake and grain. I went out to the barn on Friday and all was well. In the past they've had some swelling from the 5-way but nothing this time. And I didn't pre-bute, which I've done in the past. Dr. Karen assessment, ha ha - honestly, I think their stress levels at this barn are so low, plus they are outside so much more, that their systems process the shots better.

The next visit for the rest of the shots is in two weeks, but I'll unfortunately need to miss that one.

Horse beauty products

It's that time of year. The sun is out more, so it feels like spring is coming, but the temperatures are still cold and the horses are still in their blankets .. disgusting, dirty, manure-encrusted blankets. And underneath, shedding hair, lots of dander. Bleh. At the barn we all stand in the aisle and groom our ponies, complaining about how gross they are and how we can't wait to give them a bath. In northern Vermont, MAYBE that could happen in April, but it's not likely. Bathtime will be sometime in May, probably.

Dude and Bestie usually look pretty good coat-wise, but this time of year is tough. Maybe because the winter has been colder than normal, their coats seem kind of dry and dull. So I've been eyeballing a few products to try. One girl at the barn uses as Eqyss coat conditioner that smells like tropical fruit, and she really likes its effect on her horse's coat. The scent puts us all in a happy mood when she sprays it; a bonus. So that one's a possibility.

I've also been thinking about the argan oil hair wipes that I put in the girls' stockings for Christmas. Seems like those would work well, too. I just spent a few minutes Googling to be sure that argan was safe for horses, and it turns out that in countries where the trees grow, horses eat the leaves. Learned something new!

Apparently there are more horse owners than me thinking about this, because Googling also led to numerous forum threads with discussions about preferred horse coat conditioning products. Argan, coconut, baby oil - that last one doesn't seem good; too greasy. I'll have to investigate coconut oil, which seemed like a popular choice on the forums. I wonder if it smells strong. At least argan doesn't really have much scent. I see some time at Guy's Farm & Yard reading product labels in my future.

Not a small animal ...

... just a pile of Dude and Bestie's hair after grooming! While our temperatures are still not spring-like, the days have definitely gotten longer in the last few weeks, and the horses have been shedding hair like crazy. Prior to our grooming session, Bestie had rolled in the indoor, and that really seemed to loosen up her hair. I took her out to lunge her and I could tell she wanted to roll because she kept dropping her nose down to the footing while trotting - kind of awkward, to say the least! So I finally slowed her down and she settled down for a leisurely over-over-over-up roll while I stood at her head and tried to keep the lunge line from getting tangled. She looked like a mess afterward with the dust and the little chunks of rubbery arena footing stuck on her. :)

Looking at this photo with the gutter cover pulled back, I have to say that I would find it tough to go back to a barn without gutters! I think back to all the previous years of cleaning out stalls with muck buckets and wheelbarrows - yuck. Cleaning up, whether it's the aisle or the stalls, has never been so easy. I'm totally spoiled.

Happy birthday Dude!

Today Dude is 21 years old. He has been part of our family for 13 years. Amazing ... where does the time go?

Last weekend I was filing some of the invoices from last year's spring and fall vet visits for routine shots, and teeth and sheath cleaning. I've got binders for both Dude and Bestie, and as I was filing the invoices on Dude's care in his binder, I came across the listing of pro's and con's that the girls developed as we were considering purchasing Dude wayyyy back in 2001.

I. Love. It.

Reading the list makes me laugh to see what they considered the pro's. Likes dogs; yes, which I'm thankful for given the current influx of puppies at the barn. Dad can ride ... um, yeah, how many times did that happen?

And so sweet to picture them developing this list, with its concerns about "skinney legs" and "nivicular." Won't jump? Well, yeah, he's definitely not built for it, but that didn't stop him from taking first in a hunter cross rail class, doing the course with his ears pricked forward happily. Backwards training? Backwards as compared to what we as novices knew at the time (I think that's why that little "us" is listed as a con) ... that backwards training gave us an opportunity to learn.

Reading through the list brings back a whole lot of memories of all our adventures with Dude.

"Will never outgrow him." True.
"He is wondeful." Also true.

Happy birthday Heza Flashy Dude Mr.

A look at our fabulous new indoor arena

This is the aisle walkway to the new indoor. At right is the old indoor. You can see that there's a wooden wall; it's since been lowered a bit so that horses who might be in the old indoor can see anyone walking through the aisle. They don't get quite as freaked out that way. Speaking for my own two equines, initially there was a lot of snorting and tails wayyy up in the air when forced to deal with any not visible but audible traffic in that aisle. :)

This is the view as soon as you enter the front door. Beautiful and bright! Not exactly sure of the size ... um ... BIG.

The walls above the wooden half walls are plastic  with these funky shades that sort of remind me of Duette house shades, but clear. There's a fan that keeps the whole thing inflated, and they can be lowered (winter) or raised (summer - for air circulation). This makes the arena warmer than the old one - particularly nice with the stretches of single digit temps we've been having. We're in our third round of single digits this winter.

Can the new arena get any cooler? Yep, 'cause this is the footing - a mix of recycled athletic shoes. It looks like confetti - very festive. It's called ATHLETEX™  - the website promo says it "is designed to give you maximum cushion while retaining moisture and adding stability. ATHLETEX™ is made from recycled athletic shoes. It is a mixture of rubber and textile. We use rubber for cushion and textile for stability." Read all about it. As for the claims of cushioning, there is a sense around the barn that the ouchier horses are indeed happier in the new indoor.

Tour over! This is a look at the aisle coming out of the new indoor and heading back to the barn.

December at the barn

I took this photo of the barn holiday decorations a few weeks ago and am just getting around to posting it. The decorations made the front entryway to the barn look very festive.

Each horse had a little stocking on the tree in the tack room with a candy cane tucked inside. So nice!

We experienced some crazy weather in December. Rain, sleet, snow ... and a combination of all three on the weekend prior to Christmas, followed by a deep freeze that made the paddocks into skating rinks. The horses were in for a week. They got turned out in the indoor arena if owners were unable to make it out. I would turn out Dude and Bestie in the evening when I got there if no one else was using the indoor. Luckily, most people seem to enjoy riding in the new indoor, so the old one was often vacant and perfect for a little roll and romp.







One late afternoon I happened to be there at the barn when the front right half of the roof shed its load of snow and ice. That's the front end of my car in the photo; luckily no damage. Even more exciting, when the roof shed, I had Dude on the crossties in the aisle. It was like an avalanche when it came down - the barn shook. All the horses started whinnying, and Dude was tap dancing and snorting while on the crossties but didn't freak out or break loose. Amazing. What a good boy.







Just before New Year's barn owner Larry took turnout matters into his own hands and drove the tractor out into each paddock and made endless loops, totally pulverizing the ice. It made me nervous to hear they were planning on turning the horses out, so I went out with a flashlight prior to heading home that night and took a look. The tractor circles had basically crushed the crusty snow and ice and the footing was like the consistency of sand. So the horses have been out for two days now; partial days, actually, because the temps are in the single digits. Dude and Bestie have a Baker sheet as their bottom layer, then an insulated blanket, and then their turnout sheets. On Friday it's likely they won't go out at all because it's not supposed to climb above zero. Gotta love Vermont winters.