At what temperature do you move your horses from their fields to the the barn?

[Hermein]

Depends on the horse. It’s now 48f and my elder looks-like-a-TB warmblood is still in a mid-weight turnout, and I’ll leave it on overnight when it will be below freezing. I’d rather they be a little too warm than too cold, especially when they’re hard keepers.

The others have grown pretty dense coats, so they are running around in the altogether.

As a guideline, though, the blankets go on if it’s going to be freezing or below. And I try to keep a rain sheet on all/most of them if it’s nasty wet and muddy.

[Simbalism]

I have two TB’s and they both live out 24/7. Neither one grows a very thick coat, so they are blanketed. They love being out. One of them is 21 and the other is 8. The only thing I did this year for my older mare was to buy her a blanket that has a belly band because she likes to lay down to sleep.

[Xanthoria]

It’s not what temperature people bring them in, but what temperature relative to “normal” that they feel cold in. Your horse may be used to 60 during the day and 50 at night, so 30 feels terrible as they haven’t developed a tolerance. Bring a horse in from Alaska and 30 is going to feel balmy.

Similarly windy and rainy at 40 is worse than still and dry at 30.

[saultgirl]

I have brought my horses in the barn overnight for the last 2 weeks or so, because it’s been mild (30-40F) and wet/muddy. Usually everything would be frozen and snow-covered by now and they would be sleeping (quite happily) out in the snow.

Today it snowed in the morning then it rained all afternoon, windy and miserable. I brought the horses in (and they were happy to come in) but they weren’t shivering.

Otherwise, I’ve left them out to -40F and they are just fine.

I would estimate that mine stay in overnight no more than 15 or 20 nights per year.

[cutter99]

My horses have been outside 24/7 for the past 20 years. They have access to a 40’ X 10’ run in- for four horses- that they NEVER use! It can be 100 degrees or 20 degrees and they choose to be out.

Mine have natural coats. I own blankets for emergencies, but do not use them unless a horse is sick. If the weather gets extremely cold, we feed extra hay.

[saultgirl]

Actually, now that I think about it, if we’re going strictly by temperature, I bring the horses in for the day if we get warmer than 85F. The heat is much harder on my two than the cold.

[TrotTrotPumpkn]

Mine have been using the run in a lot this winter. It has been misting or raining (freezing rain) almost nonstop. On dry cold days not-so-much. Donkeys are using it more than horses.

If I put food in the run in and food outside, they will usually go in the run in first. If there is no food in there, then no, they choose to go to the food. I almost never bed it, but have it deeply bedded right now (over mats) because we have life-sucking mud going on, and I want them to be able to dry out their feet. I can tell they are laying down to sleep and seem to really enjoy the bedding. What a pita for me!

Last winter I never bedded it. But this damp is terrible. Days and days and days of moisture.

In “normal” years they use the run in to escape the flies (it is quite deep) more than any other time.

I don’t have a barn so if it is 40 below I’m feeding tons of hay in the run-in. I’ve yet to see anyone shiver in dry cold.

[akor]

Temperature NEVER drives my decision. It affects my blanketing (mine are out 24/7, with a run in, no stalls).

Precipitation/ice drives my in out decision (I can lock them in the run in if needed, but it’s still open on one side). I’m in W. WI.

Temperature would be the absolute WORST thing to go by, IMO. 40 and raining is WAY worse than even -10 and low wind.

[GoodTimes]

I currently live in Edmonton, horse is outside 24/7. Everything is clipped except his head and legs, lots of blankets. He’s got access to a run in and free choice hay. I very rarely see him in the run-in in the winter unless it’s windy.

I’m from northern Ontario though, and they get a damp bone chilling cold with wet, heavy snow. The horses came in more often there, if blankets were starting to get wet from the accumulation, or if the old guy was hanging out by the gate.

[fordtraktor]

I don’t really think it is so much what they have been used to unless you move them in the middle of the winter. I mean, after all, our summers are quite hot here. They are used to 100 degree and humid days in the summer and zero degree blowing snow days in the winter. They adjust! Horses are surprisingly adaptable.

The use their sheds MUCH more in the summer than in the winter. They are in there all day in the heat of the summer…basically from 10 to 4. I keep hay in there because they are spoiled rotten, and they eat it in the dead of summer as steadily as in the dead of winter, though not quite as much.

In winter they seem to spend most of the night in their sheds parked in front of the hay, and spend the day playing in the snow with periodic hay visits.

[goodhors]

In connection with horse being cold because “local weather” is usually not that cold, check his ears!!

If his ears are cold, he may need more or thicker blanketing. The ears are the first sacrifice to keeping his body warm, using the warm blood elsewhere. We find ear checking to be quite reliable in horse saying he is warm enough with no covering at all. Or maybe he needs a little blanket time to warm up, then pull it back off again in an hour or two once he has warmed up out of the wind, his eas are warm again.

[wildlifer]

Never.

Essentially, horses “optimum” temperature for comfort is much lower than ours, thanks to a suite of physiological mechanisms we lack plus massive, heat-producing body. This is why they can frolic happily in the snow in Canada at -10F with just their fluffy coats, whereas I have to take nightly hot baths just to feel my hands again at 30F, LOL (and I don’t live in Canada).

They have as much good hay as they need, heated water tanks, a run-in for wind/rain shelter & waterproof, breathable blankets as needed (one is trace-clipped for work, the other is follicularly challenged & 20, heh).

[wildlifer]

@goodhors;8445079

In connection with horse being cold because “local weather” is usually not that cold, check his ears!!

I grew up hearing this one too, but actually, it’s a false correlation.

(warning: bio-geekery)
Horses share a circulatory mechanism with a myriad of other species called counter-current exchange. In short, arteries & veins run side-by-side so heat from outgoing blood is transferred to incoming blood before it is lost to extremities. This is how oceanic tuna maintain core warmth & how birds migrate over the Himalayas without passing out (works for oxygen too).

There are also mini-valves in the vessels themselves that will close to slow/limit non-critical circulation, again helping to keep heat in the core where it matters.

Extremities like ears & legs are supposed to stay cooler – they dissipate the most heat due to their large surface area-to-volume ratio, which is great is summer, less so in winter. This is also why you’ll sometimes see horses lay down more often in cold windy weather, as it reduces that surface area by “compacting” their body into a neat legless bundle.

end bio-geekery

[2DogsFarm]

Thanks, wildlifer!
I enjoyed your factoids

I was taught to check ears, but also brisket & belly - if any of those are cold a blanket may go on.
“May” because if coat is fluffed (I do not clip) & back is dry (even if wet on top layer) I may not blanket even in subzero temps.
Notice when a horse gets wet there’s a pattern of water draining off the back & belly usually remains dry along with the innermost layer of hair on the back.
And if snow is piled on the back, but not melting, they are fine nekkid.

Mine survived the Polar Vortex - even the WB who never got more than plushy (bred in Queensland, Australia then spent 6yrs in FL before coming to the frigid Midwest at 15yo) - IIRC, I blanketed only when we got a blizzard of heavy,wet snow with winds blowing into the always-open stalls.
And blankets come off as soon as weather lets up, or horses’ backs are dry beneath them.
When the rare wind does blow into the East-facing stalls along with blizzard or torrential rain, I may close the stall doors, but WB showed me how wrong I was:
Got his door open & was outside the next morning - with his pony minion mad as heck that he was still In.
Favorite oldtime trainer told me horses are most comfortable at 40F & mine seem to prove him right.

[candyappy]

I have never “put” mine in the barn even when we had -40 below. They had access to a large barn completely out of the weather then to use as they wanted.

Now even in a milder climate they put themselves in when the need arises. With your guys being older I would bed the shelters well and let them do as they wish as long as everyone will use them. I think it is better for the older ones to move around at will.

What I won’t do is let a horse stand out in the weather if the others won’t let them in .

[tabula_rashah]

Count me in the never group. I do blanket though- the ones that stay in work all winter get blanketed mostly for my convenience (easier to cool out, they stay clean) and the retired ones get blanketed depending on individual needs or precipitation (I’m in MD so our winters are often very wet).

[Hulk]

I don’t use temps as a deciding factor. My horses pastures surround my house. They can see me walk out the back or front door. They all have turn outs for shelter all year round. But if they want to come into the barn I bring them in, they tell me. If its the heat of summer or the bad weather of winter, they just tell me. They just call for me and let me know.

Yeah, I am so totally owned. And yeah, life around here revolves around them.

[shezabrazenmare]

My horses have enough blankets and liners that they should be fine. But I bring them in at night. Once, when one was young and did not grow a winter coat, it was sleeting and 17 degrees when I got off work and got to the barn. He was shaking. Like really shaking severely. I had bought expensive turnouts but BO, despite my agreeing to pay for blanketing, would not either take off nor put on blankets. A neighbor called her and said she had a horse freezing behind the neighbor’s house. It was one of my horses. Even my other horse whinnied when I arrive to ask to come in. I brought both and put on their heavy 300gm blankets with neck rugs. And then they were fine. I later turned them out to run around with their blankets on. They were fine then. BO always brought horses in at night, but turned out in any weather for day.

In hot weather, mine come in under fans. These are not mustangs out on the range but horses who have been bred for specific things, not for handling cold weather or hot weather. I do tell BOs that with all the blankets and liners that I have, it does not get too cold for my horses. But the heat is the big thing down here, and they have to be in under fans. It’s been in high 70s here this week.

[Montanas_Girl]

[QUOTE=akor;8444732]
Temperature NEVER drives my decision. It affects my blanketing (mine are out 24/7, with a run in, no stalls).

Precipitation/ice drives my in out decision (I can lock them in the run in if needed, but it’s still open on one side). I’m in W. WI.

Temperature would be the absolute WORST thing to go by, IMO. 40 and raining is WAY worse than even -10 and low wind.[/QUOTE]

This. My horses live out 24/7, for the most part. They have limited shelter (trees) in their pasture, so I do bring them in during exceptionally heavy rain, thunderstorms, and high winds. They are not clipped. I toss on waterproof sheets if it is raining and below 60 degrees, because of their lack of shelter. Below 40 degrees, my old, wimpy, Cushingoid (and therefore with reduced thermoregulatory ability) guy gets a medium-weight blanket. Below 30, he gets a liner under his medium weight. Below 10 (not that I anticipate that happening this year, now that we’ve moved to south Alabama), he gets a sheet on top of his two layers. My fat, furry mare is perfectly happy with no blanket in those circumstances, as long as it isn’t raining/snowing/sleeting or very windy.

[Linda]

Im the Op and wow great responses! thanks

We have 3 horses - ages 26, 18 and 10. The older horse does tend to get chilled at night when its freezing. The others …not so much.

I am thinking that if I am cold, so are they…but apparently that may not be so. I tend to blanket when its in the 40’s…

At this point, we are freezing at night. So I put them in the barn in the 40’s and add with blankets in the 30’s.
Maybe Im being too accomodating…when I get cold (which I am lately) I assume the horses are too…sigh