That’s a good idea. I’m going to try that.
Thankfully I shoveled out a gravel path from the barn to the dry lot yesterday. It is short. 
And all 3 go out together so I only need to clear one paddock.
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It is 49 today and sunny in Bubbaville. I will try to remember this thread mid-July when it is 105 and I am sweating buckets in the sauna.
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The tractor worked great on the ice! I basically used the plow as a sledgehammer to break the ice, then pushed it into piles. Got it down to slush basically. The sun definitely did more to it than it first appeared. Took me about 3 hours to do one approx 60x75 paddock. Good thing I only had one to do. Anyhoo, horses very much appreciated going out.
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Mine have the choice of stall or dry lot so they usually venture out.
If I had to lead them it would be a big nope.
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Lucky …it’s 34 with a feel like temp of 14 degrees currently 
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And this is what I just found as I made my way down to the barn to feed …Kubota also spun almost 180 on the ice path from the house down to the barn
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We’re still a total skating rink. Didn’t even come close to cracking freezing. Even walking on top of the snow is tough with how thick the ice is on top of it all. No way can horses go out tomorrow.
This winter has straight up sucked. Bring on spring.
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Just commiserating, mine has been stalled due to ice since last weekend and it looks like nothing will change this coming week. In the past I’ve locked up for a day or two cuz of ice but I don’t recall ever having it last this long. I open his door—the bar stays down so he can’t get out—and let the sun into his stall at least. Today he (truly) enjoyed the ten degree wind gusts blowing in 
. I thought this afternoon we had a little melt on the surface that would create enough traction for him but then here came my dog skidding around the corner and I thought, ah, nope!
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I bought bags of sand at Home Depot and spread sand where I had ice on my dry lot. Worked great. My horses must go out or they get loony. I even put them out on my turnouts. I’ll fix the holes and seed in the spring. Movement trumps all.
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I got to the barn and immediately cancelled my pony’s trimming appointment. He lives out 24/7 on a slopey large drylot that was mostly iced over on the lower half where the gate is. There’s also a slope from the gate into the barn. After losing my footing just trying to open the gate, I said Nope, not worth the risk. One little slip will throw my back out; I don’t even want to think about him slipping. Barefoot or not, ice is ice. The bad weather that’s predicted for the upcoming few days means that it probably won’t improve much, so we’ll both enjoy the time off.
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Opposite side of the country but we deal with high winds and freezing rain storms each winter. Ice means horses stay in. I do not take chances with it. As soon as it softens and I can safely walk, the tractor is useful to break it up. I’ve also tossed used bedding down to make a path for me to reach the manure bin.
I have gravel paddocks so if I can break the ice up enough and the horses are sane enough, I’ll let them out then.
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My entire farm is an ice skating rink. I have these and they are great even on smooth ice.
Kahloola micro spikes.
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We lucked out on ice, but the cold is brutal. -4F early this morning with windchills at -15F, the high today is 10F. They were locked in overnight, but they’re out for the day - it’s sunny, and they needed to move around. I will put them up again tonight, as it will be similar in temp as last night.
Whenever these nasty snaps happen, I start a countdown in my head of how many days until it’s decent again. 4 more days.
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I never thought I’d be grateful for a foot of snow but here we are. Our gang stayed in on Saturday, as we had several hours of freezing rain in between snow squalls. Parking lot and regular walkways are 2” thick sheets of ice, but we have enough snow cover now to give the horses traction on the grass between the barn and the pastures. They’re happily bundled up and turned out even with actual temps in the single digits and windchills pushing -20°F.
We’re supposed to get into the high 30s/low 40s next week. On the one hand I’m looking forward to ditching this bitter cold, on the other I’m absolutely dreading all the mud that’s coming. Ugh.
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I managed to get horses out again today. Some of what I moved around yesterday melted and refroze. I used a bag of pool salt (still holding on to my last pet safe deicer for the dogs) to create some surface melting/traction on the new spots. It’s pretty unattractive out there, but the horses are much happier. It’s 20* now, feels like 3. This wind is brutal. At least it’s sunny.
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Mine are out. Everyone at my farm except for 2 live in run ins so they come and go as they please anyways. I left mine in during the snow/ice/rain storm but half of them stood outside anyways. I think because they go out daily except for the 2 without runs- the paddocks are rutted and not smooth ice and they’re pretty smart about navigating carefully and not acting like idiots. The worst part now are the paths up to the barn from the house and between paddocks. We’ve added shavings and salt/sand mix to help give traction.
Being locked in a cage isn’t good either for them. It’s such a hard decision- I try to let mine out as much as possible within reason knowing there is some risk still and that horses sometimes do stupid things.
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I would say it depends on the horse. Mine is used to living out 24/7 so is good in all kinds of weather. Furthermore, where she lives now, the gelding that’s in charge can open doors resulting in failed attempts to keep them in the barn in severe weather. Once he opened the sliding door, the other time he opened a side stall door (horses are not locked in their stalls in these scenarios). So, free choice between barn and field it is!
If the horses have been in and are going to jump around while leading, causing a potential horse/human accident, then leave them in until you can safely lead them out. But my experience is that horses figure ice out pretty quickly and won’t jump around like complete fools in such weather.
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Shavings (clean or dirty from stalls) can provide some grip on icy walkways or in dry lots. Even a thin layer helps! It does make a bit of a mess when everything melts but has saved me a couple times either when salt is in short supply or the area does not lend itself well to spreading salt (ie-where runoff from the salted area will kill the grass)…Spring can’t come soon enough lol!
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That reminds me of one really bad winter way back in HS, lesson barn I rode at - they ended up spreading the manure/dirty bedding from the stalls onto the walkways to help with traction and everyone was commenting on how they were never so happy to walk on manure!
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Mine have been on day turnout for the winter and have been getting brought out /in daily …however since this most recent winter storm I have opted to keep them inside since the property is a literal sheet of ice …none of the horses seem to mind and are happy and content 
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