Working Horse in the cold

[j_maki]

It as been really cold up here for the past month and I haven’t been working the boys at all. The guy that helped us out when we first got the horse said that we have keep them in a stall till they cool down. He said since I don’t have a barn for them to cool down in after working they will end up getting sick in the cold weather. I am wondering what others think of this? What do others do without a barn? Just so you know I am talking in the -20 to -30 c range.

I am kind of thinking that keeping them standing in a stall in a cool barn isn’t the best thing for them either as to me it seems they are likely to get chilled by that. I was thinking that if I walked them to let them cool down and then turned them into their pasture to roll, the snow would dry them off quit quickly. I have blankets but they seem to just keep them wet which is more likely to chill them then anything.

When some of you keep your horses at the job site when your logging what do you do with your horse at night?

Thanks
Jeremy

[Gabe Ayers]

Jeremy-
We don’t often have temps like that on a regular basis, but here is what I figure on the cold. As long as a horse is well-fed, not soaked in sweat, and has a spot to get out of the wind, I don’t worry. I don’t have any stalls at all at home, and my guys are out year round. They do fine. I do pay more attention when trailering in winter, and I use a blanket that cuts the wind. When I bring them back from a local job and they are still sweaty when we arrive home, I feed them a little hay inside the barn (just tied to a post on rubber mats and bedding) until they cool down and dry off, then they go out. Perhaps with an elderly animal I might alter things a bit. Of course, different folks have their own opinions on what I do, and I have heard gotten some questioning of my strategy from time to time. I often find that the folks who worry are not working horse owners and they need to satisfy their own concerns rather than any need on the part of their horses, but that is just my two cents.

[jac]

Hi Jeremy ,we have the same basic strategy as Bradbury..temps over here go down to -10 at most. Wet is our biggest enemy. If the weather is mild and wet I dont worry too much.. Cold and wet is a different issue. If the team has to stand at a job for any length of time in a cold wind I have quarter rugs to cover the kidney area. I never use rugs for turn out. I see so many horses with saturated rugs that have flattened the horses coat down and stopped the insulation properties of nature. If I bring the team in sweating hard after work and the weather is cold I place a layer of straw on their backs. This stops them cooling to fast and absorbs sweat at the same time..
John

[TBigLug]

jac’s got the right idea. We stall ours and I throw some straw and a little chaff on there backs to wick away some of the moisyure then go back and brush them off a little.

[Author]

Posts