You can count on our Northwest winters being cold, wet, dark, and windy. Plus, during most winters you can add snowy and icy to that description. Lots of rain is good for fish and for recharging our drinking water reserves, but it’s tough on horsekeeping, and many wintertime horse places quickly show the repercussions with muddy paddocks and miserable horses standing in filth. Despondent horse keepers trudge through mud attempting chores and wondering which part is supposed to be ‘fun’. If this sounds familiar and you are ready for a mud-free winter – stay tuned! In this series we will cover how to manage your horse in a winter paddock and mitigate the mud issue.
In the first part in this series we will cover the problems associated with living in mud. Some of these problems seem self-explanatory – like what horse owner enjoys slogging through the mud and rain to care for their horse? However, living in mud actually is very unhealthy for a horse. Mud harbors bacteria and fungal organisms that cause diseases such as abscesses, scratches, rain scald, and thrush. Mud is also a breeding ground for insects, especially mosquitoes (a big concern for all of us now with West Nile Virus in our neighborhood) and filth flies. Horses fed on muddy ground can ingest dirt or sand particles leading to sand colic; a very serious digestive disorder. Mud also creates slick, unsafe footing that can cause slips and injuries for horses as well as humans. And, as all of us horse owners know, mud is very inconvenient, making barn life unpleasant for us and an eyesore for our neighbors.
Mud also has very serious environmental impacts; something we need to consider at a time when we’re each striving to reduce our impact on the world in our own ways. Mud carrying runoff of sediments and nutrients from manure can get into streams and ponds. This can be detrimental to fish, shellfish, and aquatic wildlife. You don’t have to live near a creek or lake for this to have a negative impact. Nutrients and sediments can also cause problems for ground water, a special concern if you are on a well.
The first way to address the wintertime mud problem is to take horses off saturated and rain soaked pastures. The soils and dormant or frozen pasture plants cannot survive continuous grazing and trampling in winter months, approximately mid-October to mid-March. The horses we remove from pasture need to be kept in what we call a winter paddock or a ‘sacrifice area’.
In the next of this series we will discuss more about sacrifice areas – what it is, where to locate it, what kind of footing to use, and other useful ways to mitigate the mud and make life better for all this coming winter.
So, get set for a mud-free winter and good horsekeeping to you!
Join the following HCW events in October:
SNOHOMISH, WA
Tour a small acreage horse farm with wonderful, innovative mud, manure and pasture management techniques. Saturday, October 1, 10:00 am – noon. Cost: $5/household or free to 4-H households. Registration and directions: Snohomish Conservation District/(425) 335 5634, ext 4.
KIRKLAND, WA
Winter Horse Farm Management Series: Learn techniques to reduce mud, manage manure, make pastures more productive and provide for wildlife. Bridle Trails area. Wednesday evenings 6:30–9:00 pm, October 5–26. Registration and information: (425) 576 3851 and e-mail sgonsar@ci.kirkland.wa.us.
RENTON, WA
Workshops for Livestock Owners: Hands-on workshops on livestock management practices.
Thursday evenings 6:30–9:00 pm, October 13 to November 3. FREE!Registration and information: King Conservation District (425) 277 5581, ext. 120.
BRUSH PRAIRIE, WA
Saturday, October 22 from 9:00 am to 4:30 pm for a full day’s workshop on mud, manure, and pasture management options. Cost $12/person, including lunch and handouts. Registration and information: Clark Conservation District (360) 883 1987.
SAN JUAN ISLANDS, WA
Horse Farm Management Workshops: Pasture, manure, and mud management workshop.
Saturday, October 29, details TBD. Registration and information: (360) 378 6621 or e-mail heatherh@rockisland.com.
Copyright © 2008 The NW Horse Source, LLC
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