"Once in a generation" polar vortex

[lenapesadie]

I’ve been erring on the side of too cool but I’m going to have to go to too warm for the old guy I found shivering.

He’s been running “cold” since the shivering event. I’m not sure what’s going on. But he’s absolutely getting colder more easily now compared to before the Siberian Express weather. Last night he was noticeably cooler to the touch than my other horse in the 50s. Generally speaking, I don’t do any blankets unless is below 50, but I went ahead and put a 50 gram on him. I hope it’s just him being delicate and not a symptom of a serious underlying health issue.

He needs a new sheet. I was planning on getting him a new no fill sheet that’s liner compatible but I found a 40 gram that’s tempting. He has a 50 already but it’s not super waterproof or liner / hood compatible.

[OverandOnward]

@JB

I’m being extra careful with my 32yo this Winter, his blanketing temp ranges are bumped up about 10* from previous years.

@lenapesadie

My old TB was full body shaking / shivering. I felt like the world’s biggest a$$hole. Horse warmed up quickly after I got his medium plus hood blanket on.

It’s gratifying to see them quickly become more comfortable.

One of the primary discomforts of aging animals and humans is an increasing inability of the body to self-regulate to heat and cold.

In some individuals this becomes more pronounced as time goes on. They can as be easily over-heated in mild warm weather as they are chilled in cold weather.

@enjoytheride

I tell people that if your horse has a proper hair coat, shelter, and plenty of hay he/she will most likely be just fine

The problem is that too many horses do not have one or all of those three things. And less experienced owners don’t know how to evaluate that. It’s good to talk to them a bit more about the details - how long has the horse lived in this climate, what kind of shed to you have, how often is hay fed, etc. In some cases where they don’t have hay overnight, a blanket would help make up for that.

[OverandOnward]

@Texarkana

When I lived there, my friends used to plan an annual February camping trip, which was bonkers to me coming from PA. We did it for years; they actually still do it, I just can never make it anymore. I experienced everything from upper 80s and sunburn to trying to survive in a tent when it was below freezing… often in the same weekend

Having grown up here with one mid-January indoor show with an outdoor warm-up ring – it was impossible to predict the weather for that weekend !!! People and horses might be sweating in the 80’s, or it was a hard-frozen windy 26 and the horses in warm-up were bucking furiously under riders to frozen to even move. Leather tack becomes very stiff and hard in those conditions. Riders just slid right out of it.

Trainer in the middle of the warm-up screaming at her students “Stop getting bucked off! You have to jump two warm-up fences so I can get inside out of this wind!”

A lot of people here just don’t own proper winter clothing. Many don’t own a coat. They don’t need to, most years. They just put on a few layers and run to the car or the building.

[Highflyer1]

Unfortunately the people who aren’t able to correctly evaluate things tend to be the ones who don’t blanket correctly either.

[Djones]

@Djones

If I murder DH it will be because yesterday he turned on the outside water sources, spigots, left hoses full of water, set plants out in the sun, etcetera and FORGOT HE DID ALL OF THAT.

It went down to 19 last night.

Time will tell. I am not shifting my carcass one inch to help him see if he broke anything in his negligence. Not. One. Inch.

We have only one split water pipe, it’s in the outdoor shower piping so it won’t be hard to replace. Thank goodness that’s all that was ruined.

[TWH_Girl]

Today was 55 in WI and I rode in a sweatshirt. What the heck?!

[OverandOnward]

@TWH_Girl

Today was 55 in WI and I rode in a sweatshirt. What the heck?!

It was almost 75 here. Today last week it was day #2 below freezing. But this is easier to manage, for sure.

[Montanas_Girl]

Nearly 70 degrees here today! A week ago we were in the negative (Fahrenheit) numbers. I may even be able to bathe the ponies this weekend.

[Amy3996]

Same here. Mid 60s here in NWNY today after windchills of -30°F a week ago. Grabbed a buddy and headed out for a much-needed trail ride. Both of us were glad to get out of the indoor for a change!

[Displaced_Yankee]

Just gave Ponysaurus a bath. Just about 70F here today. I think all 5 horses on the property got baths today! (my poor well!)

[piccolopony]

I’m so jealous of those temps. It was ok yesterday but back in the teens today

[TWH_Girl]

Jelly! I’m bored with the arena already Hoping for a snowy ride and now it’s all wet and mushy out

[SusanO]

Back to the 60’s. And FLIES??? WTF? I was happy that my two homemade insulated water tubs stayed almost ice free when it dipped down to 12 two nights in a row. The first night - no ice but the second night a very thin layer on top. The horses were inside so I had a piece of blue board insulation on top of them. I have a heated bucket for each horse in the barn but I am going to insulate a regular inside water bucket so they will have two unfrozen buckets overnight. I almost never have it get below freezing inside the barn but this year was an exception.

I opted out of Christmas Eve with the family because I didn’t want to put the horses in the barn at 3PM and have it 12 degrees when I got home. Christmas day we hit a balmy 38 degrees so I headed off to my sister’s house in the morning. Getting back at 8PM with three stalls to clean when it was 18 degrees was NO FUN! But nothing froze and everybody seems to be mostly fine. The Cushings Pony is however having sore feet. The frozen ground was bothering him when outside so I taped cushions to his front feet and that helped. He just doesn’t do well when it gets cold even if the ground does not freeze. So I am limiting his turnout and administering anti-inflammatories. That worked last time and I hope it will this time too.

I think the cold killed my Key Lime trees. I had them in the feed room and ran a space heater in there while I was in the barn cleaning stalls. I wasn’t going to run a heater overnight. Cheaper to buy more trees than a new barn. They looked OK but today their leaves looked brown. Maybe they will drop the leaves and re-leaf out but they may be goners. The rest of my citrus trees look OK since they are not as cold sensitive as lime trees. The first night the barn didn’t drop too much but two nights in a row of 12 degrees and not getting above freezing during the day made it impossible to keep it warm even with the horses inside.

[jvanrens]

[OverandOnward]

That is the greatest meme !!!

So with hesitation I am here to publicly confess that today I was looking for a shady parking place so the car didn’t get all miserably hot in the sun.

Everyone wearing summer attire here today. Except for the few who are still shell-shocked from last week and won’t come out of their hoodies.

[JanM]

In lower Alabama I had the tap dripping over night for five days, Christmas Eve it didn’t break freezing during the day, and today I’m wearing shorts and flipflops.

[sascha]

@candyappy

What I can do is express my opinion on how wasteful it is to use electric, natural gas or propane to heat an arena so people can ride without winter clothing or heat a barn so the horses don’t get cold.

It is an unneeded luxury.

I just still can’t even with this nonsense. Nobody cares about the choices YOU make personally for your own horses, but how you can possibly say that something that allows another person to make a year-round income is wasteful is flabbergasting. It’s like saying that someone who works in an office doesn’t need heat/air conditioning because it’s only their comfort that is causing such waste. Or maybe people that work in offices are more important than those that work with horses? Where is the line? Vet offices for small animals are ok, but any sort of training facility for any animal is not ok? Maybe people just shouldn’t have animals where it gets exceptionally cold and pipes may freeze, footing may freeze, etc?

[pokesaladannie]

Something that I have realized is that by putting a blanket/sheet on your horse you are flattening their natural coat down and removing a layer of insulation by doing so and therefore may need to blanket them as if they were wearing only a tee shirt rather than wool or fleece - using human apparel terms for clarity. This has been helpful for my horse that runs a bit chilly.

[SusanO]

We have gone from 12 to 75 degrees in a week. And the flies and gnats have returned despite 3 days that it never made it above freezing. Why oh why can’t we just get a happy medium??? I will admit dealing with water was a pain even when I was able to not have any frozen pipes. I have a real respect for those of you that deal with temperatures lower than what we had and weather that didn’t end in 3 or 4 days.

[crackerjack]

I’ve ridden all my life in eastern Ontario and Quebec-(40 yrs! ). Here winter can mean 15c to -45c. The average is usually around -10c to -15c. I’ve never been at a barn with a heated arena or barn. And no they are not backyard no-name barns! Where I am now, the arena is very well insulated so it doesn’t really get below -5c in the indoor. However, I have been at places where the arenas got to about -15c and colder. I don’t think I’d like a heated arena as going from a toasty building where you’ve been sweating to an arctic blast of -30c would be a huge shock to the system. At night when the horses are in- the barn is warm enough with the horses’ body heat. The horses were comfortable. I’m not sure how good it is for the horses to live in a heated barn and be turned out in frigid temperatures- it may not be a concern. During the COVID restrictions, I rode outside in the winter because I was at the barn alone and for me and my horse it’s safer than an arena. I dressed accordingly and kept it short.

I can see where @candyappy is coming from and agree that heated barns/arenas are a luxury and not a necessity. I do appreciate a heated tack room though!