Brrr
We wound up only getting a dusting of snow and temps didn’t go below 32 til a little while ago.
The rain and woke me up around 3 but it was still 49… Hopefully the old lady didn’t get too hot but she was warm this morning and I left her the way she was.
Sounds like you guys got it worse than we did. Or better, depends on if you like cold and snow. Lol
Yes, we’ve had warm fall temps here too. It was 74 day before yesterday.
Now, 31, blowing snow and windy.
Glad your mares are doing ok. The 32 year old came through ok last night and ate a good warm breakfast.
Has been in the 70’s the past few days, in the 60’s at night. My horses both already have winter coats, and were really feeling the heat. It was still in the upper 60’s when I turned them out last evening around 6. Their coats were wet, more rain expected, and temps did not get below 50 until 3-4 a.m. Turned them out naked. Although I worry with these very dramatic weather changes, it has long been my sense that most horses would rather be a little cool than overwarm.
Just a light dusting of snow here. I kept everyone in mediums and turned them out with lots of hay. The wind is absolutely brutal and the temperature keeps dropping. I’ll switch to heavy blankets tonight as it’s supposed to drop to low 20s F here.
It’s hard to tell how much snow we have because of all the wind and drifting. There is at least a foot piled up on the deck, but I think that’s because it is blowing off the roof of the house. It’s probably more like 8” overall and still coming down.
I brought the horses into their stalls around 5am when it was changing from rain to snow. Usually I would leave them out, but we still have no proper turnout sheds on our farm— only a roof with no walls. The wind is blowing hard, so a roof alone is no help at all. Although the horses are 0% appreciative of being in.
They will be fine. Blankets are not shrink wrap - yes they usually smooth down the hair on topline, but hair on belly, lower body, neck, stays fluffy. And they’ll fluff the top bits right back out when the blankets come off, it’s not a problem.
If it makes you feel any better, I left mine out as usual and although in the morning they were happily munching hay in the shed, around 11 am the youngster started trotting the fence line and got the other two all riled up. My TB is in fancy plastic shoes that apparently give zero traction in the snow, so as he was prancing around he slipped and fell all the way down onto his side, ugh. Now they are in the barn and I’m sure they don’t appreciate it either but too bad…they have lost privileges. I think the snow is doing something weird to the electric fence because they were all acting scared of something in that area. I HATE wet Maryland snow!
We had a 50 degree drop in several hours.
It is times like these that I am so thankful my horses are not in need of blanketing. I make sure they have plenty of warmed water and all the hay they can eat under shelter and they do fine ( so far).
Horses. 
I hope your TB is ok!!!
So far the only critters unhappy with the weather change is the mini mule who I think needs a rain sheet to combat the wind/wet combo and me. I just got done morning chores (25+ horses to care for daily) and now I’m going to turn around and start night chores.
I love this weather when I don’t have to work in it.
They will fluff up much faster than you think, as long as the coats are dry and not caked in mud 
Last night was HORRIBLE. In hindsight I should have brought them in. It wasn’t so much the amount of rain - 2". It was the huge winds with hard rain for several hours. 2 of the 3 were shivering cold when I brought them in when I got up, in the sideways snow. 1 of the 2 was dry under his blanket, my mare had a small damp spot where the waterproofing is apparently not good, but otherwise dry. Gelding #2 was fine (and I’ve actually never seen him shiver) despite being 32 now, and he too was dry. I should have either put sheets on top of blankets for 1 and 2, or just kept them all in. Oh well.
It was 62 went we went to bed, 33 and sideways snow when I got up. A local-ish weather station in Carthage NC, which is farther East from me, recorded a temp drop from 62 to 47.5, just between 6:15 and 6:30 am this morning 
Mine stayed in until a couple hours ago, when the snow stopped and actually started melting when the sun came out. It’s supposed to be 21 here which mean our personal microclimate will likely be 18/19, and they will be totally fine in that cold, even as they weren’t fine in cold windy rain.
It’s all fun and games until…! I assume he’s ok? I remember not many weeks after my newly OT TB mare came here. It was a really cold Winter, so very cold even in November. She was doing her wild thing and racing around the pasture, clearly not accustomed to racing around hard footing like that. She screeched around a curve and SLAMMED down on to her side. She bounced up, looked mortified and hoped no one saw (I didn’t tell her I did), and has never fallen like that again LOL
Being concerned about roasting horses, I waited til 8 ish to blanket as I wanted mediums on mine. Got down to the barn and both of mine were wide eyed and snorty. They were cold. Put their binkies on and they settled down quickly. The wind was whipping and I don’t have much for wind break so I’m sure the feels like temp was much colder.
I left mediums on this am until it got above 40 then swapped old guy into a 50 gram and young horse went nekkid. Full sun though!
While we are sharing TBs wiping out stories…
Everybody’s favorite accident prone TB, Abby, took a gnarly spill in the icy slush and landed flat on her side. I forget if it was right after she had gotten her hoof casted or right after the cast came off (this was years ago). Either way, I had spent over a year rehabbing the P3 fracture from hell only to see her take off trotting and wipe out. She was fine. She’s always fine. Although you might not want to use her antics as comfort.
It is seriously always something with her. Miss “No Good Deed Goes Unpunished.”
She is 28 this year. 27 was a rough year for her on multiple occasions, but she’s still here, eating me out of house and home.
It has been mid 80’s and very humid and also raining and raining. I felt like I was living in the rainforest. Last night it starting raining again and the temperature dropped from the 60’s to below freezing. Mine are not blanketed but I put them in their stalls before they got soaked in the rain. Wish I could say the same about ME.
Barn never goes below freezing unless it gets down into the 20’s even leaving a crack in the north facing door so the cats can come in. We had a light dusting of snow but it warmed back up to the upper 30’s to low 40’s. The horses are much happier in this weather than last week when it was so hot. The gnats and flies were hatching back out and the Cushings pony was miserable with his long coat. I didn’t want to clip him because I knew SOMETIME winter would make it here.
Glad for the cooler weather but glad for no snow accumulation. The mud is bad enough without that. Good weather to weed eat in. Gonna pull out the chainsaw tomorrow and get to work. No gnats eating me today.
He seems okay, thanks! It was a very slow-mo fall, and it didn’t stop him from continuing to bounce around, of course. 
At least your mare was smart enough to be embarrassed!
I handwalked him this afternoon to help prevent any stiffness, and he looked sound jogging a few steps. I’ll check on him again tomorrow but I’m hoping he’s okay. Next shoeing cycle we’ll have to change things up, although my farrier has had great success with these shoes for thin-soled horses and I’m surprised that snowballs could form in them since they’re flat-bottomed.
These are the kind of temperature swings that make me wish I had the horse at home, or still lived close enough to the farm to put my horse’s next layer of rugs in the trunk of my car and add layers in the field. Last night was a whopping case of “whatever I do will be wrong in an hour.”
I believe very firmly in the power of Rambo, neck rugs, three-sided shelters, a big hay roll, good buddies who like to be together, and, please dude don’t make a liar out of me, my horse’s good sense about staying in the shed eating hay instead of running around down the slick hill like he’s 5 again. Especially in neck rugs. If I can cover him from ears to tail on a windy wet night, I feel like I can send him out wearing less clothing, and I don’t feel bad about not melting him at 5PM for the sake of his 3AM self because he’s carrying around his own windbreak.
A stout double Irish hair coat helps too.
Hope everybody’s constitutions and digestions handled it well.
lmao YES!
Last night was just so extreme. I’m used to blanketing in the evening when it’s “too warm” to avoid the “they really need a blanket at 2am” deals, but Damn Sam, that was nuts.
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