Dr. Dan,
First want to thank you for providing such wonderful products.
My wife and I have had two TWH for just about a year now. They both came to us in not so good shape but thanks to you, we now have two VERY healthy and beautiful horses that we are very proud of.
With that said, I would like to share with you what we have been feeding our horses and well as ask you a question about shelter.
We believe in going natural all the way. We believe in going barefoot only, Although I am still learning and probably will always be, I have spent this past year training with a Natural Hoof Care Practitioner as well as learning as much as possible from Pete Ramey on how to properly care for a Barefoot horse. We have had great results to the point where on most rides we can go completely barefoot for 8 hours straight on our trail rides. Nevertheless we still must boot our horses on those trails that have very rocky terrain. But i wont bore you with all the details of our decision to go barefoot.
We have our horses turned out 24/7 in roughly a 5 acre pasture. They are feed 1qt of Rolled oats with your "just add oats" supplement and 2oz of "H2Oil". Once in the morning and once at night. They have a complete free feeding source of "Red-Cel" at all times. We don’t believe in having our horses vaccinated (Unless absolutely Necessary) so we add a natural wormier to their feed M-W-F to their diet as well. Again, we have been blessed by seeing two VERY beautiful and in my opinion two very healthy horses. We are constantly getting complements on how shining our horses coats are just as an example.
Anyway.. With everything that has been going on in our life we have been in the processes of trying to get our barn built so that our horses can have free access to some sort of shelter. Unfortunately, this has been a long and tedious process and will most likely not be finished this winter.
We live in mountains in SouthWest VA so our winters can sometimes be very cold. With that said, after reading your article on Winter Woes, I am now concerned that we may not have enough shelter for them this winter. We have purchased rain sheets as well as warming coats for them but is that enough? I can easily put up a small lean-to shelter if need be but is it really necessary?
I would really like your opinion on the matter.
Thank you,
Thomas & Bridget
Thanks so much for your email guys!
I appreciate your kind words.
We live in northeast tn and have many horses. Some have shelter some not. Funny how even those that do have shelter often just don’t use. I personally think you will be in good shape and wouldn’t panic at all. A cover and or trees to get under is always good though if possible.
Thanks again for your email
