Winter horse housing

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  • June 29, 2008 at 7:19 pm #39668
    Rod
    Participant

    I wonder what folks do for winter housing for their horse teams in the north, New England weather? Run in sheds, box stalls, tie stalls. Also does anyone feed dry round bales? If kept inside how about exercise turnout, how long etc.

    Also does any one have experience with a hydraulic bale splitter. How well do they work with dry hay?

    June 29, 2008 at 9:13 pm #46920
    Carl Russell
    Moderator

    Rod, I keep tie stalls for my animals, but they are outside 24-7, except in freezing rain, or when the paddock gets really muddy in the spring. They sometimes come in during the days, if they aren’t being worked in the summer.

    I have fed hay from dry round bales, by the portion like loose hay. Gotta store them inside, good and dry. Some times if they have to be inside for a few days I make sure to turn them out for a couple of hours, to roll, and maybe eat a leaf of hay, drink, etc. At the very least lead them to the water tank a couple of time a day. I keep a tank warmer, and turn it on an hour before I water, so they don’t drink from an icy tank.
    Carl

    June 30, 2008 at 1:27 am #46922
    john plowden
    Participant

    Out all the time – exept really nasty weather – exercise logging – fed hay by the bale- John

    July 1, 2008 at 8:09 pm #46923
    jen judkins
    Participant

    While I don’t own draft horses exclusively….mine are out 24/7 and have access to the barn, though they only come in for feeding and really foul weather. I have a track running the perimeter of my pasture closest to the barn about 15 feet wide and that acts like a track for them to exercise on. My belgian is keen to run laps in the snow most days with the mini colt.

    They have water and its heated, but I keep it some distance from their shelter and hay area, so they get some exercise. They get free choice hay, though I’m leery of the round bales and have never fed them. Jennifer.

    July 11, 2008 at 2:45 am #46921
    TinaY
    Participant

    We live in central MN, and our elderly Percherons are outside 24/7 with a small run-in shed that they never use. We don’t have a barn. We feed round bales all year long, as our pasture doesn’t get a chance to grow much grass. We’ve never had any problems with them being outside, and they definitely prefer it. We don’t intend to ever keep any of our horses inside. We feed round bales because they’re cheaper than small squares (by a LOT!) and we only need to bring them hay every 10 days or so, rather than daily. Dragging in round bales gives them a good workout, too! The only problem we’ve had with round bales is that they won’t eat lowland grass, so if we get some in a bale it is just wasted. They will lay in it though, so I guess it’s not a total waste. 🙂

    November 7, 2008 at 5:10 am #46924
    TBigLug
    Participant

    During the coldest of winter, our horses are in at night then out for 2 or 3 hours during the day. Stand in tie stalls. Fed square bales all winter. If it was up to me, I’d keep them out 24-7 except for extremes. During the summer they still come in every morning for grain (mainly to put them close at hand if we want to work them) but they’re only in for an hour if no one’s getting worked that day.

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