The forecast was for 5-6″ of snow and some rain, we ended up with 13 inches in total and freezing temperatures. The snow was too heavy for many of the trees in the area, causing many of the roads to be impassible and many houses and farms to be without power. We were lucky, we never lost power, but many of our friends were without for 4-5 days with some out for 8 days. Since this is a post about our pets, what does all this mean for our pets?

The Chickens
They stayed inside their overnight coop all day long, peaking their heads out every so often, but they said, nope, you can have the snow, we are not playing that game.

The Horses
Well, that means that it will be a super fun drive to get to them so we can feed them. On the day of the snowstorm, it took a little over an hour to make it the 3.5 miles to the farm where they were being boarded. Normally that run takes us 9 minutes from point to point, but the snow had some roads closed and some roads impassable. So it was over the river and through the woods basically. But my daughter in her Subaru Outback did amazing, for her first time driving in the snow. I think that she can pretty much handle anything now. The walk, out to the field in 13″ snow was fun and the mini horses didn’t think too much of their belly touching the snow as they walked.

The storm had knocked out the power to the farm, so that meant no water (it is on a well) and that also meant that the water that was in the 100-gallon stock tank was at least partially frozen. We knew in advance that the farm had no power (the owner texted us), so we came prepared. We came with a half-dozen 5-gallon water jugs (the kind from an office water cooler), full of water. When we arrived at the farm, there was a tree service in the main drive, so we parked at the owner’s house he was already shuttling water from his house to the fields, so he gave us a ride in his 4×4 truck across one of the fields and into the main part of the farm. We then shuttled water to the stock tank and broke the ice as well. This gave us around 85 gallons, which would certainly hold the four horses through the night.

Once the water was done and the horses were fed, it was a quick trip around the field to check the fence line, which was good, except for one section about 30 feet, where all the pine trees came down, crisscrossing the fence, making it impossible for a horse to get out (Okay, should be “near” impossible…). Of course, the horses had to check it out (see photo).

Then it was time to remove the snow from the roof of the shelter. When I built it I used 500 cords to help strengthen the roof, in the event we get a large snowfall.