How To Winterize Your Barn.

With winter approaching, there are some things that you need to make sure you do to your barn before the heavy cold and snow hit.

• Clean out your horse's water bucket and replace with rubber buckets. This is very helpful in insulating the buckets so they do not freeze as easily and if the bucket ever freezes, you can get the ice out without cracking your bucket.
• If you have water heaters for your horse's bucket you should start to plug those in and get the heaters in the buckets. If there is a warm day however, you can unplug the heaters to save electricity. Also, these need to be cleaned once and a while along with the buckets. Crud can get in the crevices of the heater and cause there to be a funky taste in the water and your horse may not drink. If you do not have heaters, make sure to empty the buckets after the horse has been in the stall. This will prevent the buckets from freezing.
• If there is a large water tub in your horse's pasture, a heater needs to be placed into this as well to keep ice from forming.
• The hose that you use to fill your buckets up, if you use a hose, should be emptied after every use. If not, the hose will freeze and you will be stuck with carrying buckets of water for your horse.
• Also, you need to ensure that there is always fresh water for your horse as snow is not a water supply.
• Try to clear snow from the patios and barn. If a horse runs over the patch of ice or slippery snow they may fall and hurt themselves.
• Lastly, make sure to clean out your horse's hooves regularly because snow can easily get compacted in the hooves.