December
2003 Happy
Holidays Issue  This
newsletter is a personal letter from me to you,
a fellow horse owner and
enthusiast.
My goal is to answer some of your questions and send you interesting
stories
and helpful tips for your horse care, training, and riding.
©
2003 Cherry Hill ©
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 PAGE
1: Show Supplies You Need
PAGE
2: Blanket Rods for a Barn
Pick
Up Stud's Feet Without Getting Kicked PAGE
3: Teach A Horse to Lay Down
PAGE
4: 'Fraidy Cat Horse Solutions PAGE
5 : What is a Midweight Blanket? PAGE
6 : Why Spread Manure on Frozen Ground?
How
to "Ask Cherry" |
Why do you recommend spreading manure on frozen ground? I was doing
a search on manure management and cameupon your page (manure_management.htm).
You offer a good forum for folks to get credible information for equine management.
I don’t discredit any of your practical advice but question the recommendation
of spreading composted manure on frozen ground. Ag producers on the East Coast
are discouraged from applying manure to frozen ground because of the potential
for it to leave the site during rain events. Your interest in not tearing up the
pasture is admirable relative to preserving vegetation and reducing soil loss.
Just curious as to any alternatives such as mid-summer spreading. Thanks
for your question. Midsummer spreading would be ideal on crop land or on land
that will not be grazed by horses for the next 12 months. So, if a land owner
could set aside one or two pastures to rest each year, then application could
be made in the season that suits the climate the best in that locale.
 Here
in the foothills of Colorado,we spread during December and January when the ground
is dry and a bit powdery. Our tractor tires do the least damage to the pasture
during that time and then when our big snows come in February, March, and April,
the composted manure is sealed in place under a blanket of snow until the spring
melt. As the snow slowly melts, it tends to carry the nutrients into the soil
and the humus adds cushion and aeration to the soil.
As I think you are suggesting, you are right, it would not be
a good idea to apply raw manure or composted manure to land (frozen or not) just
before heavy rain periods, especially if the precipitation would cause the manure
to run off. With runoff, not only are the nutrients lost to the pastures but lakes,
rivers and streams can be contaminated.
Like so many management tasks, each horsekeeper needs to make responsible decisions
by being informed and then using trial and error to see what works best. When
to spread manure is one of those questions that can only be answered when considering
all of the specifics of the situation: how much land is available for spreading;
what will the land be used for during the next 12 months; when does the heaviest
precipitation occur and so on.
For more information on manure management, refer to:
A Note from Paula 
Starting
in 2010 you can only submit Ask Cherry questions by going to Cherry Hill's Horsekeeping
Blog. There is a place in the right hand column for questions. Hello, 1.
Read the information that is already posted on www.horsekeeping.com BEFORE you
ask your question. 2. Send the question
to the correct e-mail address. 3.
Put a question in the subject line. "How do I properly fit a bridle?" 4.
Provide Cherry with enough information in the body of the letter so that she gets
an idea of your situation.
I
know that many of you put time into asking good questions but, your questions
are often deleted from our server or our system because
They ask a question that has already been answered and is posted on the Horse
Information Roundup page.
They are sent to the wrong e-mail address.
There is no question in the subject line.
The provide no information about your situation.
Cherry Hill and Richard Klimesh put a lot of time into this information-packed
website to help you become better horsekeepers, trainers and riders. I hope that
you support their efforts by visiting often, referring your friends to this site,
and purchasing at least one item annually from www.horsekeeping.com. Your support
will help defray the costs of maintaining this information site. Here are some
of the gifts they give to you all year:
Free access to all of the articles on the Horse Information Roundup which is continually
being updated and enlarged. No
fee, no signup, no password. Just free information from Cherry and Richard for
you and your horses. No
advertisements on our site. No banners. No pop-ups.
Free subscription to Cherry Hill's Horsekeeping Newsletter. Privacy
Protection of your e-mail address. We protect your privacy by handling the e-mail
subscription list ourselves which assures you that no-one else has access to your
email address and the list won't be attacked by a virus.
Secure credit card shopping via VeriSign. Your transaction is encrypted and protected.
Special offers for newsletter subscribers only. We offered the video special to
you in November.:
Happy Holidays, Paula
That's
it for this month. Don't
forget, when you ride, keep your mind in the middle and a leg on each side. And
try tying some bells on your saddle this month! Before you copy, forward
or post anything from this newsletter or Cherry Hill's Horse Information Roundup,
be sure you read this article!
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