Rolling Dog Farm Blog

The National Weather Service issued a winter storm warning for an Arctic front moving in late tonight through tomorrow.  Of course, "Arctic" is a relative term for us, since it was minus 8 this morning and it’s just fallen below zero again tonight … this before the new front has moved in.  The Weather Service forecast for the Blackfoot region reads:

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Thursday: Snow likely. Snow accumulations of 1 to 2 inches.
Highs zero to 7 above. Temperatures steady or falling into the single
digits in the afternoon. East winds 15 to 25 mph with gusts up to 45
mph in the afternoon. Wind chill readings 25 below to 35 below zero.

Thursday night:
Snow likely in the evening…then chance of snow after midnight. Little
or no new snow accumulation. Lows 18 below to 25 below zero. East winds
15 to 20 mph. Wind chill readings 30 below to 40 below zero.

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We hope they’re right on the snowfall amounts, but our experience is that these east storms often carry a lot of snow with them.  In any case, it’s the wind at sub-zero temperatures that’s the real problem, so today we spent getting ready for this Arctic blast.  We topped off all the water tanks, moved hay into all the barns, and cleaned all the stalls, since the blind horses might have to stay indoors for up to 24 hours until this thing blows through. 

We also re-arranged the sighted horses this evening to make sure each had guaranteed access to shelter (the ones at the bottom of the herd hierarchy can get pushed out of sheds by the others).  We have a big 48′ shed that is divided up into various runs, and we placed the dominant horses in runs by themselves so they wouldn’t keep anyone else out.

Take for example Rooster, one of our two Belgian draft horses who came to us from the National Park Service because of a back problem.  At 18 hands high and weighing 2,000 lbs each (twice the weight of a typical horse), Rooster and his brother Beaver tend to get their way when it comes to the other horses.  So these two need to be in a pen by themselves on a night like tonight!

The storm was first forecast to have arrived by 8 p.m. (it’s now 10:20 p.m.), then 11 p.m., and now 2 a.m.  So who knows when or even if it will really arrive?  At least we’ll be ready!