The weather here in the Midwest is going to be below 0 for the next 2 nights with wind chills in the negative 45 to 65 range. I am sure pretty much everyone is going through something similar right now. My horse is in a relatively airtight barn and coated up, with hay in front of her 24/7 and a heated water bucket. She won’t be going outside tomorrow and didn’t go outside today. I think I’ve done everything I can to keep her okay but the weather is really kicking my anxiety into overdrive, and besides freezing to death I’m worried about founder and/or colic. I’d love to hear what other people are doing with this super severe weather.
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that’s just stupid cold LOL
I’m adding extra salt to the meals
I’m offering 8 quart buckets full of water that was tap-hot from the house, walked down to the barn, as well as that same temp water with a handful of alfalfa pellets dissolved in it. I can get another 5g into horses between the 2. My horses are really good drinkers, they have access to a “heated” water tub, but getting all the water into them that I can, is never a bad idea
If you have rice bran around, a lot of horses like “sweet water” which is a handful of rice bran in a 5g bucket. It’s not nearly enough rice bran to cause a digestive issue
Other than that, it’s blankets and/or stalling, both of which they’re all accustomed to
I wouldn’t worry much about the actual temperature, when she’s in the wind-protected barn
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How cold will it be during the day? Can she go out for an hour or so in the am and mid afternoon just to get some movement?
Totally understand if you are boarding and that is not possible though. It is going to feel like 32 degrees here at 2am, then like 6 degrees at 5am. I am still debating letting pony out in the big field with lot and stall access for movement and shelter options, vs his lot and just his stall so he does not stay out too long and all goes to him being too cold and hell in a handbasket quick.
Horses I tell ya…
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Eternally grateful I’m in the southern edge of this shit, although it’s still pretty bad here. Not Midwestern bad but when you haven’t even had a hard freeze yet, negative digits wind chill is a real slap in the face for a first freeze of the season.
Because it’s the south I’m mostly worried about the water source to the barn surviving once it thaws, so I’ve got 3 troughs filled, one is heated, so hopefully I have a few extra days of water should the power go out or the water pipes explode. Two heated buckets filled for water to put in the hot water kettle for soaking feed, my fancy fake yeti cooler to set soaked feed in so hopefully it doesn’t become frozen soaked food, extra hay, a heating cable and extra pipe insulation on the water pump and some of VERY confused horses when I put on their heaviest blankets when it was still only 45 tonight. Fun times. And I delayed my travel plans until sat am, because black ice, 40mph gusts and the back roads of the southern Appalachians didn’t sound that awesome. It’s probably not going to be that bad for travel, but all the same I’d like to give the brine trucks a chance to find and treat all the patches on a 7 degree downward curving mountain goat trail before I do.
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We got hit with it today and it is stressing me out as well. The horses are doing fine, they have 2 bales each of alfalfa in nets in their stalls, extra deep bedding that is banked on exterior walls for (likely imagined) added insulation, a heated muck tub and a heated bucket in each stall. I also cleaned and filled the trough (that is heated) incase we need the water. With all the doors closed and both horses in the barn, the thermometer is reading at about 15 degrees in barn vs -3 degree with real feel of -29.
I’ve been bringing their grain inside to fill with warm water as they always get soaked feed. I am giving them salt and 2 extra feedings of soaked beet pulp (1.5 dry scoops soaked in a 5gal bucket split between the 2) for added hydration. They aren’t drinking much from their heated buckets so far which is my main concern. I may mix some molasses or something in the heated buckets and leave the heated tubs with plain water to see if I can get them to drink more.
The snow wasn’t bad but I am worried about losing power. The horses’ waters would likely freeze very quickly if that were to happen. The emergency plan would be to boil water on the gas stove and take it to the barn and pour it in the buckets every few hours. But here’s hoping it doesn’t come to that.
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I feel better that it’s not just me being a nervous Nelly. Thanks for the good tips, especially about salt. She’s got a good Himalayan salt block to lick on but it wouldn’t hurt to add a few teaspoons to her grain. Tomorrow the high temperature is supposed to be four. Saturday luckily it will be at least 15 or 16°. So if we can just get through the next 48 hours we should be okay. I know there’s probably a lot of people who have it much worse. And I do worry about people who keep their horses out all the time which we have four of those as well. One got a coat today but the other ones seem like they’re pretty hardy and they’ve got a really good run in
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Burying an unheated water bucket in shavings up the sides does help keep it from freezing.
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Same. Although of course people in this region rarely have to deal with a level of cold that is not far below freezing, that would be just another winter’s day in the upper midwest. But here so many are not even sure how to prepare for it.
The barn here is cutting off the water and draining the pipes for a few days to avoid damage. Before they turn off the water they drag a full-sized water trough into the heated tack room and fill it up. That’s the horse water for the duration. It’s not easy but it works.
After the mighty freeze in 2021 they also cut back on the number of boarder horses, allowing natural attrition. Partly due to rising costs, but also because of the enormous difficulty of caring for the full barn during that freeze and anticipating that it could happen again. Sure enough, here we are, and they are glad to have not so many horses to manage.
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Is there such a thing as a heated barn or it’s just too impractical and too expensive and maybe never safe enough? With climate change as it is and the temperatures going so high and so low on a much more regular basis it would seem like maybe that would be something people would be looking into for the future
People do have heated barns and arenas in the parts of the world where its seriously cold every year.
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Ours have nice heavy-weight turnouts, and they get extra grub. They probably look forward to cold spells. Even at -18°F, they are warm under their blankies.
My mule George has learned to tuck his ears back under the neck-piece of his turnout to keep them warm. They were frost-free this morning, but I had to melt the ice off of his eyelashes by hand.
Beyond that, we don’t worry about it too much. Now if you want to hear about my frozen fingers . . . :-D.
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@MiniHorseMom It is currently -4F here with wind chill making it -28F 
I blanketed my horses around 4P only because they had snow melting on their backs.
Just got in from my Late barncheck & all 3 - 20yo horse, 22yo pony & 8yo mini - are warm & dry under the blankets.
I loaded them with hay, topped off their heated buckets & (most important to them) dispensed cookies.
They have the Himalayan salt-on-a-rope.
My stalls have Dutch doors at the back that open to the East, thankfully(?) wind is coming from the West, as those doors are frozen open 
Tomorrow I’ll rake out frozen manure & probably overbed with added shavings as this deep freeze will last through Sunday.
@George_T_Mule Your George is adorable 
& Smart! How does he maneuver those ears under the hood???
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I live in FL. My old horse’s coat is about half an inch long. It’s supposed to be feels like of 11 damn degrees around dawn. I don’t even own a heavyweight blanket bc I live in FL.
Thankfully I do have enough blankets to layer my guys up to HW equivalency.
It’s still 50 plus degrees though. Guess I better make a cup of coffee so I can stay up late enough to blanket the horses. We have plenty of hay and old guy is up to his knees in alfalfa. Horses get loose salt and electrolytes year round but gave extra today. Waters are full. Hoses are drained. Pipes are insulated. Generator, fuel, beer and snacks on hand.
More worried about the pipes than the horses.
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He pulls his chin in towards his chest, pins his ears back, and straightens his neck. They stay there even when he drops his nose to “graze” on his feeder. It is a very deliberate movement on his part. “Hedonistic”, I would say.
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15 degrees with gusts over 60mph here in the west end of the Columbia River Gorge. Sleet coming down heavy right now, going to shift to freezing rain soon. Expecting nearly an inch of ice by Friday evening. Expecting loss of power at some point. Horses in the barn, extra hay, heated buckets and heavy blankets on. Extra water stored in the garage just in case. Hoping we don’t need to. Hauling water over iced lawn to the barn is no fun!
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I’m definitely sharing your anxiety for multiple reasons.
I have a fjord so I’m a little less concerned about the cold. He is blanket clipped and had his normal stable sheet on. I have a bale and a half of hay in hay chix extreme slow feed nets to keep him chewing and digesting. He will be super set if the power goes out and his auto feeder with hay pellets pauses. He has two buckets, one is heated that will get turned on in the morning. I have a 5 gallon jug I’m going to fill when I get there just in case we need extra later if things freeze. I should have done that today and brought it home, but I had hay on the brain and went and picked up a few of my own bales to have handy.
His normal meals are soaked beet pulp based but he’s getting more water than normal and will get some extra soaked beet pulp for lunch and for bedtime if the roads are passable. Added extra electrolytes to his mix as well. Right now that’s about it. The thing that I’m super stressed about is that BO brought out a heat lamp for chickens that stay in the barn in a stall as well. I posted a separate thread on that issue 
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I’m in lower Alabama, it’s still 50 degrees, but windy and the temperature will start dropping fast, and soon. It’s now supposed to be below freezing through Sunday afternoon, and go down to 20 degrees or so at night through Tuesday morning. Original forecasts said this would arrive hours ago, and start warming up Monday a.m. That’s not happening.
I hope people are taking this seriously, but I’m sure the plumbers and other people who have to cope with burst pipes are worried.
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All, keep in mind that the only thing that feels the windchill is you and the horse, and only if you’re outside in it. The barn, the buckets, your trough… the only thing they’re being exposed to is the true temp.
Inanimate objects can not feel wind chill.
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It’s been pouring rain here all night and temps are expected to drop from mid 40s to single digits in the span of 4-6 hours this afternoon. Winds gusting up to 70mph. The ice is going to be nightmarish. Right now the plan is to kick the horses outside for the morning, just long enough to let them stretch their legs and get stalls done before everything turns into an ice rink.
Power outages are a concern. We have extra water on hand and it’s an old, solid barn that rarely dips below freezing when all the horses are in and it’s closed up. Feeling incredibly fortunate to board where I do - BM and BO are both busting their tails to make sure the horses are comfortable and safe.
Meanwhile, I’m literally sitting on a plane about to take off, hoping I can escape in the nick of time and get home to my family for Christmas.
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