One of the many advantages of barefoot, is that the horses don't have a problem with snow balling in their feet. In fact, quite the reverse, the snow drops out in nice neat 'patties' or casts and gives a great impression of the soles of their feet. Plus the soles are super clean so you can get a really good look at them.
The girls loved the snow and for the first few days found it terribly exciting. But they did get a bit bored after a few days as we couldn't get out much. Barefoots travel well in snow, but our exercise always involves some hefty road work and I didn't want to find ourselves dodging out of control cars and lorries.
They are wearing rugs in these pictures. Usually they are unrugged in all but the worst rain, but they went away over Christmas/January and came back rugged, so it took a couple of weeks to re-aclimatise them. The Grey is now happily 'naked' again and looking better for it. Madam is in her anti fly rug as the poo flies seem to survive no matter what the weather.
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2 comments:
What on earth are 'poo flies'? And I'll tell you what, I am SO READY for this snow to be done with!! Looks like everyone is having a good time in the snow over there though!
Poo flies - tiny flies that hatch underneath and in/around their droppings mostly in the field, not so much in stables. They bite the ventral midline and leave a million tiny scabs. Madam gets an allergic reaction to the bites and rubs herself literally bald along her stomach. She gets sweet itch too, later in the year. I will try and take a photo of the flies. They are small but mean.
If the snow lasted more than a couple of weeks I am sure we would get fed up too - but we have weeks and weeks and weeks of heavy rain and howling winds which are very tough because it is hard to even get the routine care done.
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