Nikki Alvin-Smith - 10/30/2025 General

Horizon Structures Presents Series: Making Way For Winter On The Horse Farm

Red horse barn in a snowy winter setting. Teri Virbickis

Newsdate: Wednesday, October 29, 2025 - 11:00 am
Location: ATGLEN, Pennsylvania

The completion of a few simple pre-winter projects on the horse farm can significantly ease the burden of horse care in colder climes.

The usual Fall clean-up of your horse barn and pastures has hopefully been completed already. These include the usual bevy of jobs like cleaning cobwebs off light fixtures; strimming out burdocks and weeds from pasture lines; and securing back-up power sources and the like.

Horses eating their rations of forage in a snow covered paddock.

The changing temperatures, snow plowing and moisture laden skies leading to snow drifts and broken gutters, can wreak havoc with the ground surfaces around a horse property.
© 2020 by Equine Guelph New window.

Sidebar: Bear in mind that as the grass in paddocks dies off in winter, horses may forage the untapped fence line of various plant life that they would otherwise leave alone. Burdock in particular can be more than a nuisance with seed heads wrapped in a horse’s forelock hair or manes and tails. The Burdock plant’s sharp spiny processes can also embed themselves in the horse’s eyes, causing a major injury.

Horsey housework does seem a never-ending list of chores but being set up to work smarter and not harder through snow and ice, wind and rain and freezing temperatures is always a good plan of action.

Groundwork First

The changing temperatures, snow plowing and moisture laden skies that bring hail, nor’easters, and high winds causing snow drifts and broken gutters, can wreak havoc with the ground surfaces around a horse property.

An errant slip in mud or on ice can cause major damage to a horse resulting in torn tendons and ligaments or even a broken pelvis or other bones. And not just to horses. But to their handlers too. So it makes sense to ensure arena footing, walkways and gate entrances offer a reasonable amount of traction and that areas of high traffic hoof fall are well-drained.

While the indoor/outdoor arena may benefit from a moisture-retaining product like calcium or magnesium chloride in both summer and winter, alternatives that are kinder to the environment and to the horses’ hooves exist that can help stabilize the footing in arenas across temperamental climate changes.

While magnesium chloride is generally considered the kinder alternative of the chlorides for moisture control, consider coconut fibers, sand, oil and polymer products and a myriad of blended options that exist for keeping the material in place and moist with a lesser requirement for sprinkler system operations during cold winter months.

Our farm in the Catskill Mountains (which my husband and I built ourselves and have operated for over 25 years), sits at an elevation of approximately 2500 feet above sea level and we receive plenty of snow, wind and ice during winter months but still operate an active private dressage training yard throughout the season. I do admit that there are times when it is an onerous task. And through the last 25 years I have learned a thing or two to make life easier.

Nobody wants to be dragging hoses out to water the arena or opening up carefully designed water sprinkler systems that have been drained down for winter to solve a dust or water concern. Either in the barn or in the indoor.

If you are unsure about the current options and price points available to optimize your existing arena footing consult an equine industry footing expert (or two or three). There are many product changes in the marketplace and a refresh doesn’t have to be expensive. Especially if you are prepared to do some of the work yourself.

Anyone (well almost), can learn to drive a rented skid steer and install materials. And speaking from some recent experience, it’s actually fun.

Similarly review your paddock gateways for their accessibility factor. A few loads of aggregate appropriate for use around horses and fit for purpose (all materials are called something different depending on the region of the country in which you live and the local quarries product lines and availability).

Sidebar: Here in the Catskills I opt for Crusher Run, limestone based with a maximum screened stone size of less than 1” and lay it through the gateways. It can make plowing out, digging out easier to accomplish or even negate the necessity to do either. A well-drained compacted set up of material will negate mud issues too. The quarry operator’s own trucks or your choice of an independent trucker can deliver the materials. Be sure to get a delivery price per load and load specifics. Aggregates are usually priced per yard. Convert this to tons for an average load of 20-21 tons and always ask for the weight ticket for each load to verify accuracy of quantity. Not foolproof, but it helps mitigate the risk of being overcharged.

Laying aggregate is the budget-friendly way to go about gateway footing repairs. Alternatives such as mat laying, fabric undercover and all sorts of other more permanent methods are available but these can be expensive so research all options carefully.

Place the driveway and parking area snow markers in before the ground freezes and clear obstacles out of the way to minimize damage when snow plowing to fixtures such as plant containers and mowing equipment. The only larger piece of equipment you may want to keep handy for emergency use is the horse trailer.

Sidebar: Reflective snow markers are best. Add your own reflective tape to save money. Use thicker poles that can be hammered in season after season versus fiberglass or cheap plastic models you’ll find at the box stores. I find landscape fence posts in green plastic work well and I simply add a wrap of reflective tape around the top. Adding markers saves the grass/lawn from plowing damage and can be placed to mark flower bed borders/well heads etc.

A cleared area with marked margins takes a lot less time to plow than one restricted by parked up equipment or ‘stuff’. Always leave a buffer to accommodate snow piles.

Winter Water Needs

Despite all the technological advances when working with water and freezing temperatures it sometimes seems as though we are still living in the ice age.

Helpful hints to mitigate the ‘almost’ unforeseen events include:

Keep a spare, empty water trough handy for filling by hand with water buckets in case a tank heater or other heating device to watering needs for pastured or stabled animals goes awry.
· Add extra insulation to interior walls that house water piping by stacking hay or bales of shavings on interior adjoining walls such as a neighboring feed room for protection.
· Place a salt water filled plastic water bottle in each water tank to help defray freezing of water in troughs in transition season weather between Fall and hard winter to decrease energy use costs.
· Keep frost free faucets well-maintained and without minor leaks or loose handles/valves/foot valves as small leaks or drips can cause major freeze up issues.

Winter Storage Solutions

Transitory storage options such as using part of the aisleway, dead-end areas of the barn, an empty stall or area under cover of an overhang for temporary storage of a small quantity or hay/bedding can save a lot of angst on a cold winter night. Especially when snowfall has arrived ‘en masse’ and unpredicted and the next day is likely to be spent waiting on the snow plow service to arrive or completing snow removal tasks on the farm yourself. Dragging hay bales from one place to another in the deep snow by sled is not really as fun as it sounds.

For storage of motorized equipment not needed during winter months consider protecting it from mice or vermin damage with the use of herbal pouches, moth balls etc. placed in engine compartments to deter nefarious wire chewing and nesting issues. Remove the batteries from equipment and store them in a warmer location to protect them from the freeze-thaw activity that can cause them damage.

Winterize Your Horse Too

Working horses through winter months will likely require some amount of coat clipping and then blanketing. Even a modest blanket clip can help with the cooling out process. Older horses in particular are subject to the negative effects of being chilly after exercise so keep a weather eye on their needs. Here’s a look at some amazing horse clipping history and some horse clipping hacks.

Don’t forget to get your horses’ shoes removed prior to the ground hardening up with freezing temperatures to allow their hooves time to get used to their new barefoot condition if you choose to remove the shoes rather than have winter shoes applied.

Similarly look at your own footwear and clothing needs. Layered up clothing especially specialist sport horse apparel or cheaper but highly functional farm gear, can make life much more comfortable. And glamp-on style traction help for footwear on those icy days can save nasty falls. Despite your best penguin-style walking ability, ice is always on hand for impact.

The Right Equipment All Around

Owning and operating the right equipment for any task will always be a time-saver and a cost-saver long term. With a business you have the opportunity to depreciate/amortize equipment expenses, deduct interest payments on loans and enjoy many investment/tax benefits when buying farm equipment. Thankfully as a category in general this capital investment also holds its value well.

A tractor or UTV with a few different attachments can pay its way throughout the year. Snow plowing, mowing, footing maintenance etc.

Sidebar: As a 5′ 4” female I’ve found it useful to always ‘test drive’ all equipment before buying. While I consider myself a good driver and can operate a 100 hp tractor with equipment on without much trouble, I have found some vehicles (even including pick-ups) are built for bulkier larger-footed individuals and longer-legged operators. This results in my not being able to reach the clutch foot pedal and my having to wear heavy boots to push the accelerator/brake pedal and maintain pressure which becomes very tiring on long journeys even if cruise control is available. Seats similarly need to move up and down and back and forth and be comfortable, both for safety and for functionality. And are hopefully, just like a well-trained and well-ridden dressage horse, air-ride.

Bank On Power Outages

Don’t forget to keep a small stock of fuel to operate a gas or diesel fueled generator or to refill the tractor or skid steer during a power outage if you don’t have a farm diesel tank or other energy resource. During a power outage being able to run motorized equipment like a chain saw, snow thrower or heavier equipment is essential. Always store flammable materials securely and in a safe space away from your main barn and hay storage and living spaces.

Similarly barn safe lighting options for power outages are a good idea to have on hand.

As the 16^th Century playwrights Thomas Norton and Thomas Sackville wrote in an early English tragedy “Gorbuduc”,

“Hope for the best and prepare for the worst.”

You don’t have to be Elizabeth I (for who the play was first performed) to appreciate the merit of that statement.

You’ll never regret being over-prepared.

About Horizon Structures: One horse or twenty, there’s one thing all horse owners have in common…the need to provide safe and secure shelter for their equine partners. At Horizon Structures, we combine expert craftsmanship, top-of-the-line materials and smart “horse-friendly” design to create a full line of sheds and barns that any horse owner can feel confident is the right choice for their horses’ stabling needs.

All wood. Amish Made. Most of our buildings are shipped 100% pre-built and ready for same-day use. Larger barns are a modular construction and can be ready for your horses in about a week. All our barn packages include everything you need to move your horses right in.

Horizon Structures also sells chicken coops, equine hay feeders, greenhouses, dog kennels. You can also find garages, sheds and outdoor living sets available at Horizon’s sister company Stoltzfus Structures.

Headquartered in South-Central Pennsylvania, Horizon Structures, LLC was founded by Dave Zook. Dave was raised in the Amish tradition and grew up working in the family-owned shed business. He started Horizon Structures in 2001 in response to an ever-increasing customer demand for high quality, affordable horse barns. Over the years, the company has grown and now has several build shops located throughout the US enabling them to service customers nationwide.

For additional information about the company or their product line, please visit their website at https://www.horizonstructures.com