This time of year can mean a lot of things to a lot of horse people: Keeping riding resolutions once the shiny of a new year wears off. Migrating to warmer climes for winter show circuits. Dealing with ice at the barn É then mud É then ice again, along with the complicated dance of blanket changes that happens in the meantime. Budgeting for and planning equine activities and shows for the year.

In my unofficial surveys of friends and colleagues, I’ve determined that many here in the frigid Bluegrass are considering the very attractive concept of hibernating ’til spring.

Indeed, to those on the perimeter of the horse industry or just driving the Central Kentucky roads, January through March seems a dormant, though expectant, timeÑserene, snowy pastures are dotted with hay piles and happily munching, very-round Thoroughbred mares.

But yet if you look behind the doors of several world-class equine hospitals in our region, you’ll find a very different pace