shelter from weather?

[echo]

Would someone kindly expain why I work hard to provide multiple run-in sheds in various pastures, supposedly to give the horses shelter from bad weather? I look out today, 37 degrees and raining, and ALL the pastured horses are lounging on the TOP of the windy hill, looking entirely unimpressed by the nasty weather. The only time I've seen them use these shelters is in the spring/summer to escape the flies. :roll: It just seems to me that if I'm going to work that hard to make these stupid run-ins available, they could at least do me the courtesy of hanging out in them when the weather is awful.

[PasoJoy]

Yes, and if you can answer THAT can you also please tell ME why I hung heated water buckets up in their run in stalls??? Because they are NOT DRINKING any water..... :mad:
I am out there hacking ice out of water buckets outside still...and they are barely drinking out of those either..I think between the three of them they maybe have drank 6 gallons of water in 3 days... :mad: :mad:
I've tried salt, karo syrup, etc, etc, they just keep crunching on snow on the ground... :roll:
I am waiting on a colic episode from SOMEBODY... :mad:

[Abejita]

because they are horses.....

[motorgypsy]

:twisted: :twisted:

We finally took down our shelters. They were never used. We do have trees for shade and they have turnout sheets and blankets but even when they didn't they never used the shelters. Four of ours had a really nice runin barn. We fed them in it. As quickly as they could wolf down their feed they were back out in the nasty weather. AND it didn't matter if they were shivering with wet cold - they still didn't go in the barn. That's when we got blankets. DUMBBBB

[Heidi]

...then my Q must be the SMARTEST horse there is!

She hangs out in her 12'x20' run-in all the time. She absolutely HATES the rain. I have seen her bite, buck and strike at the rain. ...just before she runs into the barn and stands with her head pointing out and her ears back...waiting for all the drips from the sky to stop.

It also helps that we keep a round bale in a manger in the run-in and she 'grazes' off it all day.
h

[Carol Nelson]

Some of mine do use their shelters and some don't. Seems like the older ones tend not to. But I sleep better at night knowing at least they HAVE them. :smile:

[CarolU]

Hmmmm, nothing warms my heart up more then to look at the barn and see the horses all standing in the lean-to, looking out on the bad weather. They all have free choice and will usually stay under cover.

I imagine it is your alpha horse. If they want to stand out in the cold/wet, everyone else stands out there with them. LOL

[Terri]

I imagine it is your alpha horse. If they want to stand out in the cold/wet, everyone else stands out there with them.

That is EXACTLY it!!! Only my alpha horse doesn't want to stand out in the rain and cold, BUT he wants everybody else to. So he stands in the stalls and spends his day preventing the other horses from coming in any of the stalls.

[Barbwire]

My guys love to hang out in the run-in stall. Mojo will sleep in the stall for half the day if given the choice, while Amante will only lie down when he's outside. I think he feels safer that way.

[Terri]

love you avatar Barbara! He looks so comfy.

[Barbwire]

Doesn't he, though? :lol:

http://i116.photobucket.com/albums/o7/graftonbabs/amantedead.jpg

[JennLM]

Barb that pic is great, even got his tongue hanging out.

[dana]

[size=18 you wouldn't let your kids stand out in that kind of weather. kids, like animals, need us to make their decisions for them. when the weather is poopy, make the decision for them. i know i can't sleep knowing they are standing outside with cold backs and cold feet. darn kids![/size]

[CarolU]

Yes. If you bring your alpha horse in, the others will come too. I've seen the alpha stand sideways at the door and keep the others out.

Why, you ask?

Because she can!

That is why I have seperate run-ins. And right now, on the mare pasture, when it is bad, I lock Zar in, because she will do JUST this, take up the double and then Rosie will leave Bruiser outside. I lock Zar in, and Rosie will share with Bruiser just fine.

I kind of agree with Dana here. I build a shelter for them. When it's not bad, I could care less where they prefer to stand, but when it's nasty, I want them all under cover. So, I adjust for personalities.

[motorgypsy]

Our guys don't lock up happily. They enjoy running up and down the mountains too much I guess. Maybe it is the mountains because Lori's horses are mountain horses also! Our weather is cold rain and occasional ice, sleet and a little snow. With a good turnout blanket they stay warm and dry. If we had blizzards we'd probably bring them in the house. :roll: :roll: :roll: They were actually out playing in the pond today when it's 36 degrees and raining.

[Terry Wallace]

Mine will be out in -10 weather and be completely content. The barn doors wide open..they can come & go as they please. Most of the time they chose to stay outside. They do come in when it is windy....

Locking them inside just makes them unhappy, I don't do that unless it is blizzard conditions.

Just think of the hundreds of thousands of cattle & horses standing out in giant pastures all over the west.... many never see a barn or roof over their heads... much more imortant to have windbreaks than anything else, and you will see the structures all over out here.

37 degrees is really nothing to worry about. The BLM mustangs would have surely died if it was..... ;-)

[CarolU]

I don't think I said Zar was happy when I lock her in...and she's NOT! But she's an oinker, and if I feed inside, she'll stand sideways and eat Rosie and Bruiser's (two troughs in one run-in) and Rosie and Bruiser have to share her's. Soooo, when it's snowing, she's locked up. But, the rest of the time they're all out together.

Mine take their lead from "la princessa" because they all stand under the shelter. I have an open barn. I really only have 4 stalls I can close and rarely do. But I will lock horses into the coral/run-ins.

I agree with Terry though, 37 degrees! My goodness, that is a heat wave. Haven't seen that since way before Christmas!

There is a pasture between me and town. About a dozen head of horses in it. They are never fed extra and there is absolutely no shelter. I should take a picture for ya'll. They are out in ALL the weather.

[Moniece Dickerson]

My girls are in their shelter if they even think it's going to rain or get windy.Chica is boss and if it's not atleast 50 degrees she is not the least bit happy with the weather.Most of the time she'll let Rosa in but if she's in a particularly bad mood Rosa's out side of it looking in.I get a warm happy feeling every time I look out of my window,wich is a thousand times a day,and see them in there.Most horses get frisky when weather gets cool but for Chica it's when the weather gets warm.The hicks around here were dead wrong when they made fun of me for building a shelter for the horses and said they'd never use it.I know my girls and I knew they would.Your friend,Moniece

[PasoJoy]

I very rarely lock mine in..they hate it...but I do blanket them when the weather drops into the single digits, and below zero...I don't know if THEY like it...but it makes ME feel better.. :roll:

[Terry Wallace]

Oh heck yeah they will use it Monice! The will use it to poop in...no matter what...that is how horses, especially mares are!

I have three-sided shelters too, besides my main barn... and they are all
"Out-houses" for horses...rain or shine! :D

[Carol Nelson]

This is my take on it. A horse can take cold, a horse can take wind, and a horse can take rain...a horse can even take cold and wind, or rain and wind, or cold and rain...but put all the three together, cold, wind and rain, and you have a recipe for trouble. That is where mine will fall apart.
Probably one of the hardest thing for them in Texas is they don't build a thick winter coat like some of yours do...because here going into January sometimes we can have 60 and 70 degree days. Then in a heartbeat it can change and drop into the twenties with a sharp north wind and rain, with ice. That kind of weather will kill them.
The wind blows the hairs in the coat apart and the rain is able to penetrate to their skin...without the wind, their coat lays flat and there is a layer of oil next to the skin which serves as an oilskin cover that keeps them dry. They can look pretty wet and still be dry next to the skin.
Just as I was writing this, I looked out the window and saw my partner walking a mare...that only means one thing. We had a beautiful sunny day yesterday and now it's back to temps in the forties, with a cold wind and sprinkles. She had been in the round pen to eat her breakfast and had gotten rained on a bit and was cold. I gave her a couple of lines of Banamine, brushed out her coat so that it would fluff up and keep her warm, and put her in her shelter. So we'll keep an eye on her and hope she just got a chill.
But that's why I definitely want shelters here where we are ...the variances in the weather are sometimes pretty extreme and they need a way to get out of it if they choose.

[appyday]

I MADE Roger go out this am...when I go to feed him at 3pm he will be at the gait begging me to come in..I will probably give into him even though he usually stays out till 10pm his last feeding time..

[cristy]

I was wondering the same thing about mine. It has been in the 20's and 30's and misting snowy rain for days. I have my horses split up into groups of twos and threes. I even feed them their hay and grain in the runins. They eat as fast as they can and then run back outside to stand in the rain. All of them. I was thinking about getting sheets for them but I was worried about how they would do, they are all in rather large wooded pastures, I'm afraid they would get tangled. If I re arange things so they are in smaller pastures, do I leave the sheets/ blankets on all the time? Has anyone ever had a horse get hurt in a blanket or sheet?

[Abejita]

I would say mine spend more time in the run in sheds in the heat of summer as the bugs are not as bad..but in the winter depends on which horses and which fields.

[Moniece Dickerson]

LOL Terry!I guess i'm pretty lucky with my girls...they do "use it" in there sometimes but their favorite spot is along one side of the fence and both will go out of their way to "go" there.Just watch...when I ever get my fino horse it'll be one that goes out of it's way to use the poll barn as an outhouse and be one that will want to stay out in the weather all the time :roll: .Your friend,Moniece

[CarolU]

Oh come on Moniece, you need a nice COLT around there. Boys are so much fun, they poop in the water troughs and feeders "marking" them. Mine come in out of the pasture to poop in their 'pile' inside. Grrrrr