Winter Wonderland

As I write this I can see the snow falling outside of my window. Some moments it's drifting gently down to the ground, and other times the wind blows it back and forth, creating a chilling image. Thanksgiving has come and gone, bringing December on its heels. It is truly winter now, and as with every season, this one brings its fair share of trials and triumphs.

For those living in the southern regions this might not be so bad. True, the temperatures may drop, and there may be the occasional thirty degree day, but overall things appear to stay relatively pleasant. For everyone in the northern regions and a few in between, this means its time to batten down the hatches, pull out the shovels and plows, and hunker down for the season. Unfortunately the horses still require care. Some things, like stall cleaning, feeding, and riding won't change too much. Others, such as turnout and keeping water buckets and troughs from freezing, may require a bit more imagination.

For a few suggestions we'd recommend checking out Shadowood. This is a pretty extensive site, including information about the authors, dogs, gardening, writing, and best of all...horses. Not only will you find information about winter horse care, you will find informative articles on both horses and riding. There's a question posed by a visitor to her site regarding how her horses are weathering the beginning of winter, then an article that discusses winterizing both your horse and your farm.

Once you've moved beyond the cold weather articles you could venture over to the writer's story about her first horse, Albert. There are horse quizzes that both old and young might enjoy. Both education and entertainment can be found on the horse articles page (did we mention that Laurie has had published articles in several national equestrian magazines?). She has even gone so far as to list several schools on one of her pages that provide majors for the equine-inclined.

If you tire of perusing her horse pages you can venture on the rest of the site. If you don't want to explore her site then try surfing one of the horsey web rings. If you want to keep up with Laurie's site, then check out her 'What's New' page. She keeps this up to date with the most recent changes.

For something a little more in line with the holiday spirit you could venture over to the Simply Marvelous blog. The current article on top shows some wonderful pictures of the Belgian Draft team that delivered the official White House Christmas tree to its designated location. While this is the first article of its kind posted this season, I'm sure there will be more to come. The variety found in this blog is refreshing and enjoyable. They highlight breeds and events, show photos, and even find the odd moose logging story to tell!

Between those two sites you'll be able to find more than enough to keep you occupied for a few hours. Of course, those few hours of freedom are bound to come after several hours of cleaning stalls, shoveling snow, feeding and watering the horses, rounding up the cats and/or dogs, teaching a few lessons, cleaning the tack, feeding and watering again after turnout is complete, and oh...we can't forget feeding yourself! At least if you know your farm and your horse are insured that's one less worry.

Finally, something that applies to both human and equine:

"The wagon rests in winter, the sleigh in summer, the horse never." ~Yiddish Proverb