Tuesday, October 4, 2011

How To Winterize Your Horse

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It's a bittersweet day in the barn. Despite a beautiful sunny Indian Summer day and due to an unusually early departure soon, I had to winterize the red horse. My odometer records show it was only on the trails 951 miles this year! No matter, all the steps have to be followed.
1. Thorough wash (water only, never soap of any kind) and wipe down.
2. Top up, windows closed, safety Club in place.
3. Car backed up onto wood blocks (rubber on cold concrete not good).
4. Crawl under, change oil and filter (not always easy, keep reading).
5. Remove battery and store in warmish dry place.
6. Put steel wool in both exhaust pipes (stops mice from squatting).
7. Mothballs placed in trunk, around tires, and in top well (mice don't like the smell, do you?).
8. Check antifreeze (good to -40, Farenheit OR Celcius).
9. Into full gas tank: add gas stabilizer, lead substitute (gas was leaded back then!), gasline antifreeze, carburetor cleaner.
10.Check air filter, trans fluid, air pressure in tires, etc.
11. Kiss your horse goodnight and put on the blankie. See you in April?
Note: This time the old oil filter wouldn't come off! I broke a filter wrench trying and the new one wouldn't torque it either. Used various wrenches, heat from a plumbing torch, even piercing it with a screwdriver to lever it counter-clockwise. No go, and now the filter was destroyed in place! Google advice no help --- it said "take it to a lube tech"! Eventually I brutalized it with a hammer and chisel, but there was (my) blood on the floor. Note to owner: Not so tight next time!

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