Winter happy horses?  Want to provide your horse with good footing and a place to lie down this winter?

Then leave the old hay behind and spread around evenly creating ‘outdoor bedding’ so to speak. Every year in late Fall when the grass is low I start putting the hay outside (I offer it in the shelter/barn too year round). Each day i add fresh hay in the hay feeder AND put piles out on the ground in CLEAN areas. I muck the outside as much as the inside stalls to always keep the area clean for horses to eat from and to lie down.

Horses really appreciate having soft hay or straw to lie in…so why not use the hay they won’t eat anyways? I pick out the wet spots and cover with old hay layering it each time to provide drier stuff on top. Horses LOVE to sleep in this and when we get freezing rain and everyone else is scared to let their horses out because there is no good footing I still have excellent footing from what the old hay is providing. The excess water drains through to the bottom and whatever freezes on top is still textured so it isn’t slippery. I have my horses able to be out year round so this cuts back even the nasty days that they still may want some out time – they can do it safely. To me it’s worth the bit of extra cleaning in the Spring time to get rid of the extra hay because it provides so much for my horses…

Old re-purposed hay that they don’t eat in 24 hours goes down as their outdoor bedding in feeding areas and is in turn used as a place to lie down comfortably in the sun when it’s out AND not have slippery muddy or icey surfaces.