8 Tips to Ready Your Virginia Horse Farm for Spring

On any Charlottesville Virginia horse farm the first priority is the horses. Like most horse owners I vaccinate my horses in the spring and the fall. There are some shots that are only given once a year and others are given more often. Also certain shots such as the Potomac horse fever vaccination are most effective when given in a certain season. Chaec with your veterinarian to set up a vaccination program to suit your horses.

Rich spring grass can be harmful for ponies and overweight horses. Too rich pasture can cause certain horses to "founder" which is a potentially life threatening disease. Prevention is key. Either removing at risk equines to paddocks with less grass or limiting their turnout time is important.

Your extension agent will be able to assess your pastures and help you determine the best plan to maintain them.

Having this equiptment in prime working order is crucial with all of the mowing that you will be doing throughout the growing season on your Charlottesville Virginia horse farm.

Then when they come back they will be ready to be stored for the remainder of the summer until they are needed in the fall.

While it is not cold enough to need heavy blankets anymore, we are still seeing cool nights and some cool days. This is the perfect weather for sheets.

Make sure that all are in working order and that you have enough for each horse. It seems like box fans don't have a very long working life in the environment of a stable, so it is a good idea to have several extra.

This is my favorite task. My barn always has whiskey barrels of flowers out front, hanging baskets on the shed row and window baskets on the office windows. I love picking out combinations of annuals for these planters to dress up my barn.

Each season of the year brings its own particular set of chores to anyone who has a Virginia horse farm.  While the rest of the Charlottesville community is busy spring cleaning their homes, Virginia horse property owners are doing a little spring cleaning of their own.  I will list the main items on my spring to do list for my Charlottesville Virginia horse farm.  If you have additional items that are musts on your equestrian property, please share them with us.