After the Deluge

We've just had a dose of my least-favorite horsekeeping weather: a heavy snow, followed by a heavy rain.

This round wasn't as bad as the 1996 one that flattened the roof of one of our buildings (and that taught us the lesson of how rain adds to the weight of snow). But it still made for a great big mess, ranging from the flooding that reached the shavings bin, to the slop that froze to blankets of ice after the sun went down.

Here's where one sees the wisdom of not buying or building horse property in a low-lying area, and of adding gutters and drainfields to agricultural buildings. And it's also where one learns that no matter how much thinking and good prep go into the get-ready-for-winter season, Mother Nature still has a few tricks she can play on a whim.