Winter in Texas

Santa got lost in Texas...

"Your pretty dumb like me, he said, to work in the wintery frost"

... with ya on that one Santa.

... & perhaps he couldn't leave

Because at the moment Texas is experiencing record-breaking cold and ice. This morning Fort Worth had to shut down the freeways so that a "Task Force" could work on clearing ice off the roads that in some areas is 8" thick. Not. Okay.

Last week it got a little chilly... in fact our donkey had little icicles on his ears...

My Canadian friends basically told me to zip it since they were experiencing the beginning of what would become -40 C weather. Yes friends, my hometown/home province was one of the coldest places IN THE WORLD for about a week and a half.. sorry guys, that's just bad luck.

Then, the storm hit, and it got REAL cold in Texas REAL fast.

None of my friends and family seem to care, since they are all living in Antarctica currently (actually.. Antarctica is warmer), but I know for a fact it is really cold. How do I know this? Because I have been wearing MORE clothes out here while riding than I ever did in our unheated barn in the dead of Winter  in Calgary last year.

The problem with Texas cold is that it is humid, so when it gets cold, it starts to rain, then it starts to sleet, then it starts to rain down ice chunks from the sky, and all this "snow" that you see in my photos? It's actually legitimately pure ice... no snow here... just a big statewide skating rink.

Infact, part of our roof caved in, in several different parts of our barn, so we had to move horses around.

Jake, one of our three year olds, was ELATED that the resident goofy stud, Bear got placed beside him.

Because they played, and played, and played all day long, and have finally just settled down. 

My second major problem with the Texas cold, the first being the gosh-darn-stupid-I-hate-it RAIN all the time, is that Texans just don't know how to deal with cold. So, instead of building INSULATED barns, and INDOOR arenas, all the barns are just shells (hence the roof caving in from ice in some areas) and all the arenas are semi open. Ours is three walls, and then the back wall is opened out to pens and runs in and out for the cows. That means that even when you are inside, you are freezing cold due to third major problem, the wind.

Rain + Semi-Outdoor Arenas + Wind

= Not. Okay.

Everyone likes to come up to me and say "This must just be a breeze for you, hey you crazy Canadian?" & i'm over here in 18 layers, soaked to the bone, wanting to die, like ... actually I want to die now, thanks.

The one thing I do find amusing about this whole situation is how wholly unprepared Texans are for this. Driving back from Fort Worth the night when the storm first began, Boss-man told us to put the truck and trailer in 4 wheel drive and drive slow. The loper driving about had a mental breakdown because she had never driven in 4 wheel and thought she wasn't allowed to go above 30 mph. I tried to explain to her that in Canada I drive in 4 wheel all winter long and that's what it's meant for... bad conditions. Well, she tried to speed up and kept saying "IT WONT LET ME", so I just let it go thinking she was being a nitwit, after asking her several times "You're in 4 wheel hi right??" She kept saying she was. Yep... turns out she was in 4 wheel low, and had no idea what that even meant. Sigh... They were also SHOCKED and totally confused about the concept of "winter tires" haha.

The Cactus, I am sure, are not happy about their new frozen conditions...

Cactus just aren't meant for this kind of weather, ya'll.

Nor, am I.

The boys found a good way to amuse themselves in the ice...

Finally, this evening, the sun started to appear again and we got a bit of a release from the crazy storm. Fingers crossed that we're almost out of it...

So yes, Canada, I feel awfully bad for you guys, and I hope that you are all staying warm. There is nothing okay with how cold it is up there right now... absolutely ridiculous!

But atleast you have indoor arenas to ride in, and are prepared for snow.. unlike Texas, where the whole state is having an ice-induced mental breakdown.

Blanketing - 2/3 there!

Tehehehe.

Blanketing in Alberta... this is a learning curve. Today it's -5 c with snow on the ground, tomorrow it's suppose to be 16 c... c'mon Mother Nature?! That is crazy! The mood swing/weather fluctuations of mother nature make blanketing a real pain.

The barn I used to work at, we would blanket for boarders, and I remember days in winter where I would change one horses blanket 2 - 5 times a day, take off stable sheet, put on a lightweight, put a sheet over that, take those off, put on heavy weight with hood, go back, take off hood, then back into stable sheet, feed, it's gotten cold, put a sheet over that. Ugh. At my barn, blanketing is not offered for boarders, which is fine, but it also means in the Fall/Spring I worry about Jingle over heating/under heating.

Thus, I went with the, "BUY ALL THE BLANKETS", tactic. As you probably have caught on by now, I am a huge supporter of the "spend all the money on the horse" mindset. I went with cheaper blankets for now because he is moving into a group turnout situation in November, and I don't know how rambunctious/blanket ruining he will become in this new environment. However, so far, so good, he's been rollin' and runnin' and I have yet to see any damage to his blanket!

Here he is in Blanket #1: Rain sheet

"I iz distinguished in plaid"

"Sew Matureeee... right Mahm?"

Super basic Cavalier rain sheet, pretty cheap and low denier, just for those slightly crisp fall days, but it's still warm out.

Blanket #2: Light/Medium Weight

"I iz so kewt"

"Bye Mahm!"

I am completely blanking on the name, but it's a decent quality blanket that I hope will hold up. 1200 D I think? Plus I got it on sale because it's last years model, woop woop. The only downside is the back leg straps are a little short and don't have as much hang and give as i'd like them too. He seems comfortable though, so whatever.

So far Jingle seems happy in his blanket situation, however, his big crazy eyes still get pretty wide when I approach him with the big rustly-bustly blanket. Silly boy.

&... dun dun dunnnn... Blanket #3: Heavy Weight Winter Blanket

- yet to be decided -

I have a couple options floating around in my head... 

I could go with your basic, everyone has one Weatherbeeta, which is a pretty decent price (around $200 I think), and I think that's probably the route I plan to go.

However, I was looking at the blankets Crystal of Ranch Riding led me too... Up in Stitches... and I really like them. They are 2700 D and made with Thinsulate, so not only are they nice and thin, they can be worn in a wide variety of temperature (aka, perfect for fricken Alberta). However, they don't come with belly bands, which I wanted, and I also wanted a detachable hood, and all of a sudden they were a bit too expensive for little old student me. I did contact a lady who was selling a couple used though, so hopefully she gets back to me!

Then, when I was at Horselife buying my lightweight, I was introduced to Bucas blankets by the Store Manager. He was trying to sell me pretty hard on this brand, and I can admit, they are pretty cool. The one I really liked was the "Power Turnout", it has some fancy features like a reflective surface that apparently "absorbs and distributes energy", a silver lining that makes the blanket anti-bacterial, a fleece inside that acts as a cooler so you can almost blanket your horse right after a workout, and finally, the most attractive it apparently has a range of -30 to -10.

"I iz fancy pants horse in my fancy pants blanket"

Downsides? Well, he claimed I could literally use this blanket from now, all the way until the snow melts and it warms up again (so, who knows... June in Alberta?) However, these blankets still have 300 g of fill, so they are pretty hefty all the same - they look like winter heavyweights. He said my horse wouldn't overheat, but, to me, it doesn't make sense to me putting on a bulky blanket in warm temperatures. Like, I just can't wrap my head around this blanket being so magical and good at temperature regulation that it's like me wearing a winter Jacket in 10 c and being perfectly happy. Also, the price tag was the heftiest of all - $400. Now, I'm not one to skimp on things I think are good quality, but all the same - this is Jingle's first winter in a blanket and I would surely cry myself to sleep for weeks on end if he completely ruined a $400 magic blanket. So, do any of you have experience with these fancy-pants blankets? Are they all they are made out to be?

Also the manager, who I actually really liked and thought provided me with wicked customer service, did make a snarky comment about how he notices western riders always have the mindset to "buy cheap, not quality, because the horse will wreck it anyway." Whereas I guess all English riders are rich and can just drop $400 on a whim? ... I guess this whole post has been about how I went with cheap blankets due to my horse, but I still take offense!

So yep, that's it - 2/3 done the search, ready to spend more money on ponyboy at any moment!

Blanketing?

Well, today, it snowed.

ugh.

I am not a winter person, although I appreciate how beautiful winter is, and I do love Christmas... I just don't like being cold. Plus, I am a sufferer of winter blues. So, being all glum and cold for the 8 months of winter we sometimes get in Alberta, is just not my cup of tea.

But now, as a new horse owner, I am faced with some winter blanket questions.

Jingle will be blanketed for the first time this winter, and I plan to move him inside for the winter months. He isn't cooling down quickly enough to put him back outside after I ride in the evenings, and I rarely have time to ride anytime during the day. However, the area where he will be stalled is still pretty cool in the winter months, and most of the horses wear their winter blankets inside, as well as out. This means he'll be wearing his blanket 24/7, which I know most blanketed horses do, but it also means i'm on the lookout for something very breathable. Secondly, Jingle's turnout will now change, he'll be out with the geldings. All of our geldings that are stalled go out together in a big field during the day. I'm worried about the horses picking on him/playing too rough and ripping his blanket to shreds. So I need something strong, and secure.

So, any advice? What kind of blanket should I get?

I'm leaning towards a Weatherbeeta, probably the Freestyle with the detachable hood, but they only go to 1680 D. The cheaper ones are about 1200 D, and that's still pretty high for most of the blankets I've seen. However, knowing my horse, his blanket will probably become ripped to shreds in a couple months, so maybe shelling out the money for the higher D blankets like the Freestyle, or Rambo and Shedrow makes isn't really worth it?

Also, because he's never worn a blanket, but our winters can get freakishly cold (-40 celsius, ya'll know what i'm talking 'bout?!) should I get him a lighter-medium weight and a heavy weight to get him used to the whole blanketing thing? I don't wear my heavy snowboarding jacket on chilly November days, and certainly don't wear my warm bomber jacket on frigid, death-defying January days...

Hmmm.. things to think about.

I think Jingle will look really cute in a hooded blanket, just saying.