A while back, I wrote about the high price of hay in the Pacific Northwest, and the pressure it was putting on horse owners. Now comes news that the hay prices of last summer were an economic freak event, and prices have fallen sharply.

This is a classic economics lesson. Hay in the Pacific Northwest was under high demand globally, and the prices rose to reflect that. At a certain point, the prices became too high, and people started buying hay from neighboring states.

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I had an appointment to shoe one of my client horses today, for his first shoeing of the year. I typically recommend that, if at all practical, horses go barefoot for a few months a year. In the Northwest climate, the winter months work out well for that, since it's mostly too muddy to do a lot of trail riding, and arena footing is both soft and consistent enough that a horse can work comfortably, either barefoot, or wearing EZboots.

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So, I got one of those calls this week that brought up a subject horse owners don't have to think about all that often, but nonetheless when we DO need to think about it, we have to be ready to make a fast decision: "They're telling us we have to evacuate. Do you have a plan for your geldings, already?" Seems the flood waters had pushed a hole in the dike behind the place where I board the guys.

Now, this would make a better story, of course, if I was out in the middle of the night in the driving rain waving a flashlight, wearing hip-waders, trying to catch my two brumby knuckleheads.

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The cold snap seems to have broken, and the weather system moving in from off the Pacific is bringing warmer temperatures and dumping rain, melting the recent snow and soaking most of the Puget Sound area.

Rainy, warmer weather also help set up the environmental conditions for horses to rapidly develop rain rot, also called rain scald. Preventing rain rot isn't particularly complicated; you simply have to keep your equine buddy clean and dry. Unfortunately, that can be easier said than done, in our climate.

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The Seattle Times is reporting that skyrocketing hay costs and the economic downturn is causing horse owners - and their horses - a great deal of trouble.

The cost of hay has increased as much as 60 percent in some parts of the country this year. According to an article published last summer by the Tri-City Herald in Washington State, the amount of acreage devoted to growing hay has dropped 11 percent since 2003.

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One of the contrary things some horses do to protest cold weather is stop drinking. This, of course, puts the horse at a much greater risk of dehydration, and that in turn puts a horse at risk of developing an impaction-related colic, because their digestive systems aren't exactly a marvel of efficiency, anyway. They need that water to process their feed. If you're not already monitoring how much water she drinks every day, you should be. Do start paying close attention, and even measuring water intake, if it's at all practical to do so.

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I know I promised to write about rainrot, and we've all been breathless with anticipation—but with the Puget Sound area cold-snap this weekend, I thought we'd postpone that discussion for a day or so, and talk a bit about cold-weather horse management, instead. There are a number of things you can do to keep you and your horse happier and healthier when the temperature drops.

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Sooner or later, if you keep horses in a wet climate, you're going to encounter a condition commonly called "scratches." Also known as dew-poisoning, greasy-heel, cracked-heel, or various other monikers—scratches can show up pretty suddenly. Your grooming routine needs to include thoroughly examining the backs of your horse's pasterns just above the heel bulbs. You're looking for crusty, scabby patches on the skin.

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Yesterday evening, fifteen horses died in a fire at a boarding stable here in Washington state. Fire investigators are still looking into the cause of the fire.

The specter of a barn fire looms over every horse owner - as it should. It's not uncommon for a barn to burn to the ground in the space of a few minutes. In cases where the structure remains intact, horses can die quickly from smoke inhalation.

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So when your horse goes from sound to lame, seemingly overnight, and not just a little lame—but toe-pointing, leg-dragging, melodramatic lameness—what are you supposed to think? In the absence of obvious heat and/or swelling in the joints, ligaments, and tendons, you might well have a horse with an abscessed foot.

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