preparing for snow storm

[rubygirl1968]

Yes, this is a stupid question, but we’re not used to this much snow, at least I’m not when it comes to caring for horses. Naturally it’s my weekend to feed and the forecast is for 12 to 24 inches. :eek:

We have plenty of food, the water heaters are working and plenty of hay, but is there anything else I need to get today before it starts?

There isn’t a snow shovel at the barn but there aren’t any left at any of the stores I went to yesterday so we will have to make do.

Most of the horses are fat and sassy so I’ll be blanketing the old one and the thoroughbred as usual, the others I’ll leave naked unless they start shivering.

Sorry, I can see some of you rolling your eyes at this post, but I’m a worrier by nature. Lol

[lawndart]

Put extra water somewhere, hopefully where it won’t freeze. Use a clean garbage can, tote, whatever you have. If the power goes out, you will have a way to get water to them. I always stockpile hay in an easy to reach place, pre-fill hay nets and bags, and make sure shovels are by the door. Does not have to be a snow shovel, just a broad scoop shovel works just as well. Make sure you have some dry towels to mop off a wet horse, or person. I also put extra gloves in the barn, nothing more annoying then trying to work in wet gloves. The horses will enjoy it a whole lot more than you will.

[walkinthewalk]

No eye rolling here:). 12"-24" is a lot when you aren’t used to it – especially when it starts blowing and drifting. I spent the first 50 years of my life on the OH/PA border so I have seen my share of blowing snow. It only took one time to not be able to get the barn door open from drifting snow, for that to never happen again, lol.

I have a big aluminum shovel I use for stripping stalls. It makes an excellent snow removing shovel.

you need to keep any barn doors that are in continual use free of snow – especially when snow melts then freezes again and can then become a real bear to get rid of. If you have any sort of manure shovels, put them into service shoveling snow.

Even now, in Tennessee, I keep a couple bags of play sand handy for places that tend to build up ice. You don’t want to use salt where the horses walk, play sand works just as well. Keep a decent sized container in the bag, so you can “scatter” the sand easily.

Best wishes for a safe venture until all that snow and ice goes away:)

[rubygirl1968]

I hadnt even thought about the barn doors or water, thank you! There is an empty garbage can out there I can put water in and leave in the room where the space heater is.

We do have plenty of wide manure shovels but no sand. I’ll stop by the hardware store and see if they have some.

I’m going to fill every hay bag we have out there this morning to make it easier for tonight.

Thank you!

[lesson_junkie]

Just think about what you will need if you lose power. I’m filling with water all my spare buckets and the tank we take camping, in case we lose the pump.

[betsyk]

Shovel early and often. A couple inches is easy. 2 feet sucks!! Check your tractor to be sure it will start in the cold, in case you need to use it to plow - do you even have snow plow service in NC? If you get even 6 or 8 inches in your driveway and have to remove it, it can be a real project…

[moving_to_dc]

Get a toboggan sled - one of the long plastic ones with low sides. Absolutely PRICELESS for dragging hay and feed out to the horses. Way better than trying to wrestle a wheelbarrow, or hand carry stuff while struggling to walk thru snow.

[BUSY]

Jingles the storm is not as tough as predicted.
Be smart and careful.

[fjordmom]

First, all of what’s already been said. I’m in northern Michigan and 12 -24 inches isn’t all that unusual for us, but I do prepare every time. It is a pain, especially if it blows and drifts a lot.

If you have that room with the space heater, stockpile more than just the trash can of water, depending on how many horses you have and how much water you think you will need. We always have extra gallon jugs and our camping tanks too. That way you can add smaller amounts to a bucket if needed and not have a whole bucket freeze. (My horses are at home, so I can check them frequently.) Remember, if the power goes, your heat goes too. But if the water is at least warm, it will take quite a while to freeze if you can keep it out of the wind.

If you have an outdoor heated tank, make sure it is full now too. When the storm starts, try to protect or cover it to retain the heat. (Bungee a plywood sheet over the top so you don’t have all the heat dissipating as quickly. (Ours have screw holes so our SAP for winter is to cover 80% of the surface and the horses just have one end to drink out of, but you likely wont have time to do that right now). I’ve used that outdoor tank to bail water from when we were out of power and had so much snow that it took a while to dig out so we could even get horses outside.

Be careful about that space heater though. I bet you already know that. Only turn it on while you are in the barn and can keep an eye on it. Heat up the room and shut it off when you leave. You don’t want a fire on top of a snow storm! Our heatable room is insulated, so retains heat well. If your sis likely not, cover your water supply with some old/extra blankets, again to preserve the heat in the water.

If possible, try to have the path to the manure pile as clear as possible. It will snow in, but if the horses have to stay in for some extra time, this will be one thing you will have to deal with. If it’s just impossible, I have just used one corner of each stall to pile the dirty stuff or even an empty stall temporarily to try and keep a semblance of clean when the horses just could not go out.

If there is access to a snow blower (LOL, up here everybody has one just like we own long underwear), I have found it makes my life a ton easier to blow a few paths in the pasture. It takes so much less energy to put hay out when I don’t have to wade through 2 feet of snow. I also find the horses tend to move around more when they have the paths. Easier for them I’m sure, especially your oldsters. Just a big figure 8 and lane from the barn is fine.

Good luck. Remember to repeat “this too shall melt” when you are in the thick of it. Lucky for you, it will probably melt long before it does for us. I just keep saying “April will come.” then last April was our worst snow month and we had the darn stuff well into May.

[Sansena]

A backpack leaf blower will easily move a few inches of dry snow. Brooms will work too if you’re persistent.

Stack full bags of shavings inside the barn against any cracks that allow snow to drift in. I once came into a 6’ tall by 4’ long pile of snow Inside the barn, on both ends… It made getting in and out that much harder once it started to melt.

Clean dry bedding works on ice --sorta-- if you don’t have sand.

Bring all tools inside before the storm.

Fill up all vehicles with fuel and have whatever fuel you need for backup for the next few days in jugs.

Do you have hot water? If not, and if there’s power those plug-in tea pots are good for making hot water for use in grain. Unplug immediately after use.

To that end, add warm water to each horse’s regular grain ration the night before and morning of the storm. I’m not a big fan of giving a bran mash, but any way you can get extra hydration into them when the barometer starts going wonky is a bonus.

Totally agree on the toboggan type plastic sled. A manure bucket with twine will work too for a few flakes but obviously with the right angled edges, it’s not as easy to navigate as a sled.

Disconnect and drain all hoses. If you cannot bring hoses to a warm spot, drain them outside today and H.I.D.E. T.H.E.M! Someone will use them and either not disconnect them or will not drain them properly.

Clean muck tubs hold water, too

A hairdryer (or heat gun if you’re connected to construction) will help thaw frost free hydrants that, well… aren’t.

A roof rake is not a bad thing to have either. Serious as a heart attack about this.

Close and latch all paddock gates. Be prepared to defrost those double ended snaps with your breath cupped into your hand. Or better yet, invest in some aluminum carabeeners. But a closed gate is easier to shovel out than one that’s swung all the way into or away from the paddock gate opening.

Be sure your blankets are waterproof. If not, have back up blankets to swap out. Horses will quickly become hypothermic if standing in wet blankets. Check the dressed ones often.

Too late now, but do all the shod horses have snowball pads? If not, some have had success with Pam cooking spray or vaseline painted on their soles to help delay snowball buildup.

[JB]

Not sure exactly where you are, but for us, the temperatures aren’t going to be a real problem until Monday night - teens. If water freezes, making sure it’s broken up a few times a day and encouraging them to drink then should be ok. Consider adding some salt to their feed to encourage more drinking. 1-2tsp/day should be fine for this, though it would have been ideal to start acclimating them to that a week ago. Some will love it, some won’t, so it’s just something to consider. I wouldn’t do it for boarder’s horses though without asking (which of course I know you would!).

The snow will be less of an issue, other than being a pita for all us who don’t have the equipment to deal with it well (nobody has snow blowers here LOL), but how much freezing rain comes in later Sunday will be a much bigger issue

Old blankets work well enough to get hay across snow, if you can’t get a big enough sled

What is the barn like? Will you have any help around? 12"+ snow can be really heavy, and I’m thinking about the roof load.

Keep an eye on the coats for anyone turned out. If this snow is wet and heavy, they can get wet to the skin a lot faster. I assume they will be inside Sunday night?

The most important thing is for YOU to stay safe! This is a LOT of snow for us who don’t have snow tires, won’t have roads plowed for a few days (depending on how rural you are), especially if we get freezing rain on top :mad: I hope maybe you will be able to have some help. Definitely don’t be afraid to use a corner to pile manure into if you can’t get the wheelbarrow to the manure pile . Or, if there’s a safe and convenient place to dump it right outside the barn, to get it out of the stalls, do that too. It really is a pain, but what can ya do?

[fordtraktor]

Do you live on the facility? From your post it is not clear. If not, the #1 thing is to have a contingency plan with someone who does or is very local. Your BM should be doing this! NC isn’t the kind of place that keeps roads open and safe well.

[Scribbler]

Snow tires on at least the front of your vehicle. With them you can go anywhere. Without you won’t be able to get out of your driveway.

Salt and ice for when you get into the thaw and freeze cycle. Fresh snow is kinda fun. Frozen snow is a death trap. Anything on a path that you don’t shovel right away will be a skating rink for a week.

Be prepared for everyone around you to have a meltdown. Here in the pnw we get snow almost every year but two inches and the city grinds to a halt.

[rubygirl1968]

Found out the barn is on the generator with their house, woohoo!

I did get some sand so apart from trudging through snow, we should be good.

Just saw all the other replies and thought I’d try to answer all the questions. I don’t live on the property but I have rides lined up to get there. The barn owners are in their late 70’s and they aren’t in great health.

Their son who lives next door thinks that throwing hay once on Sunday would be sufficient, so I made contingency plans.

@JB, luckily we add salt almost year round since the old one doesn’t use the salt block and the fatties are muzzled, so they’re used to that.

I’m just east of Asheville and the forecast keeps changing. I prepared well so hopefully we won’t get what they are as much as they think now.

At least it’s not supposed to stay as cold Monday and Tuesday as it did for the blizzard in 1993 so we can get out sooner.

[PossumHorse]

If you can’t get/run out of sand stall bedding can be used on the slippery areas instead. Slightly used (damp) shavings are better than fresh as they don’t just blow away.

[Bluey]

We were to get that one last night, went South of us, where they had 12" of snow.

If you don’t have sand, get kitty litter, the cheapest you can find and use that for icy spots around the barn.
Works as good as sand.
Wash and keep the kitty littler big plastic cans, they are excellent to carry warmish water around to tanks and buckets, in that handy-dandy sled if you have so much snow you can’t use other for that.

I got snowshoes, tired of getting beached in snow drifts, but too late for you for that now, unless you can make it to a sporting good’s store that has those.
Broom handles work fine for sticks to help guide and keep your balance.

Horses may walk over fences if the drifts are big enough, so put them where that won’t be a problem.

We have water troughs, so have a good supply of water, no hauling, just have to break ice in them.

Keep some kind of crow-bar handy to pry frozen doors, sure helps.
We have show shovels by every door, but also flat end long handled regular shovels, our snake shovels, that work better than snow shovels around frozen spots, doors and small spaces.

Hoping you don’t get dumped on too bad, so you can be more prepared for the next one.

[rubygirl1968]

I would be thrilled if this went south of us too! At least I’ll know what to tell the barn owners to buy for the next one.

[Displaced_Yankee]

OP, if at all possible try and stay home (this may be an unpopular opinion). Can you try and sweeten the deal for the son (money, cookies, a homecooked meal, beer?) to get him to throw hay like 3 times on Sunday. Maybe set the hay out for him so he just needs to toss hay and top off water buckets. I don’t think anyone would suffer in those 24 hours without grain.

I know it’s not ideal but even if you do have a reliable ride just stay off the roads. It may not be your drivers’s fault but people down here do not know how to drive in snow. I grew up in Maine and learned to drive in snow before I had my learner’s permit (under supervision, not on public roads but fields, parking lots, ponds, etc). I moved to NC 8 years ago and even I don’t go out in this weather for fear of everyone else on the roads. I’ve seen some stupid, reckless or just uneducated winter driving. It also keeps the roads clear for snow plows and first responders.

Yes, the stalls will be a disaster. But better you get there on Monday than not at all.

In my 8 years here, I have never seen someone put snow tires on their car or winter shoes (borium/pads) on their horses. While common in Maine, it just isn’t worth the cost and hassle for the 2 days, twice a year that it snows.

[fjordmom]

@rubygirl1968

Found out the barn is on the generator with their house, woohoo!

YES! Maybe make sure you have a good supply of fuel on hand if the owners haven’t already taken care of that. If you get ice/freezing rain and loose power the fuel pumps at the stations will be down too.

It’s good to be reasonably prepared, but it’s really not the apocalypse. I do understand it’s harder on those of you who aren’t used to this as part of normal daily life for a good part of the year. You will get through it.

[lesson_junkie]

I am south of the OP, by far our worst weather is freezing rain/ice. It is impossible to drive in, we always lose power, you can’t blow it or shovel it away, and it reforms the next morning following a 40 degree afternoon. Ruby, here’s hoping we both get snow, and it goes away quick.