Please review the rules and recommendations below regarding Ranch policy during rain.
1. I KNOW YOU WANT TO KEEP YOUR BOOTS CLEAN but DO NOT drive to your corral after a heavy rain—you will slip and slide, and possibly into another vehicle, and in the best case, we’ll have to pull you out with the tractor and the Ranch Hands have better things to do.
2. Arenas, turn-outs and round-pens will be groomed and locked prior to the arrival of a rain storm. This speeds our ability to get up and riding again much sooner than many facilities, so we appreciate your cooperation.
3. “…the grass is always greener…” vacant corrals always look as though they are drier than yours. Nevertheless, DO NOT MOVE YOUR HORSE to empty corrals after a rain. It makes for unnecessary extra work for the Ranch Hands as vacant corrals have been prepped (leveled & footing) If you move your horse to a vacant corral, you will be charged L a $25 corral maintenance fee.
BUT…you can prep your corral to literally, weather the weather better…
1. Add equal parts Dry Stall/or Rice Hulls (cheaper) and a corral pellet/bedding (NOT SHAVINGS, which just get heavy and soggy). I just put 10 bags of each in Chip’s corral.
2. You can sign up for bags on the sheet outside the office in the Cowboy Café.
3. You can also buy wood stove pellets at Home Depot, same product, cheaper price, if you want to save a bit of $$$.
Horse Care in Rainy Weather:
1. Make sure to pick your horses hooves daily to help avoid abscesses which love wet footing.
2. Hand walk or longe line after a rain. The upper arena space is almost always useable due to its natural 100% DG footing.
3. Don’t turn your fresh horse out into a wet turn-out “at liberty” ~ we’ve seen too many horses, excited by the cool weather and fresh from being cooped up in their corral, slip and injure themselves unnecessarily.
4. Don’t assume that the trail is ride-able ~ it gets slick as well so give it a day or two, or check with the Trainers as to the trail condition.
Feeding during rainy weather:
Our Ranch Hands are incredibly hard workers—and sometimes it seems like they are MIRACLE workers—but, as the song goes, they “cannot stop the rain.”
In general, when it is raining, they will do their best to get your horses feed into/under the corral shelter.