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 Warrior Mom
Posts: 4400
 
| rodeomom3 - 2018-01-03 6:53 AM
Nita - 2018-01-02 9:59 PM I always hear about how tough horses are and the temps they can tolerate. I avoided blanketing as long into the winter as I could. But, the first afternoon that it got below forty, my mare met me at the fence, ears pinned, full-body shivering, lol. The other two didn’t start to complain until it got to about 35 degrees. My horses are just spoiled, I guess.
Same here, last winter I read so many articles about blanketing not necessary etc. so I thought I won’t blanket. That lasted about 5 minutes when I saw 2 shivering, blankets went back on quick. I live in the Houston area, my animals are not use to cold either. I spoil mine too. 21 this morning, I hauled hot water and fed everyone a warm soupy mash for breakfast.
I blanket mine if it's under 40... they get extra hay and a little more alfalfa thrown in at night.. it was the coldest it's been here last night ... 15 I think it was.. I have heated buckets in their stalls too.. my outside cats get extra blankets and I have a large tote we put out we cut a hole in it and I put some hay and another fuzzy blanket it in.. I really spoil them and they get a can of warmed up wet food lol! Try explaining that smell to your family. They also get a heated water bowl along with my chickens. My dogs are of course inside our house.. today is actually the first day they've been outside in their pen for a week! The sun is out and there's no wind so they are good to go.
However, our power decided to go out at about 3:30 this morning, it didn't come back on till a little after 7. My house got so cold! I put extra blankets on Jacobs bed and I put some long pajamas on for myself and hid under my blankets! Of course all my heated goodies outside frooze without the electric on.. finally just got the hose and spigot to run free and watered my horses.. I hope we don't see any more of those crazy Temps! I couldn't live where this is a normal way of life in winter lol! | |
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 Good Grief!
Posts: 6343
  
Location: Cap'n Joan Rotgut.....alberta | We had a nasty cold spell...-39 without the wind...horses are all outside..pig stays in his straw pile in the barn and the big dog has a house full of straw...the bare minimum gets done...but now its warmed up considerably -8 today...m | |
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Elite Veteran
Posts: 672
| mruggles - 2018-01-03 1:07 PM
We had a nasty cold spell...-39 without the wind...horses are all outside..pig stays in his straw pile in the barn and the big dog has a house full of straw...the bare minimum gets done...but now its warmed up considerably -8 today...m
We didn't get that cold, -30 air temp was the lowest so far here, but yeah the bare minimum gets done. Make sure everyone has hay, gets a chance at water, and can get out of the wind. Our biggest tank doesn't have a water heater so I chop ice 2x a day and clean it out. Not fun chopping thru 4" ice! | |
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Good Grief!
Posts: 6343
Location: Cap'n Joan Rotgut.....alberta | The one thing im glad i had put in was a water bowl (but when they freeze up look out...lol)..no more luging water hose in and out of the tack room and no more extension cords....m | |
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 The Bling Princess
Posts: 3411
Location: North Dakota | We just went through a cold spell...-45 windchill and our livestock is fine. I don't blanket my horses, nor did we stall them. They have their lean that they can get under and get out of the wind. We feed extra hay and instead of feeding alfalfa once per day they got it morning and night. We have a heated Ritchie, so the water is tepid and they all get dosed with Zesterra to keep them drinking. The horses, during the coldest part of the stretch, were actually out on the hill grazing. Every once in a while they'd run and buck and bite at one another; I'm sure just to keep warm. In my opinion, this really cold stuff isn't the hardest to get throug, it's when they don't have a good thick coat and we get freezing rain or really wet snow, combined with wind. That's when they all go inside.
As for the dogs and cats mine are all indoor, but my mother in law spreads extra straw in their barn and gives them extra food. They seem to do fine.
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 Am I really the Weirdo?
Posts: 11181
Location: Kansas | I'm near Kansas City and over the weekend our temps were between 0 and -10 before wind chill. We had a 3-day rodeo series the 29th-31st and yes it was misreably cold loading up to go there and to come home, plus walking across the driveway to the warm up barn, but the rodeo arena and stall barn were heated so it wasn't totally unbearable.
My 4 geldings have blankets and generally stay out in the 20 acre pasture 24/7, but the nights of 30th and 31st, we brought them into the lean-to on the south side of the barn and put Matt's 3 horses in the stalls because we can't mix the groups or all hell would break loose. If we hadn't had that nasty north wind, mine would have stayed out.
I blanket mine if it's below 28ish, but that's mainly because I haul them at least part of the winter. Chance ran at the 3 rodeos and now will get a vacation until about March, but I'll be hauling the other 3 over the next couple months and I refuse to try and cool out a wooly mammoth! I also like that the blankets help cut the wind while they're in the pasture. The guys also have a round bale in the pasture and a smaller feeder with hay thrown into it so they are not going to go hungry at all.
As for me, I have been wearing fleece-lined tights, jeans or sweatpants, tall boots, a pair of Matt's old coveralls, a heavy chore coat, gloves, a headband, a hoodie, and a fleece scarf. It got up into the 20s today and I'm actually thinking I won't need all those clothes to go outside tomorrow. | |
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The Bling Princess
Posts: 3411
Location: North Dakota | rodeowithjoker - 2018-01-03 2:26 PM I'm near Kansas City and over the weekend our temps were between 0 and -10 before wind chill. We had a 3-day rodeo series the 29th-31st and yes it was misreably cold loading up to go there and to come home, plus walking across the driveway to the warm up barn, but the rodeo arena and stall barn were heated so it wasn't totally unbearable.
My 4 geldings have blankets and generally stay out in the 20 acre pasture 24/7, but the nights of 30th and 31st, we brought them into the lean-to on the south side of the barn and put Matt's 3 horses in the stalls because we can't mix the groups or all hell would break loose. If we hadn't had that nasty north wind, mine would have stayed out.
I blanket mine if it's below 28ish, but that's mainly because I haul them at least part of the winter. Chance ran at the 3 rodeos and now will get a vacation until about March, but I'll be hauling the other 3 over the next couple months and I refuse to try and cool out a wooly mammoth! I also like that the blankets help cut the wind while they're in the pasture. The guys also have a round bale in the pasture and a smaller feeder with hay thrown into it so they are not going to go hungry at all.
As for me, I have been wearing fleece-lined tights, jeans or sweatpants, tall boots, a pair of Matt's old coveralls, a heavy chore coat, gloves, a headband, a hoodie, and a fleece scarf. It got up into the 20s today and I'm actually thinking I won't need all those clothes to go outside tomorrow.
20 above probably feels like a heat wave!!LOL I hauled a couple head to the farrier last night and when I went out to hook the trailer on, even though it was super windy, the temp was like 22 above and I was thinkin it was heaven!! | |
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 Expert
Posts: 2128
| Our horses have plenty of hay and all have a roof to get under. Two are blanketed. They are the "special ones". The dog and cat share an electric blanket under the roof of our porch.
What about you folks that live places with harsh winters..how do you keep your pipes from freezing all winter? | |
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 Miss Laundry Misshap
Posts: 5271
| WYOTurn-n-Burn - 2018-01-03 2:20 PM We just went through a cold spell...-45 windchill and our livestock is fine. I don't blanket my horses, nor did we stall them. They have their lean that they can get under and get out of the wind. We feed extra hay and instead of feeding alfalfa once per day they got it morning and night. We have a heated Ritchie, so the water is tepid and they all get dosed with Zesterra to keep them drinking. The horses, during the coldest part of the stretch, were actually out on the hill grazing. Every once in a while they'd run and buck and bite at one another; I'm sure just to keep warm. In my opinion, this really cold stuff isn't the hardest to get throug, it's when they don't have a good thick coat and we get freezing rain or really wet snow, combined with wind. That's when they all go inside.
As for the dogs and cats mine are all indoor, but my mother in law spreads extra straw in their barn and gives them extra food. They seem to do fine.
This is exactly what I did. We had -30 wind chills. | |
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Am I really the Weirdo?
Posts: 11181
Location: Kansas | WYOTurn-n-Burn - 2018-01-03 2:28 PM rodeowithjoker - 2018-01-03 2:26 PM I'm near Kansas City and over the weekend our temps were between 0 and -10 before wind chill. We had a 3-day rodeo series the 29th-31st and yes it was misreably cold loading up to go there and to come home, plus walking across the driveway to the warm up barn, but the rodeo arena and stall barn were heated so it wasn't totally unbearable.
My 4 geldings have blankets and generally stay out in the 20 acre pasture 24/7, but the nights of 30th and 31st, we brought them into the lean-to on the south side of the barn and put Matt's 3 horses in the stalls because we can't mix the groups or all hell would break loose. If we hadn't had that nasty north wind, mine would have stayed out.
I blanket mine if it's below 28ish, but that's mainly because I haul them at least part of the winter. Chance ran at the 3 rodeos and now will get a vacation until about March, but I'll be hauling the other 3 over the next couple months and I refuse to try and cool out a wooly mammoth! I also like that the blankets help cut the wind while they're in the pasture. The guys also have a round bale in the pasture and a smaller feeder with hay thrown into it so they are not going to go hungry at all.
As for me, I have been wearing fleece-lined tights, jeans or sweatpants, tall boots, a pair of Matt's old coveralls, a heavy chore coat, gloves, a headband, a hoodie, and a fleece scarf. It got up into the 20s today and I'm actually thinking I won't need all those clothes to go outside tomorrow. 20 above probably feels like a heat wave!!LOL I hauled a couple head to the farrier last night and when I went out to hook the trailer on, even though it was super windy, the temp was like 22 above and I was thinkin it was heaven!!
That's what we were saying when it got up to 14 yesterday! I kept telling Matt, "I don't know when we got so tough!" LOL
My horses were out on the hill playing almost every day even when it was below zero. I wouldn't have worried about them as much if I hadn't been entered in those New Year's rodeos. I darn sure tried to pamper Chance for those few days! We stayed in the heated barn except for unloading, warming up, and loading up to go home and I made sure he was breathing completely normally before we left the warm up barn to go across the driveway and wait for our run. Thankfully he has Soft Rides since the stall barn was all concrete....normally we don't do concrete with him but it was the lesser of the evils Sunday night. | |
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 It's not my fault I'm perfect
Posts: 13739
Location: Where the long tails flow, ND | How do we deal? We all just eat, all day. HAHA But really, we do. Because -45 windchill, why is that even a thing?!
One of my horses has zero hair, shes wearing a slinky and 3 blankets. My others that are all being ridden through out winter have 2 blankets. We've all been on a break since this insane cold snap.
My dogs are all inside dogs, and the 2 barn cats sneak inside when possible. Otherwise, they can be found eating.....like the rest of us. | |
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The Bling Princess
Posts: 3411
Location: North Dakota | SmokinGirlie - 2018-01-03 3:28 PM How do we deal? We all just eat, all day. HAHA But really, we do. Because -45 windchill, why is that even a thing?!
One of my horses has zero hair, shes wearing a slinky and 3 blankets. My others that are all being ridden through out winter have 2 blankets. We've all been on a break since this insane cold snap.
My dogs are all inside dogs, and the 2 barn cats sneak inside when possible. Otherwise, they can be found eating.....like the rest of us. OMG I'M CRYING!!!! This is so true! Like we need to fatten ourselves up like squirrels in time for winter!  I bet Jillian's sales spike every March when it's time to lose the 10lbs we all gained from "grazing."
Edited by WYOTurn-n-Burn 2018-01-03 3:41 PM
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Elite Veteran
Posts: 1079
| WYOTurn-n-Burn - 2018-01-03 3:40 PM SmokinGirlie - 2018-01-03 3:28 PM How do we deal? We all just eat, all day. HAHA But really, we do. Because -45 windchill, why is that even a thing?!
One of my horses has zero hair, shes wearing a slinky and 3 blankets. My others that are all being ridden through out winter have 2 blankets. We've all been on a break since this insane cold snap.
My dogs are all inside dogs, and the 2 barn cats sneak inside when possible. Otherwise, they can be found eating.....like the rest of us. OMG I'M CRYING!!!! This is so true! Like we need to fatten ourselves up like squirrels in time for winter! I bet Jillian's sales spike every March when it's time to lose the 10lbs we all gained from "grazing."
Yup 
We just eat and eat and sprint to the barn for chores and sprint back in and eat some more.
Seriously -45 to -50.. what even IS THAT! Long as my horses have a full bale, open water and a deeply bedded stall - they are good. In at night, out all day with a lean available. | |
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 Accident Prone
Posts: 22277
Location: 100 miles from Nowhere, AR | We just spent 90 consecutive hours below freezing with windchills around zero, which really isn't normal for us. Old horses were blanketed, everyone got extra hay, one tank is an insulated auto-waterer that stayed thawed, the other has a drain plug heater and stayed steamy. Cats had hay tunnels and a heated bed in the feed room, rabbits had a heat lamp and their nesting box was bedded extra deep. The rabbit water froze and we didn't know it for day because the tank was liquid from the heat lamp, but the spout had an ice plug in it, but that was the only animal problem we had. They handled it way better than I did...my fingers got wet one morning and I was touching metal latches with exposed fingertips. PAIN, and now my fingertips feel burned and 2 cracked open. Oops. I bet I'll remember to wear latex gloves under my insulated ones next time. | |
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Nut Case Expert
Posts: 9305
Location: Tulsa, Ok | Oklahoma has been having a few days of single digit temps at night and teens during the day. My horses apparently think it is great as they have spent several hours daily running, bucking playing. All except the geriatric two are on 24/7 turn out with a round bale and access to run-in sheds. I wish I was enjoying it like they seem to. | |
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"Heck's Coming With Me"
Posts: 10797
Location: Kansas | Wow, look out Eastern Seaboard, they appear to be in the midst of a Hurricane Sandy with snow.
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Am I really the Weirdo?
Posts: 11181
Location: Kansas | Three 4 Luck - 2018-01-03 4:49 PM We just spent 90 consecutive hours below freezing with windchills around zero, which really isn't normal for us.
The news was saying this morning that Kansas City is at 313 hours of consecutive below freezing temperatures. That goes back to December 22nd. YUCK!!! We are supposed to hit 40 on Sunday, but it's looking like an 80% chance of rain that day. Of course. | |
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It's not my fault I'm perfect
Posts: 13739
Location: Where the long tails flow, ND | WYOTurn-n-Burn - 2018-01-03 3:40 PM SmokinGirlie - 2018-01-03 3:28 PM How do we deal? We all just eat, all day. HAHA But really, we do. Because -45 windchill, why is that even a thing?!
One of my horses has zero hair, shes wearing a slinky and 3 blankets. My others that are all being ridden through out winter have 2 blankets. We've all been on a break since this insane cold snap.
My dogs are all inside dogs, and the 2 barn cats sneak inside when possible. Otherwise, they can be found eating.....like the rest of us. OMG I'M CRYING!!!! This is so true! Like we need to fatten ourselves up like squirrels in time for winter! I bet Jillian's sales spike every March when it's time to lose the 10lbs we all gained from "grazing."
Yeah and I'm really screwed since I had my little girl in October, then jumped right into Winter. Bad news bears for this girl! lol | |
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 Expert
Posts: 1367
Location: mi | rodeowithjoker - 2018-01-04 9:03 AM Three 4 Luck - 2018-01-03 4:49 PM We just spent 90 consecutive hours below freezing with windchills around zero, which really isn't normal for us. The news was saying this morning that Kansas City is at 313 hours of consecutive below freezing temperatures. That goes back to December 22nd. YUCK!!! We are supposed to hit 40 on Sunday, but it's looking like an 80% chance of rain that day. Of course.
On Saturday Detroit will be 12 days of below 20 for a high temp. that is a record for us. | |
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Miss Laundry Misshap
Posts: 5271
| West Point, IOWA --
It got below 32 degrees (obviously freezing) on Dec 22. It has been below freezing since then, with record lows (-16) set over the New Year's weekend. That's currently below freezing for 13/14 days depending on if you count the 22nd since the high got to 35 that day.
Sunday it's supposed to get to 34.
This weather can kiss my cold pattootie! | |
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