Getting Ready for Winter

As much as a slightly hate to admit it, winter is approaching and I'm secretly excited! I love winter (well for so long, then I long for warmer weather again - typically British!). Nights have slowly started drawing in with it now getting darker earlier and so I've started thinking about getting Pea's stable ready for when he comes in at night. He has his stable during the summer as well as he comes in during the day but he tends to have less bedding and eats hay. 

This year I'm planning on getting some rubber matting for his stable to make it a bit comfier for him. It will also help with mucking out and keep the stable a little bit warmer for him. He is bedded on easibed all year round and I will be adding a few more bags before he comes in at night so that he has a bigger bed as he will be in for longer than what he is during the summer. 

During the summer I put him on hay as it has fewer calories than haylage but I don't like leaving him in all day without anything to munch on and it's not good for horses either as they are trickle eaters and therefore it is best for them to eat little and often. He doesn't tend to eat a great deal of his hay but I like to have it in the stable so that there's something there for him. I will also occasionally hide some broken up carrots or a chopped up apple in there. During the winter he is fed haylage as last year he went off hay and lost quite a bit of weight! He doesn't have a lot of haylage and is fed on a high fibre one that has fewer calories and is better for him. He has his hay and haylage on the floor all year round as it is more natural and he gets a bit fussy over haynets!

I have also been regularly de-webbing his stable. There seems to be no end of spider webs made round his stable so I try, on a regular basis, to sweep them down and also to get rid of any dust that has settled. I'm also sorting out his rugs (I was slightly disorganised after last winter) and ensuring that heavier rugs are still on the shelf in the tack room whilst the lighter rugs are hung at the back of his stable for when they are needed. His fly rug has also been put away now. 

I'm also sorting out our storage and having a bit of a re-organisation/re-arrangement of things just to make things tidier and neater. 

Thanks for reading,
Laura xx