Ideas-no matter how small-for dealing with SNOW!!!

[Mallard]

Here in Eastern Ontario I don’t know anybody who plows their paddocks… and we get a significant amount of snow.
My guys are out 24/7 unless it is VERY nasty.

The horses will get around just fine in deep snow and they will keep it tromped down. Even my neighbours two 11hh ponies manage just fine in the deep snow.

Yes… your fences will ‘shrink’… electric will help.
We have electric running along the top of our split rail fences.

We keep lanes cleared with the tractor blower down to the barn and hay loft.
Using the blower ensures no large piles of plowed snow… it mostly gets blown far away, although there are some spots were we have had to use the bucket to push some of the snow away.

The gates themselves are shovelled out ‘by hand’

[S1969]

[QUOTE=Mischievous;8036544]
Buy yourself a snowmobile.

They are great fun.[/QUOTE]

I’ve almost bought one just for grooming trails in my pasture. Maybe some day I will. The neighbors are big into riding snowmobiles but I haven’t yet figured out how to organize them to come and make paths for me.

[Chall]

[QUOTE=allpurpose;8035391]
At my old barn, BO plowed about 1/2 of each paddock (3+ feet of snow on the ground, plus 6-8 inches per storm on top) and then threw hay into the unplowed section to have the horses trample down the rest. Huge snow banks were created, and one of my favorite memories is of my old guy simply leaning on a snow bank in the sun and snoozing the day away. Why get down on the ground for a nap on his tired old legs when you can just lean on a huge snow bank?[/QUOTE]

That’s important information, there.
If I had a farm, and room in a pasture with oldies, I’d have a Tall (9’) sand pile, perhaps with a supporting structure behind it, for oldies to lean against to nap on.

There have been several threads about oldsters and dropsy (lack of sleep) caused by the inability to get up from a nap on the ground.

[flashwhitelock]

[QUOTE=allpurpose;8035391]
At my old barn, BO plowed about 1/2 of each paddock (3+ feet of snow on the ground, plus 6-8 inches per storm on top) and then threw hay into the unplowed section to have the horses trample down the rest. Huge snow banks were created, and one of my favorite memories is of my old guy simply leaning on a snow bank in the sun and snoozing the day away. Why get down on the ground for a nap on his tired old legs when you can just lean on a huge snow bank?[/QUOTE]

This image you created in my mind is priceless!

[dotneko]

Yes - hanging your gates higher is a good idea, too. As is making sure they are wide enough for your tractor bucket. For some reason, I thought a 4 foot gate on one of our paddocks was sufficient since the far end had a 12 footer. Can’t plow into it because it is too small, so I have to backblade and shovel a small spot to get in. The 12 foot gate is too heavy for turnout plus it is another 300 feet down the fenceline from the barn. Think everything through!

[merrygoround]

ONe year the BO used a snow blower in the pastures, the spread hay along the way. The horses widened the trail nicely.

This year need to fence off a sacrifice area. The horses go only so far as the hay piles put out for them.