Oh, the weather outside is frightful.  Utterly vile.

Today, I did something I rarely do – I gave everyone a hard feed.  Horses produce the most heat through their metabolism – (Heat in the horse’s body is continuously generated as a by-product of metabolism, and a healthy animal has significant internal sources of heat from the metabolic processes – See more at: http://thesoulofahorse.com/blog/a-amazing-article-on-why-horses-should-not-be-blanketed-in-winter/#sthash.35a8fA3P.dpuf)

It has been raining consistently plus gale after gale after gale.  I lie awake at night listening to the wind and rain hammering on the roof worrying about my boys out there.

They get a bale of silage divided between them every day and Daisy has been absolutely invaluable distributing it.  I shall be sad when she goes back to university.  Then all the work will fall on me.

Up until now, only Taktur has been given hard feed to bulk him out while he is in training.

So, today, I gave in and fed everyone hoping this will act as central heating for them over the next few days.  They had a good sized portion of mix, cubes and bruised oats.  Everyone wolfed it down and were most grateful.

Upon close-up examination, however, no one is actually soaked through.  The horses’ thick unwashed, unrugged and unclipped coats are doing a very good job of keeping everyone dry where it matters.  They are built for exactly this.  I would worry more if it was freezing, which it isn’t.  I knew being filthy was a good thing!