National Ice Cream Day!

It’s National Ice Cream Day!  And while our four legged friends might not be able to chow down on Ben & Jerry’s or Baskin Robbins’ latest, they can enjoy some frozen treats!  Here are a few short ideas for frozen treats for our equine & canine family members.  Stay cool out there!  

Horse Popsicle 

For this recipe, you can use whatever horse-friendly fruits and veggies you have on hand. Examples include: apples, celery, carrots, bananas, watermelon, grapes, lettuce, or squash. 

Directions: Thoroughly wash all your fruits and veggies. Dice them up into small pieces (the smaller the better) or alternatively, you can put them in the blender. Using plastic cups or popsicle molds, add your fruits and veggies, then fill with diluted apple juice, unsweetened applesauce, or water. Freeze overnight and feed the next day (sans cup)!  You can also use smaller silicone molds for hand held treats.  

Frozen Lick Treat 

For a little larger treat, use a bundt cake pan and follow the same directions as above. You can add a spoonful of molasses to sweeten it up if you prefer. If you’d like to hang this frozen treat from the fence, simply insert some twine on each edge before you freeze it. This frozen lick treat is sure to keep your horses entertained for a while!

Note: If your horse is insulin resistant or suffers from Equine Metabolic Syndrome, make sure to only feed low sugar treats in moderation

For Fido:

For our pups, you can use a wide variety of dog-safe foods in popsicle molds or silicone molds.  They can be sweet ingredients, like pumpkin and banana, or savory, like beef broth.  Always make sure that if you include foods like peanut butter or yogurt that they are safe for your dogs.  Keep your dog’s digestive issues in mind as well.  If they have sensitive tummies, you want to feed treats in moderation.  

Check out this article from the AKC for more insight: https://www.akc.org/expert-advice/nutrition/diy-frozen-dog-treats/

Best DIY Frozen Dog Treats

Spare a moment?

When was the last time you looked at your spare tire before you needed to pull over on the side of the road? 

It isn’t something we normally think about until we need it, but it should be a part of a routine inspection.  A spare tire can be the thing that gets you home late at night.  Remember to check your spare when you are heading out on the road before this holiday weekend.  It should match the tire size, rim size, and load limit as the other tires on your trailer. 

Also take a look at where your spare is located. Is it on the outside or inside of your trailer? Most of the trailers we see have spares on the outside.  When the tire isn’t in use, it is heating up, and flexing, and can dry rot much faster than we might think. Using a spare tire cover on a trailer that can’t be housed internally is a great idea. These covers aren’t very expensive and sure do beat replacing a spare tire earlier than you need to. If you have the room, an internal spare tire mount is highly effective at preventing dry rot. When mounted correctly, they don’t take up as much room as you would think.

At Allison Creek we include the spare tire check as part of our Annual Inspection, but you should certainly be looking at it more than once a year.  Send us a message & schedule your Annual Safety Inspection today. We can also replace your tires, your spare, or install an updated spare mount, on your camping, utility, hunting, boat, or horse trailer!  We do them all!

Protective Trailer Floor Liners

Have you looked at your trailer floor recently?  Our horses and other livestock often have to stay in the trailer for extended periods of time. Over time, the urine and manure can deteriorate the aluminum or wood floors in trailers. How do we prevent this from happening?  One way is making sure to thoroughly clean your trailer on a regular basis. This involves removing all bedding and pulling the mats to clean under them. Another way is to use a floor coating specifically designed to protect trailers from corroding.  Inspecting the floors thoroughly should be part your annual inspection, and is included if Allison Creek does your inspection.

Take a look at this gorgeous trailer floor. In this picture the wall and floor mats have been removed. We spray up the sides of the walls to prevent build up reaching bare aluminum. After the liner dried, we installed the wall mats and put the floor mats back in. This liner is designed to be used under floor mats.   

Allison Creek can perform your annual trailer inspection.  We can replace, repair, or install a protective coating on your trailer floor if it is deteriorating or already deteriorated. Interested in getting a quote or have questions? Shoot us a message today to schedule your inspection or your floor liner installation! 

Tying your horse to your trailer with HiTie

A few months ago AC Farm Services installed an Easy Care HiTie to our horse trailer. We first got the opportunity to tie horses to it at Shakarag’s Summer Hunter Pace and fell in love with it immediately. The HiTie has quickly become one of our most treasured tools when traveling. Our horses are happier, and that makes us happy.

What is a HiTie? It is a 4ft fiberglass “arm” that is bolted to the exterior of your horse trailer. It stows away for travel and is easy to engage for use.

Why do we recommend the HiTie? Most importantly, your horse’s comfort and safety. Additionally, it is handy, useful, and easy to use. The HiTie gives your horse freedom to move while restricting how far they can move. Your horse can graze, reach water buckets, even lie down.

What is the benefit of using the HiTie? When horses are tied from above their ability to pull back and fight is greatly reduced. In addition to this, the Hitie’s flexible fiberglass and bungee means that your horse, if they were to pull back, is less likely to actually break away. The manufacturer says the fiberglass has a tested strength of “up to 72,000 lb.” Additionally, the adjustable bungee accessory is designed to tear away when it is under great stress. In the event of an emergency, and your horse needs to escape, it can do so.

How does the HiTie work? As your horse pulls back, the HiTie and bungee slowly increases the pressure. This is preferable to a lead rope tied at eye level because if a horse pulls back, there is nothing to suggest they step forward until they reach the end of the rope, and by then the spooking horse may be in full flight or fight mode, increasing the likelihood that they will break away. Remember, all new tools need proper introductions to horses, but in our experience the horse can challenge the HiTie a little and they stay safely tied.

We recently heard a story about a distracted horse owner who tried to drive off without loading his horse. He had his gelding tied to the back of his trailer. He got in his truck and pulled away, not remembering his horse was still tied out of sight. Luckily, the horse escaped with only minor injuries. One of our clients watched the horse struggle to break free brought their trailer the following week for a HiTie installation. Not only is her horse in full view of her side view mirrors, but with the bungee her horse will be able to safely tear away.

 For more information visit ACFarmServices.com.

Here is a helpful video of the HiTie in use from Easy Care: