SPRING IS IN the air, everywhere I look around. Spring is in the air, in every sight and every sound … I’m singing that to the ‘Love is in the Air’ ’70s disco tune, changing the lyrics to suit my mood. Give it a listen.
Looking for a last-minute pal to ride the trail with? Ask on the Facebook page Olympic Peninsula’s Riders.
Freedom Farm’s Hoof Beats students competed at the April 19 Hunter/Jumper Show at the Bainbridge Saddle Club. Lily Robertson, riding Ruby (show name: Queen of Hearts), had a great day, placing first in both 0.95-meter jumper classes and second and fifth in the 0.85-meter jumpers. Lily also earned the high-point ribbon for mid-jumpers.
Hadley Wolslegel had second place all four rounds of the 0.65 and 0.75-meter on Mimi.
Isabella Greimes placed on two horses, Phoenix Rising and Pixie Dust. Daniella Damn earned placings riding Zeus.
Farm owner/trainer Mary Gallagher brought a horse in training named Oliver. His first show, he completed all his courses without issue. He took every jump confidently — and that’s huge! Congratulations, Oliver.
The next Feet First Hoof Care Classes with Freedom Farm owner’s Jerry Schmidt and Mary will be from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. May 25 and June 29. Learn how to care for your barefoot horse, from cleaning to balancing the hoof through regular maintenance you can do between trims.
I certainly think it behooves every horse owner to know the basics of hoof care and how to at least trim the hoof, if needed. Register to attend by e-mailing Mary at marygallagher@ freedom-farm.net Located at 493 Spring Road, Agnew.
Incidentally, Mary offers a treasure trove of horse training information in her monthly newsletters and on her blogs. View more online at Freedom-farm.net.
Mud-free
As the warm weather dries out our rain-soaked soil, soon will be the perfect time to get those long-awaited projects accomplished. If you’re a horse owner and tired of muddy paddocks, now’s the time to plan making your horse feed and shelter areas mud-free. Once incessant rains start up en force, it will be very labor-intensive to scrape that top few inches of rain-soaked mud off to expose hard, dry ground.
The Clallam Conservation District website offers pre-recorded farm webinars to show how to do it and just what supplies you’ll need at clallamcd.org. I’ve done it twice — at my previous home and current home — in my horse “sacrifice” areas, where I shelter and feed them. It’s called a sacrifice area because you scrape off the top layer of grasses and weeds of a relatively flat area to expose the dry dirt underneath. As you do so, slope the ground so water drains away from shelters. Then lay a geotextile fabric called “road underlayment” or driveway fabric over the ground. That’s a thick fabric, about 13 feet wide, that helps prevent grass and weeds from growing and, more importantly, prevents the gravel you place on it from making its way deep beneath the top soil.
Overlap the edges of the fabric at least 4 inches. On top of that, lay a minimum of 4-plus inches, of 3/8-inch-minus crushed rock gravel with fines for a hard-packed surface. You can order it with or without fines. Fines are the small particles and dust created during the crushing of rocks. I like ordering it with fines, because it appears to lock the gravel tightly together. Do NOT be talked into getting any larger stone or rocks smaller than 3/8 inch. Because it doesn’t take long for those larger stones to come to the top of the surface and mix with the 3/8 inch. And those larger rocks could end up injuring your horse’s hooves.
Add rain gutters to your roofs, along with a drainage trench, and next winter you’ll have a mud-free zone — no more getting a boot sucked off your foot while struggling to catch your horse to ride in.
Incidentally, you can use the same underlayment topped only with crusher fines for an all-season solid surface pathway around your house and yard, too.
Kick up your heels
No more dilly-dallying, because from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. today is the Horses & Hounds Country Barn Dance and fundraiser for homeless animals in need of families at the Fox-Bell Event Center, 137 N. Barr Road, off U.S. Highway 101 in east Port Angeles. In fact, tickets already could be sold out. If not, tickets for dancing to the Buck Ellard Band, eating at the chili and baked potato food bar and playing games can be purchased at https://www.zeffy.com/ticketing/horses-and-hounds-barn-dance.
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Karen Griffiths’ column, Peninsula Horseplay, appears the second and fourth Saturday of each month.
If you have a horse event, clinic or seminar you would like listed, please email Griffiths at kbg@olympus.net at least two weeks in advance. You can also call her at 360-460-6299.
