I live in the mountains of Colorado at 9000’
and just got a horse from San Jose, CA.Of course he has no winter coat, but I
wonder what are the chances of him getting much of a coat at
this point.Our temps are 50’s
in the day and so far mid 30’s at night.The rest of my herd has had their winter
coats since mid to late September.We’ll soon be below freezing most nights.
So I am attempting “tough love” while the temps
are good and not blanketing him, hoping that he has a chance to get a decent
coat.My horses are normally out
24x7 and only get blanketed in the very worst of wet and cold storms.We have hills and trees and they are
usually able to deal with almost anything.
If I have to blanket him this entire winter, that will be a
little tough as I won’t put him out in the forest with a blanket on (he
is a bit of a bone-head and since he can damage himself in any
circumstance, I’m sure he’d tear a blanket to shreds), so he’d
have to stay in a stall/run.Then I’m
sure he’d be enough of a goof that I’d have to bring another horse
in to stay with him, and then the rest of the herd would just stand at the
fence line all night – all really affecting my ability to keep on top of
the manure!Much easier when they
can roam 40 acres!
This horse was born in Colorado, but it’s
been 4 years that he’s been enjoying CA warmth, so he’s in for a
bit of a shock.But if he has no
chance of dealing with this, then we’ll have to come up with a solution.
