Cougar Hill Training

01/14/2026

Great tips for travel! The only thing I would add is a good solution to disinfect stalls is a 50/50 bleach/water spray but there are companies that do also sell stall disinfectant sprays.

01/12/2026

Winter in northern climates adds a certain element of challenge to horse care as we sometimes struggle to maintain our usual routines through adverse weather conditions that generally add lots of difficult to manage precipitation to the daily mix. Water freezes, mud puddles turn into frozen hazards, snow piles up in walkways and driveways or stretches electric tape fencing, and winds add to already cold temperatures which then require layers and layers of clothing to perform the most basic chores.

Our horses are relatively well-equipped to handle the weather, but they do need our help to access fresh water and their daily requirements do not necessarily diminish with the weather change.

We make sure to keep fresh water in heated tanks in all of our turnouts that run on timers to try to be more energy efficient. Those tanks are cleaned weekly and the water is changed out. Smaller turnouts have smaller tubs that can be more easily changed out every few days. It is challenging sometimes to get the water hoses to the tanks, so it's not always a perfect system, but it generally works out to find the breaks in the weather!

Inside the barn, we are fortunate to have insulation that keeps the temperatures from dropping below freezing very often over the winter but we have heated buckets on stand by to make sure that the horses drink well. The heated buckets are hung in each stall, but only plugged in as necessary, which does help for horses that are suspicious of new buckets so they're used to the scent of the buckets. If you don't have heated water inside, be sure to only fill the buckets directly before bringing horses inside from turnout and make sure they have plenty of water with each feeding. Insulated buckets do stay warmer longer than the regular water buckets, so that's another option to help keep the water open and unfrozen!

The major difficulty with watering in the wintertime is of course just keeping the hose and nozzle open and thawed. The best plan is drain the hose every time watering is complete by either leaving it hung somewhere to drain or drain it and coil it away again. We have had great success tucking the nozzle away into the storage freezer with the grain or sliding it into the folds of an unused blanket on a stall front. Otherwise, the best bet is the carry the whole hose and nozzle into a heated room on the property for storage. If the water hydrant freezes up, a hair dryer can often be used to thaw the fixture, but a good heating tape wrapped around your frost-free hydrant is a good safety measure!

Thankfully winter only hang around for so long, so hang in there and we will all look forward to the next challenge of the muddy spring thaw! :)

01/02/2026

'Tis the season for New Year resolutions and new habits are often as hard to create as old habits are to break. New habits require consistency to become habits, but in this day and age we are easily equipped with devices to remind us to stay on schedule. If your goal for 2026 is to be ready for a certain show you've had your eye on, then think about what the steps are that you need to take to reach that goal. When do you need to start getting you and your horse in shape to meet your goals? What does that look like? How many days per week can/should you dedicate to meeting that goal? Realistically we all know that the more hours/time you can dedicate to learning new physical skills, the faster you will have success. However, you also don't want to burn out yourself and your horse, so think about easing into a schedule by baby steps: start with one day per week of focus on practicing skills towards your goal. Then next month, increase that to 2 days per week. By March you're ready for 3 days per week and so on. Be sure to give yourself and your horse adequate rest days and make sure you don't focus on only one skill for too long. For instance, don't just ride your horse through the same patterns every day - instead make sure to cross-train by incorporating lunge-line days, playing in-hand or at liberty days, obstacles days... .all throughout the week in between riding days. What are your goals for 2026?

12/31/2025

What are your New Year's resolutions? Tomorrow is the first day of 2026!

12/29/2025

We're still on a holiday hangover.... so much sugar! What's your horse's favorite treat?

12/26/2025

What did you get for your best friend for Christmas? 🎅🏻

12/25/2025

'Hope your holiday is merry and bright! ⭐

12/24/2025

Here's hoping for a pony under the tree! 🎄

12/22/2025

Alright, let's see all that holiday horse hullabaloo! *Say that three times fast!
If you can't torture your pets during the holidays.... what are you really doing?

12/19/2025

12/15/2025

I hope you get a cupcake for National Cupcake Day! I had to share this cute video of Gabe helping to sing Happy Birthday for my cousin's toddler a few years ago.