Can you winter out an Arab?

I have 2 arabs. One is now 33, last winter we had temperatures down to -20 and due to the amount of snow (3ft) they couldn't come into the shed as roofs were collapsing all over the place. Both had rugs on but wintered out. Plenty of hay and two feeds a day. They were both far more mobile in spring than stabled horses I know of. They also maintained condition far better.
Arabs are designed to cope with extremes in temperature in the desert
 
Tough little devils - some of them. I've had arabians at either end of the spectrum, current one is as hard as nails, previous one ran for cover at a summer shower. They are just horses, same as any other, feed (and rug, if need be) them right and they are fine. Mine is 19 now, never lived in at all as far as I know.

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February, unusually mild!
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Sorry to hijack the thread (have already responded above anyway) but Enfys, just wanted to say I ADORE the "snow" photo. That would make a brilliant Christmas card!
 
Aww enfy there gorgeous! Apparently this arab has been wintered out, I am not sure if she wants it or not because she did like it but she fell off it...if she was to buy it do you have any arab tips I could give her?
 
I live in Berlin and ride out at a yard in Brandenburg, 40 miles outside the city. Last year we had a tremendously hard winter which just went on and on. The Arab x Barb horses at the yard lived out through it all –*four foot of snow – and were in great nick come the spring.

I seem to remember reading in my Arab crazy youth that the only horses that survived Napoleon's horrific winter campaign in Russia were the Arabs, and that when they finally got back to France, the Emperor told everyone to improve their horses with Arabian blood.
 
Years ago I had a pb arab who was 3/4 arab, 1/8 thoroughbred & 1/8 welsh who wintered in the Pennines without a rug. Admittedly she was stabled at night but she grew an amazingly thick coat. Will be the first to admit I think we have got softer over the years.
 
The Spooky Pony's best field buddy last winter was a show arab that lived out 24/7: no problems whatsoever, except that he's, er, supposed to be white...the poor thing has a lot of baths in his life! :D
 
Absolutely no reason why you couldn't keep an arab or a TB out 24/7. As long as the horse is rugged up and fed well, it should be fine and much happier mentally than the stabled ones! I keep mine out 24/7, which includes an anglo arab, warmblood, other arab crosses and currently a TB x Luso. I'll always keep my horses out, no matter what breed. Might get a pure TB for my next horse which'll definately live out.
 
Hi
I live in the fart north of Scotland and our Arab was wintered out and there were no real problems. He was rugged and fed twice a day. He just looked like a big teddy bear as his coat got thicker.

Latterly when he was worked relatively hard in the winter we had to clip him as he just got too hot when working with his winter coat.

Arab's are much tougher than they look.


Paul
 
SusannaF said:
I seem to remember reading in my Arab crazy youth that the only horses that survived Napoleon's horrific winter campaign in Russia were the Arabs, and that when they finally got back to France, the Emperor told everyone to improve their horses with Arabian blood.
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that's a really cool bit of trivia! :)
 
Absolutely agree, an Arab is more hardy than we credit them for. They can live out very well.

As for TB's I guess, yes they too could live out. However it does depend like arabs on the horse. My current TB wouldn't do too well as she is already underweight and rugged up and stabled! Argh!
 
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