Winter wraps her big, cold arms around me! The wind has picked up and hail pelted us for 4 full minutes - thankfully, tiny hail! Our horses are in a field and a paddock with no shelter - the trees that made Summertime shade are bare. So, they are kept warm with free choice Bermuda hay, flakes of alfalfa and warm bran mashes with sunflower seeds, yams, beets, apples, sea salt and flaxseed oil. We cover them (now with the wet & the cold & the wind) with turn out rugs and take warm mashes out to them in the frozen night. The ice is lifted out of their water tubs and hot water added to keep them drinking! Gut motility is vital to avoid impaction/colic this time of year. I watched a colic surgery years ago where the large intestine was opened and warm water was "poured" into the gut to moisten and move an unbelievable amount of compressed food! How much better it is to have the horse SWALLOWING the water in the first place! Our horses are moving with us in a few weeks to another farm where they will have shelter. We love them so much, we will still do our winter rituals!
