To kick off this New Year, we are going to be talking about one of our most important services and attributes; boarding your horse at Middleton Equestrian Center! Hello trail friends, a very happy new year to all of you! We hope you had a wonderful holiday season with your loved ones, and we hope you had the opportunity to take advantage of our last two blogs. We hope you took those tips and suggestions to heart to prepare your horses, stables, and barns for the cold winter weather that has finally arrived. While we might not see snow this year as our friends in North Carolina or our friends farther up north will, it has still been cold and wet here in the Lowcountry. Speaking of the Lowcountry, did you give the gift of Middleton this past holiday season? Or did you receive the gift of a trail ride with us? We can't wait to see you soon to celebrate that gift together. We are currently doing our Historic Trail Rides every day at 10 am, 12 pm, and 2 pm, with additional 4 pm rides on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. We do prefer that you book your rides online, but you can also call us at 843-556-0449. Are you looking for the best trail rides and horseback riding in Charleston, South Carolina? You've found it! We have beautiful trails that intertwine through age-old treas, inspiring views of Middleton Place, and a guide that will accompany you to describe the history and stories we've seen and learned over the years. Middleton Place Equestrian Center is guaranteed to please all of your friends and family! We also ended 2020 on a high note, and were awarded Travelers Choice in 2020 by TripAdvisor! One of our most important services and offerings at Middleton is our horse boarding! We want to share more about it with you and talk more about it this year, so please make sure to keep up with our blog and contact us with any questions or comments. We are Charleston's premier boarding and training facility. Our boarding barns feature 46 spacious and well ventilated 12' by 12' stalls, wood shavings, individual fans, and thick stall mats. Our boarding includes feeding your horse high-quality grains and timothy/orchard hay 2-3 times per day based on each horse's individual dietary needs, owner-supplied medications and/or supplements, heightened turnout in one of our numerous large grass paddocks, stall maintenance, and seasonal blanketing. Staff members can schedule vet and farrier services as needed and perform deworming and vaccinations. For all of those new to Middleton Place Equestrian Center and to the idea of boarding your horse in South Carolina, we wanted to dedicate this blog to you and talk about some of the most important reasons and benefits of boarding your horse!
This list could go on and on trail friends, but these are the top benefits of boarding your horse and the many reasons why you should board with us at Middleton Equestrian Center. While boarding and its expenses might seem overwhelming to many new horse owners, think about all the time and money it will end up saving you overall. Also, consider the fact that you'll be able to spend more time with your horse doing exactly what you love. While you might not be able to hear or see them first thing in the morning, you also won't be getting up at the crack of dawn in the worst types of weather to care for them either. We would love to have you board with us! For more information or questions, please don't hesitate to reach out to us! Until next time, stay safe, and be well. We look forward to seeing you on our trails soon!
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In part two of this blog series, we are going to finish talking about preparing your horses, barns, and stables for winter!
Hello trail friends, and welcome back to the blog! We hope that you've been working on going through the checklist we shared with you in part one of this blog and putting it to good use for your horses, stables, and barns! We also hope that it helped prepare you with any last-minute items you might have forgotten or might have not even thought about. For all of our first-time horse owners, we know that every changing season brings another lesson to learn, more excitement, and even more surprises. Owning a horse for the first time is very similar to having a child. It is a beautiful and magnificent creature that needs your help, dedication, and care. The longer you have your horse you find out more and more things that all the manuals and books never mentioned. They're worth it though, aren't they? While so many people might hate the cold weather, especially for those not used to it here in Charleston or the South East, it might surprise you that it can still be a very wonderful and beautiful season with your horse. There is nothing quite like seeing a horse crunch its way through a frosty field in the morning while their breath puffs up around their head. There is also nothing like watching a horse play in the snow, but that might be an even rarer event here in Charleston. You might have to make a trip up north to see that! To make this winter season as special as it can be, make sure to take this blog to heart. Make sure to follow all of the tips, suggestions, and ideas we are providing in both of these checklists to allow both you and your horse to enjoy this chilly season. If you put the work in, this will be an easy winter to navigate and work through. After this crazy year, that is something we all need, right? For all of our horse owners, don't forget that we have some of the best horse boardings right here in Charleston. We are here to help care for your horse when you need it most. If your stables are barns are ill equipt for the season, if you need to go out of town on an emergency, or just need an extra pair of hands Middleton Equestrian Center boarding is here for you. Please don't hesitate to reach out and talk with us if you have any questions or comments about our horse boarding! Also, we are still open for our historical trail rides! Dress in layers and come see the Lowcountry in a way you never have before! We are still following all COVID precautions, and what better way to adventure out and stay socially distant than on the back of a beautiful horse? If you are still looking for a wonderful holiday or end of the year gift, shop small and give big with Middleton this year! Gift cards are available to give to all of your loved ones. Introduce them to the best horseback riding in Charleston, and share some of the best horseback riding trails in Charleston with your loved ones. Make sure to visit our website to learn more, and we are always here for all of your questions! Let's get back to the blog series, shall we? We still have a little wiggle room for these last-minute additions for winter preparations since it has been a mild winter here in the Lowcountry so far, but as we all know that can change in an instant. Let's get back to work! COMFY AND COZY! As we mentioned in the first part of this blog, your horse will be burning a lot more calories during the winter months to keep them warm. While they are burning these calories to stay warm and eating more to help with this, they will still need a little extra protection from the cold. Allow their natural coats to grow out as much as possible, but keep up with their grooming habits and schedules. If you plan or working or training your horses hard during these cooler months, keep them trimmed. This will make sure that they will not get overheated during their training and work sessions. In either of these situations, make sure to have warm, waterproof, and lightweight blankets to provide extra warmth throughout the winter. Make sure to check your horse's skin often when they wear their blankets for extended periods. Blankets, while extremely helpful, can cause irritation and sores from rubbing or long term wear if not properly taken care of. Before blanket wearing weather arrives, make sure to inspect and clean each of your blankets, since it has been almost a year since they were last used or touched. Replace and repair them if needed before it gets too cold. Also, make sure you have enough blankets for all of your horses. Your younger horses might have had a growth spurt since the last time they wore their blankets, and your older horses might have lost some weight due to their age. If more blankets need to be purchased for these reasons, make sure to do so! Blankets need to fit your horses properly. Ill fitted blankets can cause irritation, be unsafe, or not provide the warmth your horses need while wearing them. The cold weather will attack one of your horse's most fragile parts of their bodies, and that is their feet! Make sure if they are going to be shod all winter that you pick the proper shoe fittings with your Ferrier. You can choose shoes that will help them navigate the snow and ice much easier and help them prevent slipping. Regardless if you are going to be choosing to keep your horses shod or not, their hooves need to be cleaned of cold wet mud and ice every day to avoid infection and irritation. Make sure that they are also dry at the end of their day when they are put back into their stables. If you are choosing to go without shoes for the winter months, make sure to do so before it gets too cold, and give them time to acclimate to this change. HEALTHY CHANGES! Make sure your horse has a proper and thorough visit with the vet before the cold weather hits and stays around for a while. It might have been a minute since their winter or spring checkup, and this is a good opportunity to catch any early issues or help prevent anything that could potentially happen to them during the cold months. This can be a great time to ask for other supplements and additives for your horses from your vet to help make the winter months healthier and happier for them. Make sure you give your horse a good balance of indoor and outdoor time throughout the winter. However, it is important to make sure that they are kept away from deep snowdrifts and extra icy paths to prevent slipping and damage done to their legs. Make sure the ventilation in your barns and stables is enough to keep fresh air flowing throughout, enough to limit dust and debris build-up, but not enough to cause drafts in the barn. Your horse's skin can become extra sensitive through the harsh cold months so if it is possible, exercise them in a dry and clean area through the winter! Also, consider your health, safety, and comfort this time of year. If you get sick and you're unable to care for your horses, what will they do without you? Make sure you have the proper winter clothing to keep you warm and safe while being comfortable enough to do your job and daily tasks of caring for your horse. Also, think about your day to day tasks and duties, and ways to make them easier. One way to help is to insulate your hand tools. You can cover them with blankets when they're not being used, store them in styrofoam, or you can even slip styrofoam pipes over the handles of all of your hand tools to create a little extra insulation. Grabbing or using very cold hand tools can be cold enough to burn, even when wearing gloves. Make sure to properly clean all of your hand tools before these winter months and before the new year. When you get into the depths of winter, you won't want to stop and make time for doing simple tasks like that, you will want to get your work done and get back inside. This is also an excellent time to service all of your power equipment on your property. Check all of the engines, oil levels, lubricants, and tires on your tractors, mowers, trucks, snowblowers, and all of your powered equipment. When stocking up on equipment and supplies for the winter, don't forget back up items to help with broken hand tools, power tools, and all of your vehicles. Again, you want all of these items to be working properly so when the bad weather comes, you won't get stuck with a broken-down tractor, truck, or snowblower on the bad weather days. Time to get to work friends! We have been busily working on all of these things ourselves; preparing our horses, barns, stables, tools, equipment, and ourselves for what's to come. Our staff has been working as hard as ever to not only prepare for this but to keep up with keeping our stables and riding equipment sanitized to help keep us all safe during the cold weather. We are thankful that the temperatures during the first few weeks of December have felt more like fall, but who knows when that will change. We also want to thank each of you for what this year has been. You have helped us continue to share our passion and love for our horses and our horse trails. You have helped us continue to show off the beautiful land of the Lowcountry, and you helped keep all of our staff and fellow guests safe and happy. We couldn't be more thankful for all of that! We aren't sure what 2021 will bring, but we hope it's truly a year to celebrate. Stay safe and healthy friends, we can't wait to see you on our trails in the new year! From all of us at Middleton Equestrian Center, we wish you a very Horsey Holiday and a very Horsey New Year! While we prepare for the holiday season and a brand New Year, don't forget about your checklist for preparing your horses, stables, and barns for the coming cold weather. Let's step into the New Year prepared and ready to keep you and your best friend happy and healthy! Hello, trail friends! Welcome back to the blog! We hope this bright and brisk holiday season has been off to a good start for you and your loved ones. We are feeling very festive here at Middleton, and everyone on our staff and each of our horses is so excited to see the holidays this year! While it might feel a little different than holidays gone by, there is still so much to celebrate! Are you still looking for the perfect gifts to give? Shop small and give big, give the gift of Middleton this year! Introduce your loved ones to the joy of horses or surprise the horse lover in your life with the perfect gift! To purchase your gift cards follow the link below! https://fareharbor.com/embeds/book/middletonequestriancenter/items/ Are you looking for the best horseback riding in Charleston? You've found it! While you're shopping and running around for everyone else in your life, take a moment and give something back to yourself! We are currently offering our stunning historical trail rides, which we know you'll love. Enjoy the beautiful (brisk!) Lowcountry winter weather, and the wonderful Lowcountry landscape while social distancing on the back of a beautiful horse! While we are all preparing for the holidays in our unique ways, we still need to remember our horses and their barns or stables this time of year. It will get cold soon and we need to prepare for a brand new year that is coming right around the corner. As our gift to you this holiday season, we wanted to share a checklist and some ideas on how to prep for the coming cold weather, and how to prepare for this upcoming new year! In this two-part blog series, our goal is to help you make this the safest season for your horse and yourself. It's time to get started if you haven't begun your wintertime prep, so let's get started together! WINTERTIME CARE CHECKLIST We are big proponents of being prepared. Getting ready for the changing seasons as soon as you can, can help keep you and your horses safe and healthy, and it can also help you save a ton of money and worry. While we in the Southeast might not experience below zero temperatures, bad ice storms, and feet of snow, these things are still possibilities on a much smaller scale. Temperatures will still be cooler, lots of rain and mud are in our future, and frost and ice will still be lingering the deeper we get into December and January. Please take this checklist and these preparations seriously. Your horses will be all the better for it! PRODUCT CHECK!
MAINTENANCE!
These items and this check-off list should be a good place to get help get you started. If you have any questions between now and part two of this blog, please don't hesitate to reach out to us! If you have any questions about quality products, care products, tools, or grooming products, please also don't hesitate to reach out. We are excited to help make this holiday a special one for you, your horses, and your loved ones. Maybe start by purchasing a gift card for your loved ones, check off as many of these to-do list items as you can between now and our next blog, and come visit us in the meantime. Even in these chilly temperatures, our trails are beautiful. Just wear a few layers, and you'll be all set to go! Don't forget, if your barn or stables aren't ready or equipped for the winter weather, we do offer boarding options for your horses and offer some of the best horse boarding's in South Carolina. If you're interested or have questions, please visit our website now or give us a call! Until we follow up with part two of this blog series, stay safe, and be well. We look forward to seeing you on our trails soon! |
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January 2021
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