enduring the blizzard

[lkblazin]

So I woke up this morning to about a foot of snow. Went outside to feed the horses and found my littlest girl shaking and wet. I put her in a stall with hay,bran mash,and grain with a side of oats. Then curried and towel dried her. Went back inside.

Came out again around 12. She wanted out of the stall and was still wet and cold. So I let her out.

Go back out around 230. She's still cold!! And my youngest is now cold! Grrrrrr. So I put everyone inside and lock the door. I also provided them with half a bale of amazing grass hay and half a bale of alfalfa grass. I only have 5girls so that's a lot.

The funny thing is I put a blanket on my littlest mare last night so she would not get wet from the snow. Only to find my youngest playing with it this morning. Anyone else having fun with this weather?

Still snowing. I pulled a iceicle about the width of my wrist off one of the girls, never seen one that big on something alive.

 

[supaspot]

we only have a few inches of snow but Ive found my minis feel the cold far more than my riding horses ever did , Ive bought a warm air blaster ( per dryer) so if they get wet and cold I can quickly dry them again

 

[lkblazin]

I'm thinking about putting a heat lamp in the barn. But I hate the thought of having one out there. I have one for the chickens but only cause they get cold. The girls are usually fine. But this blizzard is crazy. It has not slowed. And seems to be worsening.

 

[paintponylvr]

How was today?

You can bank straw or hay against your barn (loose in the stalls, complete bales outside) which will lesson wind/drafts and resulting cold. Great insulator and will help with the cold/shaking - even if wet. The main thing, once they are cold/shaking/wet is to get them dry first. When I've had one of our Arab mares get wet and cold - we would use one of those microfiber towels to pull water/damp off of her coat (didn't have electricity in the barn) and would also "chuff" or stiffly massage her with towels & hay/straw - especially her legs. It helped a lot - usually she warmed up then and would stop shaking. Then we'd cover her w/ blankets (often our extra bed quilts/comforters strapped on w/ polo wraps - I quit replacing her blankets as she tore them up faster then we could afford to replace them) while she was indoors out of the storms.

In CO and MT, we loved it when the snow banked right up against the barn (on the sides that didn't have doors we had to utilize!!) - as the insulation was TREMENDOUS... (we had a cinder block barn with a tin roof).

 

[FurstPlaceMiniatures]

You'd be surprised how little it affects them - even though they look awful! Mine have blankets on (because they have all winter,) and even the week old angus calf in my backyard was just fine through the -20s we had last night. He has a little hutch and a blanket.

Be careful with warming them up and throwing them back out. They can get too warm and have

Going back out be a big shock.

 

[lkblazin]

Everyone is doing great! In fact my youngest thinks its the best thing in the world . it got nice and warm in the barn when I locked everyone in. The only downside was a bunch of irritable pregnant mares, that wanted to be outside. So snow stopped yesterday morning. Its a little above my knee. Not fun

Oh and we have more snow coming

 

[Maple Hollow Farm]

You probably got the same blizzard that hit us. We have over 40 mares out in pasture with just regular run in sheds, and of course some wanted to stay out in the weather, and none were shivering or seeming stressed at all. The only issue I had from the storm was overnight it drifted the mares in around their feeder and shed and they couldnt get out so had to plow them paths out. None of our horses are blanketed, only ever have had to blanket one horse in winter and it was one that had gone to Nationals and never grew a heavy coat after being clipped that late. I think we are affected by it much more than them LOL! Our drifts were deep enough to bury the front end of a truck and now our snow piles you could build snow forts for an army in them ROFL!

 

[Rocklone Miniature Horses]

We've had about 2 inches but it's all melted in a day or two (but had three different snow storms lol)

I've still bein putting them out naked and in a night. They still look humongous and I hoped they would drop off weight by now!

 

[lkblazin]

Maple hollow farm- I wonder if it has anything to do with her hair type. Its very soft and fluffy. Like foal hair. The snow was melting on everyone else, just not going through to there skin. It runs right off. On her it absorbs. She's like a cotton ball.

 

[Maple Hollow Farm]

That is possible I suppose! I have so many different hair types here and some dont get thick coats at all but still seem to be fine. I do know that when I have bought horses from warmer states that it has taken them a couple of years to acclimate to our winters and they would be cold easier than the rest. Now they are all fine too but took a couple years before they seemed to get used to our weather.

 

[Jean_B]

Same here as Maple Hollow. When it snows, mine are walking snow drifts (even though they could go into a shelter and out of the weather) with no ill effects. I've never used any blankets due to weather. I NEVER groom a horse in winter. That tends to make the hair coat more absorbent and less able to shed the water/snow.

 

[lkblazin]

Lol now we have our second snow, and she has two inch's on her hair. She's not cold. Haha wow.

 

[Kim P]

I am reading all this in bewilderment! I don't know how y'all handle the weather, much less the horses! And to think I complained of some cold rain and frost! Lol. My poor horses would most definitely freeze! I have them a heat lamp in their sheds and it is not near the temps you have! An icicle! I am just a woosie. I better stay here in the south. If it snows or god forbid any ice on the roads, we are shutting schools down. Lol. I pray warm sunshine y'all's way!

 

[lkblazin]

Thanks Kim

. I hope it gets warm soon. This morning the girls had frost on there faces with little iceicles on there whiskers. They don't seem to mind though.

 

[Kim P]

I know we had a dog once that we would bring in when it would freeze. She hated being in the house. She would sit at the back door just waiting to go back out. She never even wandered through the house. She was a lab and shepherd mix. Had a thick coat. She never really looked cold outside.