About Rhody Ranch

Office Hours

Normal Office hours are Monday through Friday 8am to 5pm.  Please use the phone number shown above in the page header. If you don’t get an answer right away please leave a message. Your call will be returned as soon as possible. Jody is often out and about somewhere around the farm. If you’d rather contact Rhody Ranch via email please use the email form on the Contact page.

Self-Care

Rhody Ranch is considered a self-care facility because all boarders are responsible for providing grain and any supplements for their horses when that horse has a stall. As such, each boarder is required to clean that stall and provide bedding – usually wood chips or shavings – for the stall. There is of course an added monthly charge for stalls and stall numbers are limited. Jody, or someone she designates is responsible for all feeding of the horses boarded there; both field boarded and stall boarded. Hay is provided for all horses both field and stall boarded. Year round, Rhody Ranch makes sure that all horses have adequate access to hay. In the summer during dry periods when the grass isn’t growing so well, but especially during the winter to ensure that the horses there stay warm while turned out in the fields.

During bad weather each field has a run in it that is large enough for the amount of horses kept in a specific field, and during cold winter months horses bordered outside are closely watched for any sign that they may be in distress at which point they’re brought inside to warm up and are checked out.

If boarders prefer that their horse has a blanket on during cold, nasty weather boarders are responsible for making sure the blanket is placed on the horse, however in most cases cold bloods, such as Quarter Horses and Draft breeds don’t really require a blanket because they develop a thick layered furry coat that keeps them plenty warm during the winter months. Warm-bloods, on the other hand such as thoroughbreds that don’t get a heavy coat of hair usually require being blanketed. Boarders with those types of horses need to make sure to blanket their horses when necessary.

General Daily Rhythm

In general, when the weather permits, horses who have stalls are turned out into the field and are allowed to stay in the field. They are brought in during feeding time and then turned back out. Field boarded horses stay in the fields 24/7, however all horses in the fields are always checked on and watched. During extreme weather events stall bordered horses are brought in and if possible, field bordered horses that require attention are tended to. There are run-ins for horses in all the fields for when the weather gets bad. These run-ins are large enough for all the horses in that field to comfortably stand in to get out of the weather.