- Clippers

Get them clippers out and check over them, you probably haven't used them for a good 11-7 months. Check your blades, are they sharp enough? Do they need to be sent away before you start using them come September? Do you need to buy more oil in preparation? Little bits like this are always good to check over before you need them.

- Winter Field Fencing
Haven't used your winter field since April/May? Have a trip to the field and check it over. Check that all the fencing is secure and the harsh dry summer we've had hasn't loosened your poles in the ground. I've found that a few around my field have become a bit lose due to the hardened ground. If you have electric fencing around your field are all accessories secure? Do you need to buy any replacements before the colder weather starts? If using electric fencing I always like to have a spare set of battery's around on the yard just so I have some ready to pop in when needed. 

- Mud Fever 

I'm quite lucky with this one as I don't struggle with this but I do know that with autumn/winter comes plenty of rain and with rain comes mud. If your horse suffers from mud fever, have you got everything you need to approach it? Are you stocked up on your favourite cream or powder? Are their boots still in good condition, do they need a good clean before this time? Or are you looking at buying some new ones? Don't wait until you need them, get them ready! 

- Laminitis 

If you have a pony or horse that struggles or is prone to laminitis you're probably well aware that there's still one last push of the grass to grow and they're just as vulnerable to get it then as they are in spring. Keep an eye on them, make sure they are still on the feed that helps them through the time the best, reduce their grass intake and get them on the hay or a hay replacer. You don't always need to bring them in all the time. You can make them a small paddock with electric fencing or put them in a sand paddock. You can use the track system while on little grass to keep them. Moving. 

- Winter Feed

If you're one of the lucky ones and haven't had to feed your horse throughout the summer, have your feed bins had a good clear out. Have you disposed of all of last year's feed bags? Try to remember you can also recycle your feed bags and any supplement containers and do your bit for the environment. You can either make a mixed bag of bags and containers and separate them at home or have a plastic bag for plastics and then paper bag for your paper bags. Always handy if there's a few of you on the yard and you do a paper and plastic bag, can make it easier for everybody to recycle then. 

If you have any feed from last year left in the bins, empty them out and give them a good clean before you start adding in fresh from this year. 

- Stable Deep Clean

If you haven't already, it might be time to give your stable a good deep clean out. If you have rubber matting, pull all of it up and out. If available give them and the stable a good power wash clean or otherwise just a hose and some hard work with a brush will do the same job. Adding disinfectant like Jeyes fluid can help really get it clean and away with any smell that might be strong. 
Alternatively if you're not wanting to do a deep clean every year you can keep it clean throughout the time using it by adding disinfectant crystals to your bedding.  

- Warmer Rugs

Dig them to out check them over, any repairs need doing before they will be needed? The temperatures can drop out of no where so it's great to be prepared. 

After sorting through your rugs will you find you need some new rugs? Get them in the current sales before the prices hike up. You don't always need the latest seasons rugs, the horses don't know that they are the newest on the block and won't care if they are a destroyer. 

Find you have got too much rugs? I've always said too many rugs is not enough but you always have to be realistic, if you're horse isn't wearing them all do they really need 3 spare rugs of each weight and in std and combo? Have a clear out by selling them online, people will start looking to buy rugs.

- Start Buying Bedding/Hay
Start buying bales of hay/haylage and bedding every so often now, this way it won't be such a hard hit when you have to buy loads when the horses come in. My horses are kept out until the first week of November Typically, I've already started buying now and I'll have a good stock up for when they come in.

Some stockists will do some deals on buying multiple bales of bedding, if you know somewhere doing this take advantage, as Tesco say every little helps!

With the dry summer we've had I know there have been many of people who have been buying their summer/winter hay supply since the first cut. This may leave us with a little less supply towards the end of the year. I'm really hoping not and hoping people don't get greedy with the prices knowing it will be sought after. 

Even ourselfs are thinking about stocking up and buying a pallet of two of haylage for the stable nets throughout the time in. We are struggling to find a supplier of the big round bales this year though. 

How are you finding the hay supply this year where you are? 

Legacy's Bedroom

For anyone who's been reading my blog a while will know that I've struggled with bedding for Legacy in the past. She's a very wet and messy mare, and since having her I've always said that people need to write how horses are in the stable when advertising them. The only time she's been somewhat clean in the stable was in her second stable which was about the length of 2 stables but narrower. She had her hay nets by the top by the door then her bed was down the bottom. She was quite clean in this stable as she poo's where she is standing eating so all her poo was going on the concrete and would make it easier to clean up, the worst that would happen back then would be that she'd poo in her water but that's nothing compared to how she's been in other stables since then.

Last winter she was in the typical 12 x 12 stable, and I've done a blog post on this before when I wrote about her first going onto straw but she was so wet on just shavings she was having a new bale of shavings put down everyday. It was costing a fortune and we weren't able to keep up with it, even when we managed to find bales at £5 a bale it was still adding up each month. If I let 2 months roll by like that I could've bought a pallet of shavings for that amount. She'd been on wood pellets and they worked for a little then she got bad on them too, even with pellets mixed in with shavings.

One day I decided to try out straw and although that doesn't have any absorbency, I had to try something. To begin with I sprinkled some shavings under the straw to absorb some of the wet up and that started to work. That's how I kept her for the rest of last winter.

Onto this winter, her stable from last winter was unavailable due to the last set of storms destroying the roof. Both her and Cloudy had to move stables, luckily they are still able to be next to each other and keep each other happy. Both stables are much bigger than their 12 x 12 stables from last year so they are able to be much cleaner.

Legacy's stable is much wider and longer than her previous stable, she now has her bed which is a 3 horizontal rubber matting's wide and long. So due to the size of the stable is now able to have a much bigger and better bed. She's able to have a bed this big as where she stands to eat her hay-net is just where the bed ends. This means that when she poo's where she's standing to eat most of the poo is either just going on the edges of the bed or onto the rubber matting, meaning there's much less to clean up the next morning. She will still go to her bed to have a wee and the odd poos, but the maximum amount of poo's on her bed will be about 3. This means that I'm able to somewhat deep litter her to keep the bedding costs down. What I've found works great for her now is to put down half a bale of shavings then a large amount of straw on top to keep the bed fluffy and warm. The first 3-4 days after putting down a new bed I can just take out the poo's, this is great as it now takes a maximum for 5-10 minutes to muck her out. I like to try and keep the bed down until I'm off work on the Monday, then take everything out and redo her bed fresh again. By Friday or Saturday she's created a little wet patch and I scoop and this out and even out her bed. By Saturday or Sunday she's created a lot more mess and instead of giving her a new bed then I will just make her bed a little smaller or thinner. I can get away with this as she's got rubber matting. 

Hopefully she'll stay this clean for the rest of winter for me. What bedding do you use on your very wet horse?