You can count on Pacific Northwest winters being cold, wet, dark, and windy. During many winters you can add snowy and icy to that description. For horse owners this usually means struggles such as slogging through mud to do chores with less time to ride or exercise horses. As it is with most everything, an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.

If you've walked the Leque Island Trail recently, you might have noticed something a little different. You see, Leque Island has a problem—an abundance of abandoned dog poop. Hikers and their poop-filled pups were leaving calling cards (read: dog poop) along the trail.

Track paddocks are an excellent way to keep your horses moving and interested when they aren’t on pasture. Track paddocks can also help protect water quality by avoiding overgrazing and compaction of your pastures that may become vulnerable to mud and runoff during the wet season.

Sarah and Jeremy Vecchi worked with Snohomish Conservation District to implement a manure management system that protects water quality and transforms their horse manure into a valuable asset: compost!

Healthy pastures are an important key to a healthy ecosystem.

Who would have thought that carnivorous bog plants, such as sundews and pitcher plants, would have a place on a horse property?

Fall is officially here.  Are you and your horses ready? Now is the time to prepare for the upcoming rainy season here in western Washington. Here are a few tips and tricks to beat the winter weather this year and establish more permanent solutions for next year.

Whether you board horses, run a training facility, or just have one horse at home, using best management practices can make your operation run smoother and protect your horses. But which ones do you do first? Is there a sequence that’s best? How do you prioritize?

Have you ever been trying to hang your horse’s evening hay and have them step on your foot? Yeah, Whiskey’s done that to me. More than once. And he’s not in a hurry to get off it, either, especially when that means backing away from his hay bag…

Fall is quickly approaching, and your horses have been grazing all summer on your nice, lush pastures you’ve been nurturing for a long time now. As the fall and winter rains begin and you will move your horses off the pasture for the winter, I always get questions about what to do with the manure the horses have left behind…