Endurance.Net Ridecamp Archives

These topics have been discussed quite a bit here lately, and since I 
havent seen these two suggestions yet, I'll chime in.

Having suffered for years with cold feet while riding, I finally have 
boots that really work.  (I used toe warmers for quite a while, and 
while they kept my toes from freezing, they didn't keep them warm)

Columbia Bugaboo boots have been my solution.  They keep my feet WARM, 
even toasty, no matter how cold it is, what the windchill is, how long 
I ride, or whatever.  They fit in Easy Rider stirrups.  AND I can hike 
in them... even long distances.  They run about $90-100 and come in men 
and women's sizes.

And about frozen troughs.  I saw this in The Horsemans Scrapbook by 
Randy Steffan.  It is a compilation of horse/ranch related tips 
submitted to Western Horseman magazine.  (Makes a great Christmas 
present)

Anyway, this isn't something you can do right now, with the ground 
frozen, but you could do it in spring or summer and avoid the problem 
next year.

You dig a hole in the ground, a bit smaller than the circumference of 
your trough.  Dig it deeper than the frost line for your area.  Put 
your trough on top, and let nature keep your trough thawed.  I would 
imagine in high wind areas it would work better to have your trough in 
some sort of insulated box.  And itf you've got really soft ground, you 
would want to line the hole with rocks, bricks or concrete to keep it 
from eroding or caving in.

This seems like it would be worth the effort in area where winter is 
below freezing much of the time.  My troughs are frozen solid right 
now, but we have a spring in the pasture for the horses, so it's no big 
deal.  However, all the other critters here have frozen water that I 
must thaw every morning.  I am going to try this idea (on a small 
scale) for each of the areas separate from the pasture that do not have 
a creek or spring.

Off to bake bread and put more wood in the stove!

Julie
Washougal WA.
24 degrees/45 mph wind/gusts to 65 Weeeeee!


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