Endurance.Net Ridecamp Archives

          The worst condition is not 20 degrees and snowing, it's 33 and
rain. The rain beats down the hair in the coat - the fluf in the hair is
what keeps them warm. You get it wet and it's about as much use as a soaked
down jacket. You will die in a soaked down jacket in the cold. 
 
 So it's not the extremes - such as Michigan or CO that I would worry about, 
but the quick onset of an ice storm in Atlanta (or Dallas) when it drops from
70 to 30 in an hour with freezing rain and horses with matted and frozen coats
providing no protection from the 10 degree night to follow. 
 
 IMO That's the reason to provide some shelter. And blieve me I think in
those conditions the horses will use it. I know in cold rain my horses head
for the overhand on the barn - which is my shelter in the winter. 
 
 Truman
 
 Maggie Mieske wrote:

Our horses are out 24/7.  No shelter except for windbreaks from the trees and each other.  I haven't had a sick horse in years.  I think they ARE healthier because of it.  No, I KNOW they are.  When we busted our butts putting up sheds at the last place, where did they go in the wind and snow?  Not in the sheds!!! They stood together, butts to the wind.  Go figure!!

Maggie