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Re: [RC] horses and weather - Elaine Delbeke1- Frostbite - have heard of it but never had any on our horses - cats yes. Cross over from winter to summer, summer to winter when you get freezing rain and sleet is hardest. We increase feed rations and shelter available, blanket or confine any that become stressed. A place to get out of the wind is important. 2- Our horses seem to prefer to stand in the willows or poplars rather than in the evergreen breaks or in the sheds even though they appear to be more exposed. Perhaps being a prey animal, they prefer being able to see. The sap from the evergreens is a people problem as the horses seldom complain. The sap disappears with the spring coat change. (or a bit of picking it off for riding.) 3- We have had 6 plus horses in a 15 x 30 shed - but two entrances required or one bully horse can keep all the others out. Our best shed has a part wall in it and a front and side entrance so the lead horse can't keep the others out, they just slip around the side and go in. However, if they can get out of the wind, they seldom go in the shed. 4- Warm water - we consider this to be one of the most important issues for winter care of the horses - access to water especially when on hay rations. We have several systems on our property. We have a couple of old bathtubs that we have insulated all around and covered with treated plywood, with a hole cut through the top and baffles below the water level so that the water surface exposed to freezing temperatures is minimized. One is set up with water from a natural spring running into it from an insulated pipe, then overflows by insulated pipe to the adjacent creek. It runs all year, even at 40 below. Some of our neighbours have similar set-ups and some pump from dugouts (ponds). Another tub is set up with a tank heater. We also have a heated waterer in one field that we fill with snow or buckets when necessary to keep warm water available for an old mare. Our stallion has a heated insulated bucket in his stall, and sometimes when we have horses in an isolated field, we just haul water a couple of times a day to a muck bucket and dump the ice when it freezes. Interestingly enough, when we have had fresh snow, the horses seem to prefer to eat snow more than drink. But we always try to keep warm water available. Many methods to do this in even remote fields using propane or various other old time heating methods. But if you have power, insulation and a tank heater works best. We feed hay remotely from the water as it promotes walking back and forth - plus we have a number of horses that like to dip their hay when water is close by and that makes a real mess and promotes algae growth in the tank. 5- Deep snow does not seem to stop our horses from lying down. But they will lie on manure piles, straw or hay when available. When the snow is deep we often stop using our feeders and put the hay out on the snow. They paw it around and take in snow as they eat, and they lie on it and eat it. Quite a few folks around here put out wheat or oat straw for them to lie on but they tend to eat it up. All our horses get free choice grass hay plus a a ration of timothy/alfalfa (no grain unless working)for the winter and lying in the snow does not seem to bother them a bit. Wayne Delbeke Mary Golden wrote: 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 -- Lazy ED Bar Canabians (Canadien Arabian Crosses) =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Ridecamp is a service of Endurance Net, http://www.endurance.net. 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