O/T Our Horses are Pansies

I am not a horse person what so ever, but my wife and daughter are. My daughters when they lived at home had horses. Now we still have horses the one daughter keeps two at our place. Every time is gets a little cold, on goes the horse blankets. The horses have a stall totally enclsed except for the entrance to go into. Both stalls are 12x12 ft. with 6 inches of shavings one has rubber floor mats, so it don't hurt it's little feet. Give me a brake. I tell the wife horses live in the snow in some states all winter. She says the horses want to be cozy. Horsed don't know cozy, but she don't believe me. How do some of you with horses get by for the winter. The barn cat even has a heated bed. I'ok with that, as I am a cat person, but I think horses are a little tougher. Stan

If our horses and mules were no tougher than that, they would be dead lol

I worked at a veterinarians house last year, about this time. He had an indoor horse arena, and several horses-he and his wife competed with them. Some were inside with blankets, some outside without. He said the ones he competed with COULD NOT have there winter fur, so they needed the blankets and to be kept inside!

horses around here (mine included) spend the winter outdoors... on the prairie... most with no shelter of any kind. We get as cold as minus 40... and the wind blows pretty much non-stop from late October thru May... it gets COLD!!! The horses "hair up" and survive just fine. The wild horses have it even worse than the domestic ones... they have to find their own feed and water! A vet once told me that you're doing more harm than good... keeping horses (or dogs) too sheltered (or blanketed) in winter... keeps their hair coat from fully growing in! ...D

Our 5 horses share the same pasture, hay, water and loafing shed as my stock cows, all summer and all winter.

get a cold snap and forget the blanket.... See how quick they get sick....
ours stay out from april to december with trees being the only shelter, then in open stalls/paddocks (just a roof, walls, and solid floor) for winter. They'll still stand outside in the rain/snow.

Ours have stalls, but stalls are open at the end, to a run-out area for each stall. Horses seem to spend most of their time outside, regardless of weather. No blankets, except for daughter's show horse- to keep him from getting a winter coat.

If they were brumbies they would cope, but these are couch potatoes. Didn't Mother tell you to put on a coat or you would catch your death of cold.
{I think that is how she termed it]

When I was stationed in Fairbanks, Alaska in the 70s, I lived off post on a horse farm. We never had a barn with stalls for those horses. In fact if one had to be brought inside, it had to stay in till spring. They grew hair about 6" long and all they had was an open sided shed as a wind break. never had a sick one or lost one.
My grand daughters horse on the other hand has a stall and really has it better than I do. (I have to go outside in the cold LOL) Just my thoughts, Keith

Our horses and even a miniature donkey spend all winter outside. They can get into the barn, but rarely go in there. They put on thick winter coats and deal with the weather just fine.

Mats can be beneficial for a variety of reasons, bedding and it does provide a cushion. The blankets are or can be a pain in the @ss. Ours wear 2, or a heavy thermal type. The main reason, is cooling off, after they have been worked in the cold temps, the objective is to start them off with 1 or a light blanket and keep the winter coat from growing out, so they cool off and dry off in the cold.

From my perspective, and aside from the purpose stated above, I think they are a royal pain in the @ss to use. We have so many, every year you have to sort, fit etc., horses change, not all stays the same. They eventually get pretty darned "rank" need cleaning, straps unhook, blankets shift around, need to check an re-fit them.

Then you get the oddball weather, things warm up, and you have one horse that may sweat under the blanket, so you have to check on that, we have one, and I catch flack for doing it, he sweats and I take it off. The worst is, they catch on things, Oh yes, if you have numerous blankets, be sure to know someone with a HD sewing machine, or own one, I have threatened the latter, just saw one I would have like to try my luck with, in working order with a table for $75. They will catch on the eye part of a "screw-eye" you know that little gap where its bent to ? Horse can rub one of these and get caught, it happened to me, no one around, that horse could have thrashed around, was leading him back into his stall, that fabric fed into that little gap like twine through a baler knotter, was perfect. Horse pins me against the jamb of the stall door, one arm extended holding him, and the other extended trying to free the blanket, I had all I could do to unscrew that "eye" from the wood jamb with one hand. Though another horse could have either tore that blanket, or otherwise freaked/spooked, this guy stood right there, as if "hey, your'e going to get that right ? He stopped as soon as he got caught, 1649 lbs of him, he can be a bit cocky at times, but is smart when you need him to be, darned blankets !!!!

I would agree, plenty of hay, pasture, water, grain 2x a day with a run in shed, (I think they should have a place to get out of the weather is pastured), let em grow that coat, they're happy, healthy and fine all winter. Last year the snow got too deep for em, and we did have a wicked cold, -15 cold spell, that kind of cold could get em sick, so we got em all in one barn, but there is a lot of fussing with blankets and such, just makes a lot of work, and a big ole pile of laundry/sewing repairs in the spring.

We have 3 old retired thoroughbreds! 31, 27& 27 they go out for the day and come in the barn for the nite in 12x12 stalls bedded with straw. We don't even own a horse blanket. I do have one mare with a heated water pail, the other to dont have heated pails. Vet told me horses tolerate cold very well, they don't like the high wind or freezing rain. U can't neglect them but u can't baby them either.

We have two horses currently, the oldest one (she's 17) for the past two winters didn't grow much of a winter coat while the other ones (we had three at the time) grew plenty of extra to keep them warm. Gypsy (the oldest) would shiver if she didn't have a blanket on. With a blanket she was fine.
The past couple of years my wife would put them in their stalls often but this past summer we opened up more grazing area for them and they spent hardly any time in stalls at all. This year, she grew an amazingly thick coat and even the night it dipped down to -23°C last week and she had frost on her whiskers, not a shiver to be had. I'm not sure if it's because they need to be outside at sunup and sundown for their bodies to "know" that winter is coming or if it's because of some other thing that I don't know.
All I know is that some horses do need blankets and some don't. I would say if they aren't shivering, they don't need 'em.

the last old horse i had would stand outside no matter what the weather. he had a shed to get out of the weather but he would only go in it to eat and drink. had a old cedar tree in his pasture and if it was sleeting or hailing he would just back into that cedar tree. I always fed him in the barn so he wasnt afraid of it. but he would stand outside and have two inches of ice on him before he went inside otherwise.

Keith, if you don`t mind me asking, who`s place did you stay on in the 70`s? My grandpa was boarding horses and doing horse-back hunting trips back then, was still a small town at that time.

My daughter's horse is the only one on the property. She (the horse) spends the winter either in a corner of the hayshed fenced off for her, or out in an already grazed pasture. All she gets is the same hay the cattle eat. My daughter is 18 and working, so that mare isn't really doing enough work to justify any grain. Icy or very cold weather we bring her into the hayshed, but usually she will be out there in the pasture. She seems to do alright by it. She has been here for three years, I think, and has no trouble maintaining herself.

Christopher

Cats can hole up in the hay pile. I'm not a horse person but somehow have three of different sizes. They stay outside 24/7/365 and have just enough shelter to break the wind. They have all stayed alive so far.

When I showed quarter horses, I did the same thing. Blankets went on in the winter to keep from getting that shaggy look and the stalls were coated with sawdust. They were only turned out to pasture at night during the summer to keep the sun from fading their color. During the winter months, they were in stalls all the time with about 1-2 hours exercise time per day. I would do everything I could think of to get them use to noises and anything they might come across.

Now I don't show them anymore. They stay out on pasture 24/7 with no blankets or anything. They look pretty rough till they shed in the spring and the original coat color comes out.

Horse people are finicky people. My horses were exposed to anything and everything. Most I showed against acted like they have never been out of a stall. Mine were usually the calmest of the bunch.