Just lurking here and decided to chime in with a comment from my vet last
year. I had asked him about horses shivering, actually I asked 2 vets.
Both had the same answer. Shivering for more than an hour is NOT good.
Short term to warm the body is okay. But anything more than about a hour is
not healthy for the horse.
I had always wondered as always got several different answers from other
horseowners. Figured the vets knew better, especially if they had horses
themselves.
I was also told that horse are most comfortable between 40-60
degrees.
Of course horses that are raised and acclimated to certain climates in
which they live in other areas/states etc. may have slight differences than the
above.
As for my own horses many have different tolerances. But that being
said when they have the choice of being in or out in bad weather they are pretty
happy to have roof over their heads; especially in the really windy, cold
storms. Also, I noticed that if the roof isn't metal they tend to like
staying in more as well. Those metal ones can be so loud. Ever been
in one muicking during a hail storm??sheesh..gave me a headache!
