Also, my husband has wanted to build a pond – “a 13′ deep one!!” – his eyes gleam with thoughts of running a backhoe. He thinks the horse would like it. I have actually thought about them falling in and not being able to get out (during the winter months). After your story – 5′ is good enough for me!! He will just have to dig 3 of them. :o)

The submersible pump and fountain are great ideas!! Hmmmm…

Full moon and clear (FREEZING in Upstate NY) tonight – but so cool to look out and see my guys. Two of them are white – they almost glow! Simply gorgeous….

Blessings,
Jane (the “what’s in this food!!??” lady :o)

Hard to move from endless sunshine (except for fire season and winter when it rains) to snow, ice and winter. I’m glad your girl made it out of the pond and wasn’t injured.

I have an idea (it probably won’t work or someone else would have suggested it, but it works in my head so I had to write it). I was thinking that if a temporary fence was installed about a foot or two from the outside edge of the pond in a concentric circle, wouldn’t that allow the horses to safely break the ice at the edge without allowing them to foray into the middle of the pond? This fence could be put up to sort of winterize the pond and taken down in the spring.

Once you experience a whole year of weather and mishaps think of how good at averting problems you’ll be next year!

I’ve spent the last hour perusing your website and the last half hour crying my eyes out at the tragic loss of your sweet, beautiful Malachi. I’m so sorry for your loss – may you be comforted by his memory for the rest of your earth-walk and rest assured you’ll meet again someday.

It’s funny how the universe sends us signs – your book being mine.
I’m going to be 49 this year and I’ve always had a desire to be with horses but never had the opportuninty or the money!
Went on a 5 day foundation course a couple of years ago(run by Kelly Marks who is Monty’s protege over here in the UK)and had an amazing time. Joining up with a beautiful big boy called Dan is an experience that changed my life. That was the first time I had been that close to a horse – leading him into the round pen and then having that join up – oh, wow!
Kelly was a star – a brilliant guide and mentor as were the members of her ‘team’ – horses included. Kelly looked me in the eye on the last day and said, very softly, ‘never give up on your dreams Debra’- and I haven’t – except, recently I’ve been feeling like it would probably never happen – me with my own horse etc etc and then I found your book and I just can’t tell you how inspired I am. The way you are with your horses is just how I feel – my mission this year is to learn to ride.
I’ve only sat on a horse once – got to be confident on the ground first!
We had a treat on that course – a farrier-turned-barefoot guy who explained the horse foot dynamic and he also said he hadn’t met a horse yet who couldn’t make the transition.
I’ve since seen a couple of trainers who are excellent horsemen – Mark Rashid (incredible)- from your side of the pond and Tom Widdecombe – he and his wife are great with our equine friends.
Oh I could go on and on but suffice to say – Thank you for insiring me on my journey with the horses – I’ll be watching this space!!
with love, Debra

Anyway, I wanted to pass along an idea that might help out a few horse owners who aren’t fortunate enough to have their own pond. We used a couple of metal stock tanks to water our horses, and with the NW Nebraska temperatures, you can be sure there would be frequent freezes–nearly every night during winter. A lot of people in those parts run heaters in their stock tanks, but that gets really expensive. What we did was use a submersible pump (such as you’d put in a small plastic pond or fountain) in the tank. It kept the water moving all the time, so it never froze on top, and it used a tiny fraction of the electricity a heater uses to accomplish the same thing. They are also fairly inexpensive to purchase. (I don’t remember the specs, but ours was a pretty small pump that cost about $60-80, I think.)