So, you want to own a horse...

[MikePA]

For all you potential horse owners...

The other night, just as I was getting comfortable on the sofa, my wife called me from her car phone. She was on her way to dinner with 'the girls' and stopped to feed the horses. Our barn is about 100 yards from the house with a driveway out to our road. Seems one of the horses managed to pull the top of their hay rack loose. It was hanging out into the stall, being held by just the lower screws. Since it was dangerous to leave it this way, I had to go investigate and repair. I didn't have the right size screws to repair it immediately, I had to take the hay rack down. I got the screws on the way home last night and walked out to the barn with my tool box, drill bits and trusty DeWalt cordless drill. Of course, while I was out there, my wife (who was cleaning stalls at the time) found several other jobs for me.

Being a horse owner is sometimes like being an emergency room doctor. When something goes wrong at the barn, with either the barn or a horse, more often than not, it's something that needs addressed right away because if you let it go, things undoubtedly will get worse.

 

[Robert_in_NY]

That is how it is with any large animal, we have to constantly check our fences for any holes or weak spots as well as trim trees around them each year. We are buying a couple electric fences for around them to be installed in spring to help protect from dogs and coyotes. We had some strong winds yesterday and it tore one of our rubber roofs off the decking over one shed so we had to go out there and lay it back down in 50mph winds so that it wouldn't spook any or our critters. Do you have many problems with dogs or coyotes bothering your horses?

 

[Egon]

Do you have a cat that sleeps on the horse's back?

Egon

 

[MikePA]

<font color=blue>Do you have many problems with dogs or coyotes bothering your horses?</font color=blue>

Nope, don't have those problems. There are several dogs in the neighborhood, but they don't bother the horses. I don't think I've ever seen a coyote around here.

 

[MikePA]

<font color=blue>Do you have a cat that sleeps on the horse's back?</font color=blue>

Nope, none of those either. Several local cats, as well as our own, visit the barn looking for mice, but none of them are equine snoozers.

 

[rdln]

I dont own any but when reading about sheath cleaning in one MI's equine rags, I know why! Stallions anyways.

 

[cowboydoc]

rdln,
Actually you should clean the sheath with any male horse and not just stallions.

Mike,
Oh the stories I could tell you about those kinds of days and nights!!

 

[rdln]

Dang, I even looked in the dictionary to avoid ... but like I said I don't have horses.

 

[MikePA]

<font color=blue>Actually you should clean the sheath with any male horse and not just stallions.</font color=blue>

I was going to reply to this as well, but got tied up here at work. I hate it when work gets in the way of TBN. /w3tcompact/icons/crazy.gif

Another benefit of having horses (horses, plural, at least one female and one male) is that you don't have to wonder how you will bring up the 'birds and the bees' topic. I can still vividly see our gelding (bless his heart) servicing our mare, with both my girls (around 10 years of age at the time) sitting on the fence watching. /w3tcompact/icons/eyes.gif

 

[cowboydoc]

Oh yea imagine when you have a stud and actually service about 40 of those mares a year with the two little ones always right there!! My oldest, 6, usually helps me out with all the stuff. So far she hasn't asked any questions, knock on wood.