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Expert
Posts: 1477
  
Location: In the land of peanuts and cotton | I'm in Alabama so we get Texas's left overs. Lighting and rain I put them up but the second we go into "tornado mode" I let them out. My barn is open front with 3 sides and all my stalls are in a row. I tie my stall gates open that way if the want to get under the barn they can but if something happens to barn there not stuck in there. We've lost our barn twice. Once in a hurricane and once during a tornado. We had 2(mare and baby) in the barn during the hurricane. We were very lucky. Baby was fine but mare was a limitless cut but nothing major physically but she was mentally messed up. Before she was a horse anyone could ride and 100% bomb proof but after the hurricane she would spook at the slightest noise. So I've always let them out. |
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  Friendly horse swapper
Posts: 4122
Location: Buffalo, TX | Frodo - 2014-04-24 8:10 PM Think about it. Panic-stricken and storm-driven. They're way more likely to end up tangled in a fence or running through one if they're outside. I want mine all snuggy inside. If the barn gets hit, at least they have some protection. Outside none.
That's my thinking...and my barn is pipe constructed all cemented in the ground, so it may lose the roof, but it would have to take a direct hit to do a lot more damage..... I always feel like there's a huge chance of them being maimed by flying debris outside.....and a very small chance of my barn taking the direct hit....my horses are out all the time and they can come in if they want, but I only put them in a stall if it's lightning or ice or tornado....however, we have such a good warning system that if I feel threatened by a direct hit, I will load them up and go south out of the way until it's passed...all you can do is what your gut tells you and hope you and your family and horses are ok.... |
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I Really Love Jeans
Posts: 3173
Location: North Dakota | I would keep the horses in. If the weatheer gets bad enough to destroy the barn they definately don't have a chance standing in the pasture. I have a mare that WILL stand in the pasture eating grass during any storm so they have to be put in. I am affraid of the lightning more than anything though. |
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 Undercover Amish Mafia Member
Posts: 9991
 
Location: Kansas | teehaha - 2014-04-24 4:01 PM
I can't see the picture :( |
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 Triple Extra-Ordinaire
Posts: 4244
Location: Okla | I know they are safer out, where they can get away. But I only have 5 acres--and have housing additions on 2 sides of my property. So debris is more than likely. I've always had the mindset that the risk of a tornado actually hitting my barn was very slim, so I put my horses in stalls. Saying that a few yrs ago an F-5 tornado came within 1/2 mile of my house. Needless to say if it would have been 1/2 mile closer the horses wouldn't have survived no matter where they would have been. |
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 Extreme Veteran
Posts: 356
| lexyy12 - 2014-04-24 2:56 PM
Where I live currently we don't have much land and there's a lot around us so it's better to keep them in. Where we are moving we will have a lot more room and we don't really have anything around us so we would probably either turn out with tags on their halter(laminated stating name, owner, address, phone number) or if we have time we would load up.
Rather than turning them out with halters on, attach the tags to their manes! |
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The Resident Destroyer of Liberal Logic
Location: PNW | k.maddocks24 - 2014-04-25 12:50 PM
lexyy12 - 2014-04-24 2:56 PM
Where I live currently we don't have much land and there's a lot around us so it's better to keep them in. Where we are moving we will have a lot more room and we don't really have anything around us so we would probably either turn out with tags on their halter(laminated stating name, owner, address, phone number) or if we have time we would load up.
Rather than turning them out with halters on, attach the tags to their manes!
Or use the wax livestock crayons and write your phone number on their bodies. |
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Elite Veteran
Posts: 1115
| My husband and I took a hit last year- unsure if it was direct or not. I lost a horse trailer, round pen, and my house to the El Reno tornado. Two of my loafing sheds were destroyed. I had two horses up in small paddocks with sheds and the rest of the horses were out in a 20 acre pasture. Other than small cuts, the horses out in the pasture were fine. There was debris everywhere so I'm not sure how they came out as good as they did. The horses in the paddocks were unscathed.
I was out in a rural area with a house on either side of me on 20 +/- acre tracts. My neighbors also had horses and most of them were fine. One got cut on debris after the tornado and had to be taken to the vet for treatment. |
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