Hi …we’re having a some snow and wintry mix along with high winds -20-30mph with gusts up to 50mph …do you think it’s best to keep them in or would you still turn them out …I switched recently to day turnout now…most fields have sheds except for 1 …I know it depends individually…just wondering in general what most people do
I’d put them out, but have hay in the shelters if they wanted to stay in. That’s just me!
Edited: I would not utilize the field without a shelter. I like them to have the choice whether they will be in or out. Last night, with temps at 10F and winds at 25-30 mph with 45 mph gusts, mine stayed in. If the temps are 15 or better, I don’t put any inside hay for them. If they’re hungry they’ll head out in the weather and eat.
Since it’s wintery mix (snow, sleet, rain) I would turn out with waterproof lightweight blankets just to keep them dry. Wintery mix is when my horses get cold and wet to the skin.
I have one who really hates being out when it’s windy. I feel bad for him because we have so many windy days now. On days it’s really gusty I just bring them in early because I don’t think it’s worth the stress for him. Otherwise, if they’re out grazing, they are out!
I think my horses dislike wind more than they dislike the wet.
But if they have shelter, I absolutely turn them out in a blanket.
If there’s no shelter, I’d probably keep them in (which I almost never do, but the combo of cold wind + wet makes my personal horses miserable).
Ours are out, but they all have sheds and with the hills there are places to get out of the wind. If there are trees or something to be a windbreak, I would put them out normally. Otherwise I’d probably just put them out for a couple of hours while I did the barn and then get them in.
Out! As long as they have shelter.
Good blankets are pretty nice windbreaks in and of themselves. I’d bundle them up and put the horses out as usual - though I’d also bring them in early to beat the darkness. Nothing like freezing your toes off doing chores in the dark!
Blanket and kick out side. I only keep mine in for hurricanes or ice. Just blanket appropriate if no shelter.
I’m in Ontario so get all kinds of weather as well. My ponies are never left in for a whole day (unless its crazy icy out, but that has not happened in all of my years). I do bring in for the evenings so they can have a good sleep in lots of shavings and eat their grain/hay each to their own. I do blanket (with necks for nasty weather) and have 2 10 x 10 run in sheds for 4 ponies. I have 2 hay feeders out as well so they have unlimited hay (under hay nets).
I tend to turn out around 4-5am and bring in around 7-8pm (I have a pole light in the paddock and one that I turn out to light up the path to the barn). If its nasty out, lots of blowing wind, snow or freezing rain, I will bring them in early and then do a night check to pick out poop and feed more hay for the evening. But I do think they prefer to be out than in.
Water, hay, wind break/shelter- turn them out for the day. Horses are designed to move about.
It really depends on your horses and what you have available to you.
I live in North Dakota. A couple weeks ago we had 60 mph gusts. A couples days ago, it was “only” 30 mph gusts but the wind chill was at least -10*F. And of course we’ve had worse weather than those situations.
I do not have a barn. At all. So my horses never “go in”. I have a large run-in shelter for them. They are free to move about in the pasture and stand where they see fit. Hay is out 24/7. Access to water/salt as well at all times.
And two nights ago when the wind chill was below zero? I get home and they are out on the hill … in the wind … grazing. I swear I wonder why I worry about them at all.
My horses are healthy, have full winter coats, and I do not blanket.
And turned out 24/7. So my vote is to let the horse choose!!
Have you asked your vet? When temperatures here were predicted a dropped to -22 a couple of years ago, I called my vet and asked --he knows my horses, my barn, and my pastures (even walked all of them with me one time when I was worried about weeds/plants harmful to the horses --we found none).
His statement to me was: “There is a greater chance of colic from standing in a stall than there is of freezing or frostbite.” — however, see below –
I have always kept my horses out 24/7 except in the SUMMER when I bring them in and put fans on them when it is beastly hot. So the sudden change from complete freedom to move about to standing in a 10x13 stall was, in vet’s opinion, not a good idea.
He did suggest feeding extra hay (which I took to the sheds).
All horses have 3-sided sheds.
@beau159 has a set up similar to a friend who lives in WYO and has 180 horses --and no barn or run sheds. The horses do fine on her 80,000 acres . . .
And like @beau159, in the absolute worst conditions, I see mine on a hill in the full force of wind/rain/sleet/snow. Then on the nicest day one can imagine, they are all crushed together in a shed.
But they seem happy!
Horses are strange creatures. They are amazingly delicate in some ways and amazingly robust in others. One of my three horses chooses to be outside, even if he has to be by himself, in basically all weather other than really cold, driving rain. Even then he’s usually out for a bit before coming in.
My other two aren’t quite so obsessed with being outside, but they also generally vote for out unless it’s raining or wet snow.
Wind doesn’t seem to bother any of them.
I do make sure they are blanketed appropriately and with full neck covers in very windy or wet conditions. But sometimes I only do high necks (wugs) if the wind is mostly less than 20mph. And not all of my turnouts have shelters.
But in general, I think you have to observe your horses and see what they prefer to do. They will generally tell you.