Home Current News News Archive Shop/Advertise Ridecamp Classified Events Learn/AERC
Endurance.Net Home Ridecamp Archives
ridecamp@endurance.net
[Archives Index]   [Date Index]   [Thread Index]   [Author Index]   [Subject Index]

[RC] Cold Pony - Julie Fuller



Alice wrote:
what I find so amusing about my horses and their blankets is that my Shagya
mare is never cold and the pony is always cold, and he has as much hair as
all the other horses at the barn put together.

I have noticed the same thing with my pony. Part of it is her age, I'm sure, as she is nearly 33. But I think most of it is that she has tons of hair, which when wet, takes forever to dry out! I put a waterproof sheet on her when it's raining alot, and that solves the problem.

Where I live (SW WA, in the Columbia River Gorge) nasty weather is very wet, very cold, and very windy. We're talking inches of rain a day for days on end, temps in the high thrirties, low forties and 25 - 50 mph winds. It's hard on the horses. Our mustang/morgan/arab cross mare fares the best. She's woolley, tough, and an easy keeper. Our gelding, who is Arab, 16 , thin skinned and light haired gets cold pretty easy. Our Arab mare does too, for the same reasons.

I put waterproof sheets on everyone, with an additional blanket underneath for the gelding. I have an insulator thingy for the pony... basically it's a square of quilted flannel and quilted nylon that I velcro into her sheet. It covers her back and butt mostly.

I also have extra blankets, hoods and liners for everyone in case of horriffic weather... like the several day blizzard we had last January, which dumped snow in 14 foot drifts, and had 70+ mph winds with temps in the single digits. We don't have a barn... but with a little extra work, and LOTS of extra hay (it kept blowing away!) everyone made it through quite nicely.

So far this year, I haven't even put sheets on. Looking at the weather, I'll probably have to by Saturday, but I try to put it off as long as possible.

A question: Has anyone used the "vests" for horses that Libertyville carries? They are made of quilted nylon for both warmth and to ease rubbing. I'd like to hear if anyone has used them and what they think of them BEFORE I get busy with the sewing machine.

Julie the Long Winded.


=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

Ridecamp is a service of Endurance Net, http://www.endurance.net.
Information, Policy, Disclaimer: http://www.endurance.net/Ridecamp
Subscribe/Unsubscribe http://www.endurance.net/ridecamp/logon.asp

Ride Long and Ride Safe!!

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=