The Imperfectly Perfect Horse: Playing in the Snow

Friday, 22 November 2013

Playing in the Snow

We have been in an extreme cold snap up here. For the past two weeks, we have been getting records lows in the -20s and this past week it has been consistently in the -30s and last night it hit -40. Now, as you guys all know, I live in the north and cold temperatures are pretty standard, but not THIS cold this early in the season! These temperatures are the reason why I have no problem whatsoever shelling out the big bucks for the extremely tough and toasty warm blankets for Koda. He lives turned out 24/7, so there really is no getting out of the cold into the barn, since there isn't one! There are a few 3-sided sheds and the farm is fairly protected from wind by being surrounded by woods, but let's face it: -30 is just darn cold no matter how you slice it.

Today it wasn't too bad, and it being my early day off work I had the chance to get out to the barn while it was still light to do a blanket change and remove snowballs from hooves. Usually by this time, all shoes are pulled and any snowballs that form will knock themselves out by the natural flexing of the hooves, but since I was away last weekend I haven't had a chance to get them pulled so when I took a look, his front hooves were pretty solid. All I can say is, yay for hammers and having dirt ground in near the frog to make it fairly easy going to get all that ice out. Koda needed a few reminders to mind his manners, but he handled it well considering I was chiseling ice out of his front hooves. Once he was satisfactorily de-iced, I decided I wanted to do some ground work and play with mister Koda around the yard. We just went on a mini hike through the property, and that's when he saw it.

The most terrifying thing