Baby, We Were Born To Run

The Oregon Coast isn't a good climate for horses, especially with the increasing rains we have had over the last few years here. Every year is windier and rainier. If you put a horse on a wet pasture the pasture will turn to mud in no time and the the horse can develop all sorts of foot ailments.

Our horses have stalls and a reasonable sized fenced in corral where they can go inside or out when ever they please. Unless it's raining really hard they will spend most of their time outside. To keep their hooves healthy I have rubber mats inside and out so they are never standing in mud. However since it is raining all the time they rarely get out on the pasture and the round pen is often too wet to let them run around. Fortunately we have a friend with an indoor arena who lets us bring the horses down and run them around from time to time.

It's really cool to let them in and remove their halters. They mosey around, sniff the ground, lie down and roll for a bit and then they are off to the races. They zoom around the arena, chasing one another, kicking up and running until they are exhausted. They seem to know that this arena time may be the only chance they will get to stretch out for another week or so.

Though drier weather is expected as we get closer to summer, I hope to be able to use the round pen to get them back into shape for summer riding. Hopefully we will be able to put in a covered arena someday where we can work on them daily.