Hey, there! We are getting two horses - 3-year-old quarter horse geldings. As far as I know, they have been living in the pasture up to this point. I'm wondering if we need to have stalls in a barn for them, or if they will do okay in our pasture with a run-in shelter. We live in Northern Minnesota, so the winters can get pretty intense. I appreciate any advice. Thanks.
As long as you have a good three sided shelter, and feed them well, and provide plenty of fresh water, they should be fine. I have two quarter horse geldings and a Belgian mare. They all have free access to our barn, and to their pasture. They come and go as they please. I have stock tanks with water heaters in the barn, and the barn is very dry. Even in the winter, they like to spend most of their time outside, in fact, they're outside even more in the winter. They spend much of the middle of the day in the barn to escape bugs in the summer. Our winters here in upstate New York can be pretty intense, too.
Also, make sure they get plenty of good horse feed, besides hay in the winter.
Rich
"What a long strange trip it's been."
A three sided loafing shed will work fine.
This is a dumb question. (I get to ask them every now and then. [img]/forums/images/icons/blush.gif[/img] ) Why do they call them "loafing" sheds? Does anybody know?
Steve
Because the horse just loafs around in them. I've also heard them called turn-out sheds.
As everyone has said, the run-in shed will be fine. This may go without saying, but just in case it doesn't, make sure the open side is south facing.
In feeding them well, make sure you increase their hay (high quality) consumption and not their grain/pellet consumption. The digestion of hay generates quite a bit of heat whereas the digestion of grain/pellets generates little. I came across a pretty neat graph a few months ago that I forgot to save and can no longer find that showed how a horse's cold-tolerance changed according to its hay consumption. A horse eating little hay started to get cold in the low 40s (f) whereas a horse eating a lot of high quality hay was still comfortable in the low teens.
Also, make sure you monitor their water consumption when it is really cold. Since they have always been outside, I imagine it won't be a problem with the two you are buying, but we have a few horses at our barn that would rather die of dehydration than drink cold, not to mention nearly frozen, water. We humans stay warm in the winter hand carrying 5-gallon buckets of warm water from the sink for those pains in the behinds.
Blanketing is always an option. However, if you are going to blanket, you have to blanket consistently because blanketing retards the growth of a winter coat. That is not to say, however, that if you are going to have a week of -5F that you should not blanket because you haven't blanketed all winter. I, for one, would blanket at -5F, especially with only two horses to keep each other warm, but that is only because I am not used to seeing it go below 0F.
Anyway, have fun!
I have two open stalls that my three horses always have access to in my barn. Three can fit in either one, but one is large and roomy, and the other is a tight squeeze for the three of them, and naturally (if you know horses) they love to squeeze themselves into the small one.
I keep a 100 gallon stock tank in each, and in the winter I keep a submersable stock tank heater in each. It keeps the water form freezing, and actually keeps it warm enough for them to drink out of. It seems to keep it at the perfect temperature for them. That seems like a much easier solution than dragging it buckets of warm water!!!
Rich
"What a long strange trip it's been."
<font color="blue"> That seems like a much easier solution than dragging it buckets of warm water!!! </font color>
You can say that again. We do have the tank heaters in the stock tanks out in the turnouts, but the horses at our barn are all stabled at night (year round) in their own box stalls with 5-gallon buckets for water. The barn is unheated, so in the dead of winter the water coming out of the hose is around 32F and before long, an ice crust forms in the buckets (the heated 5-gallon buckets are too expensive for us, both to purchase and to run). Most of the horses just drink it cold and then break through the crust with their muzzles if they want more later, but those few that I mentioned won't touch the water unless it is at least 50 degrees. So, they get hand carried warm water at the 9PM feeding. That way they have water that they are willing to drink available while they are eating their hay. Obviously, that water will also get cold, but not before they've drunk enough to aid the digestion of dinner. Royal pains...but we love 'em anyway. [img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img]
I wasn't implying that you need to monitor your horses' water intake when it is cold. I know you know what you are doing. I've seen pictures of Rosie (but not the other two). She's a well-kept, healthy girl who is lucky to have such a doting father. [img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img]
Speaking of fathers, when are we all going to get a thread detailing the experience you are having with all of those goat kids? And as polecat over on TBN says, we want pics!!! [img]/forums/images/icons/tongue.gif[/img] [img]/forums/images/icons/grin.gif[/img]
mundamanu,
They make insulated water holders that will keep buckets from freezing overnight. We have used them for years in the stalls and even on the coldest nights they don't freeze over. If you leave the water for longer than 24 hours it will freeze though when the weather is down in subzero temps.
I know, I really need to do a thread about the kids and their mommies. I'll do that soon!!
Tomorrow, my two mommy goats are being tested to get their star milker status. I'll include that in the thread, too!!
Rich
"What a long strange trip it's been."
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