 |
[RC] horses and weather - Mary Golden
I am so glad this discussion came up, as it is something that I have been struggling with this winter.
My 5 run on about 15 acres during the winter. Unfortunately, this doesn't have any trees or a run in for them -- thus, they come in when the weather gets *really* bad and also at night during the winter. One of my mares, a Canadian-bred horses, never even saw a stall until she came to my place. She seems perfectly happy being out 24/7 365 days a year for the most part. she never had shelter of any type before she arrived at my place -- not even trees. Now one of my horses was bred in FL and spent the first 2 years of her life there; 5 years later, after her move to NY, she still doesn't grow much of a winter coat. Because our winter was so obnoxiously harsh this year (tons of snow and tons of sub-zero days and nights), she is freezing! I've tried lack of blanket to encourage a coat, but I just don't think it's going to happen. So, I do blanket her on those days/nights when it is sub-zero because she will just stand there and shiver -- no matter what.
I would like to hear from those of you who do 24/7 in harsh climate on the following topics, as this is something that I have been trying to hash out in my brain these past months:
1) dealing with frost bite
2) natural shelters -- what types of trees do you prefer? if it's pine/fir, is there any issue with sap getting in the horses' manes and tails, and, if so, how do you deal with it?
3) run-in sheds...how big and how many for 5 horses?
4) keeping water unfrozen
And finally (at least for now), I was reading the article in Equus this month about horses and sleep. Did anyone else read this? How does being out 24/7 in deep snow affect this "lying down" to sleep issue? Do you see any affects?
Thanks!!!
Mary Golden
Northern New York
|