Wishlist Wednesday

On today's Wishlist Wednesday, we wish for stall mats. To ensure that the hard keepers get their grain with absolutely NO competition, we stall them during feeding time. This way, we can make sure that they get the right amount of grain and supplements and can keep an eye on them if someone is "off" their food.

We also stall the hard keepers in the winter time to ward off the chill and bad weather that we always get during South Dakota storms. And even in the summer time, we will occasionally stall horses to keep the  mosquitoes at bay (at least on those that have bad reactions to mosquito bites).

The barn is older and definitely NOT fancy. We made the stalls so again, NOT fancy. It serves its purpose but we would love someday to have better stalls. But in the  meantime, instead of having the horses stand on concrete with no cushion (except from the straw bedding), I'd feel more comfortable with stall mats. The stall mats give just a bit of cushion and help those that are a bit sore. We have a few that I've had to stall for one reason or another and I worry that without a stall mat or two, that maybe they will get more stiff. And as the older ones get older, having a bit more cushion while standing (and lying down) is always a good thing.

Each stall takes a minimum of two mats and would benefit from three. We've been buying the cheaper of the two stall mats from TSC (simply because price does matter). But we'd be happy with any type of stall mat to keep the hard keepers comfortable while in their stall.

Brego (one of the hard keepers) waiting for his evening grain.