Switched from alfalfa to alfalfa-grass about a week ago and the effect can be seen in their manure.  Older material on the left, newer material on the right.

Today is Groundhog Day—and Punxsutawney Phil did see his shadow—but the adopted horses are signaling the arrival of spring: They’re shedding out.

Refer to this report dated January 29 by the Brainerd Dispatch.  Doesn’t seem to matter whether they’re wild or domestic.

The storms that hit central California earlier this week almost claimed the lives of two horses but they were pulled from neck-deep mud by firefighters and members of a disaster response team, according to a report posted yesterday by the Monterey Herald of Monterey, CA.

This stuff has been as hard to find as an Assateague horse census, but it’s been back on the shelves for the past few weeks.  For bleaching water buckets.

The absence of grass in the corral below tells you the stocking rate is too high, from a sustainability viewpoint.  It holds two horses on approximately 5,000 square feet.

That’s two horses on 0.115 acre, equivalent to 17.4 horses per acre, which is the same as 17,400 horses per thousand acres.

Rick Gore has two horses on ten acres (equivalent to 200 horses per thousand acres) and his pastures look good.  Of course, that’s Texas, not Nevada.

The target stocking rate on western rangelands is 27,000 ÷ 27,000,000 × 1,000 = 1.0 one wild horse per thousand acres, neglecting burros for simplicity.

The current stocking rate is 95,000 ÷ 27,000,000 × 1,000 = 3.5 wild horses per thousand acres.

The stocking rate allowed by plan for privately owned cattle is usually several times than the rate for horses, even on land set aside for the horses.

Some of the horses injured in a tractor-trailer accident on IH-44 last October are now available for adoption, according to a report by FOX2 News of St. Louis, MO.

The rig was taking them to slaughter.

The fire started around 3:00 AM this morning in Pico Rivera and spread to several barns, according to a report by the CBS affiliate in Los Angeles.

They have determined that the animal died of a shotgun blast at close range, according to an update posted today by WYFF News of Greenville, SC.

RELATED: Horse Shot on Family Farm.

NOTE: The photos in this post may be disturbing to some viewers.

In the wild, predators and scavengers remove the carcass.  If the horse was euthanized, as was the case recently near the Heber WHT, and/or received medications prior to death, you could get a secondary kill.

If you have land and the codes allow it, you can bury him on your own property.  You’ll need some heavy equipment to dig the hole and place the horse in it.  You are not going to drag a thousand pound animal out of a stall, corral or pasture.

And you’ll be doing all of that while you’re upset at the loss of your horse.  Yeah, it sucks.

When Trapper died the vet referred me to a hauler.  One option was to take him to a rendering plant and another was the pet cemetery.  I opted for cremation.  I still had to get him out of the corral, which was a muddy mess due to rain.

My paint mare, one of two other horses in the corral, became very agitated that evening when she realized he wasn’t coming back.  They had been barn buddies for eight years.

The result of the cremation process is an urn with the horse’s remains.  In the photos below, Trapper’s urn is on the left, Cassie’s is on the right.  She was my first horse, lost in 2012.

The vet bill was $744.  The hauler charged $300.  The cremation fee was $800.

The incident was a reminder of why you should never let your savings account drop below, say, $2,500—if you have horses.  That amount does not include the cost of feed and other expenses if you lose your job.

Many financial coaches say you should always have between three and six months of living expenses in savings, but they’re usually not thinking about horses.

With the cost of feed at $100 per AUM, that’s an extra $600 per month for six horses.

RELATED: Trapper Gone But Not Forgotten.

The incident occurred in Moore, SC, on the evening of January 6, according to a report by WYFF News of Greenville, SC.

The Spartanburg animal control department is investigating.  A reward has been offered for information leading to an arrest.

The pet cemetery delivered his remains yesterday, in an oak box.  Will try to put something together about end-of-life options for your horse, including costs.

RELATED: Farewell Trapper.

The retaining wall provides a backstop for their hay.  They usually fling it out of the troughs and scatter it around, eating the leafy material first.

Moving the troughs to the rear of the shelter, shredding the flakes and feeding smaller amounts more frequently has reduced the amount that ends up in the mud.

Colt, in center of photo, was nine months old on January 1.

Steam rises in the morning sun on January 5.

Refer to this report, posted yesterday by the CBS affiliate in Sacramento, CA.

A story published yesterday by Fox News of Colorado Springs, CO says that a rescue in Ellicott has reached its capacity and now has a waitlist with eleven more.

An email sent this morning asking if any of the horses are coming in with freeze marks has not been answered.

A BLM public affairs officer reported earlier this month that adoptions had declined this year for similar reasons.

RELATED: Cost of Feed?

Haven’t felt like writing very much today, lost one of my horses.  He would have been 30 in a few weeks.  Didn’t have any papers but was supposedly part thoroughbred.  He’s the middle horse in this photo from June 28.

BLM said today that the off-range corrals, destination of the some of the Devil’s Garden horses, are closed to the public in response to county edicts related to Covid-19.

On-site staff are continuing to care for the animals held at the facility, according to the news release.

The new rake works pretty darn well.  When you’re spending two or more hours a day cleaning corrals, seven days a week, rain or shine, you look for labor-saving ideas.

RELATED: Gathers and Removals: Horse Poop Edition.

Corral cleaning is like leaf collection: You first have to gather the pieces into piles then transfer them into a container for removal.

The typical manure rake, on the right in the photos below, is made of plastic.  It’s designed for scooping not raking.  When you flip it over and use it as a rake, the tines break off, usually in the middle.  It’s a productivity killer.

Home Depot has a True Temper leaf rake made of metal that works great for gathering the poop into piles.  Only complaint is that the handle is a little short and made of metal.  In the winter it will pull the heat out of your hands if you’re not wearing gloves.

Price is $16.  It’s better and faster than a manure rake for horse poop roundups.