The drought is severe here in Kentucky, as it is in many parts of the country. A couple of my neighbors said they are feeding hay to their horses as if it were January. That’s probably true of many owners, especially in states such as Pennsylvania, which is having one of the worst droughts in its recorded history. The drought could make for a long, and expensive, winter (see news item on page 16).

Fear not, the National Hay Association says that hay growers in the upper Northeast and West have had a good growing year. The incoming president of that association says that horse people shouldn’t be in bad shape as long as they buy their hay early for the winter; prices shouldn’t even be up much.

There’s a flake of good news!

You might want to consider another dry-weather problem–fire. We had a field fire two weeks ago that, while it didn’t do much damage, could have taken the house and the animals if it weren’t for my kids, some good neighbors, and the fire department