Frozen. How do you all cope?

Wagtail

Wagtail

Horse servant
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The worse bit about this freezing weather for me, is getting water for the horses. The whole day seems to consist of boiling kettles to defrost drinkers and taps. We have four drinkers in the main block that only freeze after two days of sub zero temperatures, three in the other block that freeze as soon as it gets to -2 or below, and all the outside taps freeze so I need to bucket water from the tack room. It probably doubles my stable care time. Maybe it's just as well it is unridable outside, as I wouldn't have time to do it in any case! How are the rest of you managing?
 
This will be our ponies 3rd day in...the drive to the paddocks is like ice and far too dangerous to attempt taking them out....fortunately our water hasnt frozen (yet)!.....I bought my winter supply of hay back in the summer so have plenty of that......they seem ok in as they are all in....doesnt look like its going to thaw at the moment as is forecasting snow again!
 
Yes, it was minus 9 when I went out to feed them this morning. The first batch are turned out in the sand menage for three hours. Just hope they stay sensible as it's as hard as rock in there.
 
finkle said:
This will be our ponies 3rd day in...the drive to the paddocks is like ice and far too dangerous to attempt taking them out....fortunately our water hasnt frozen (yet)!.....I bought my winter supply of hay back in the summer so have plenty of that......they seem ok in as they are all in....doesnt look like its going to thaw at the moment as is forecasting snow again!
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Sounds like you are well stocked up. I have loads of haylage (will last until April) but will run out of hard feed in a week and bedding in ten days. I have it on order but I don't know if the lorries will get up our half mile drive.
 
Our tap on the yard is generally pretty good. It has a wooden box built around it (with a door), insulation around the pipes, and a duvet wrapped around it. It's usually pretty good at keeping the water flowing, until some numpty decides to use to the tap, leave the hose trailing, the duvet on the floor and the door open :rolleyes: Wonderfully frozen up this morning, going to try again later!
 
I got Lovely Livery to fill ALL outside water tanks at weekend, even in paddocks not being used & also yesterday she got tubs & buckets filled & ready in the empty stable on the rubber matting.
She now understands as was able to cart the water to top up the Fuzzies water where they are & knows she only needs to break ice & dip buckets in the spare tanks to tide over & this ought to last them for around a week till she needs to start carting water from home if the yard tap is frozen up. Better some water thats been in a tank than no water!

Hay & bedding all in stock as brought in, in the summer.

All fuzzies out now 24/7 as easier than having to get her to deal with icey yard & they all have own field shelter for eating hay in, with big trug of water nestled in them too.

Looking likely for snow here Fri night at present tho :(
 
Wagtail said:
Sounds like you are well stocked up. I have loads of haylage (will last until April) but will run out of hard feed in a week and bedding in ten days. I have it on order but I don't know if the lorries will get up our half mile drive.
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The roads are clear and sourcing feed, bedding is no problem......I would love them to go out but not worth taking such a risk, as our sounds a bit like yours in that it has a long drive and has had very little traffic on it. I'm sure they are more than happy troffing ad lib hay and Equilage mix to make the confinement a little more pleasurable!
 
ShadowFlame said:
Our tap on the yard is generally pretty good. It has a wooden box built around it (with a door), insulation around the pipes, and a duvet wrapped around it. It's usually pretty good at keeping the water flowing, until some numpty decides to use to the tap, leave the hose trailing, the duvet on the floor and the door open :rolleyes: Wonderfully frozen up this morning, going to try again later!
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That's an excellent idea for the tap, but very annoying that someone left it to freeze.

The Fuzzy Furry said:
I got Lovely Livery to fill ALL outside water tanks at weekend, even in paddocks not being used & also yesterday she got tubs & buckets filled & ready in the empty stable on the rubber matting.
She now understands as was able to cart the water to top up the Fuzzies water where they are & knows she only needs to break ice & dip buckets in the spare tanks to tide over & this ought to last them for around a week till she needs to start carting water from home if the yard tap is frozen up. Better some water thats been in a tank than no water!

Hay & bedding all in stock as brought in, in the summer.

All fuzzies out now 24/7 as easier than having to get her to deal with icey yard & they all have own field shelter for eating hay in, with big trug of water nestled in them too.

Looking likely for snow here Fri night at present tho :(
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Sounds like you are well prepared. I can't imagine how hard it must be to have to cart water from home.
 
The last yard I was on had auto drinkers that froze.

Before the freeze they emtied them and switched them off and used buckets instead.

They would place dustbins outside the tackroom window and then attach a hosepipe to the indoor tap, feed it out the window and keep dustbins full - then just fill water buckets from that.
 
ihatework said:
The last yard I was on had auto drinkers that froze.

Before the freeze they emtied them and switched them off and used buckets instead.

They would place dustbins outside the tackroom window and then attach a hosepipe to the indoor tap, feed it out the window and keep dustbins full - then just fill water buckets from that.
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That's an excellent idea, though the taps in my tack room can't take a hose. It takes ages filling waters up from there. Three of the horses now have trugs for their water, but the ones in the main block stay unfrozen whilst the horses are in and regularly drinking. They will freeze when they go out later though and I have to defrost them all individually. It is the valves and the floats which freeze up.
 
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Wagtail said:
The worse bit about this freezing weather for me, is getting water for the horses. The whole day seems to consist of boiling kettles to defrost drinkers and taps. We have four drinkers in the main block that only freeze after two days of sub zero temperatures, three in the other block that freeze as soon as it gets to -2 or below, and all the outside taps freeze so I need to bucket water from the tack room. It probably doubles my stable care time. Maybe it's just as well it is unridable outside, as I wouldn't have time to do it in any case! How are the rest of you managing?
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Tell me about it!

I tried the hose-pipe yesterday, when starting to fill the stable water-trugs. The first part flowed beautifully but when I joined the next part to it (both drained the day before), nothing happened. I ran hot water through it and then spent the next half-hour playing 'find the lady' with the blasted hosepipe, as I kept having to swap the two parts around, while I was freeing one half, the other froze again. Nightmare! It took me two hours to bring in 3 horses, who were as good as gold and actually came in in less than 3 minutes, about 10 minutes after I started trying to fill the trugs. Fortunatley everything except the water had been done before I went to work.

Our next problem is straw - I'm expecting a big round bale delivery today, IF he can down the ungritted road and along the lane. Hopefully he'll come in the tractor, rather than the Landy and trailer that he sometimes uses. I also need to go out to collect Honeychop, which has been held up since Christmas, so I'll get some shavings as well. Fortunately we don't have a disruptive amount of snow but we certainly have plenty of ice.
 
Padded bag round tap on top yard the other taps freeze solid and I just leave them .
I can always get the top yard tap away given a little time .
I went out last night at one thirty to put buckets in the bottom yard just in case the water to the drinkers went off.
My big problem is storage we depend on regular deliverys as storage is an issue here I can use my sacrifice field for turn out I have a great system going there and we exercise daily by walking round and round the school and can do that until the snow gets so deep you can't use the leveller .
Years ago before I had my yard tap system sorted I had no water on yard at all over Christmas ten people staying ( no one horsey or helpful ) and eleven horse I had to carry all the water from the kitchen in the house through deep snow it nearly killed me .
I sorted out a better system on the yard after that year.
So far so good but the year before last was very difficult and I always worry about getting stuff in but then I like to worry.
 
My outside tap freezes, my IBC's freeze like giant ice-cubes.....nightmare

Usually means me in the kitchen filling water carriers with warm water and chucking them in the 4x4 to take to the stables...only 100m away from house but too far to carry. Pain in the butt.....:mad:
 
Our taps froze yesterday, thankfully I was able to fill every bucket and trough to the top and have a few barrels wrapped up in the hay store with old rugs and covered with a tarp. The gas in my camp stove has liquidised so I can't use that so I have a couple of flasks to have a cuppa and also melt the ugar beet which even though I have wrapped in numnahs and put in an empty feed bin its freezing more than the water barrels!

I don't use a car so if it gets too bad I rely on my sister to cart me a barrel or two of water up if we get too low.

I'm just hoping my hay lasts another week as I don't get paid till the 25th (well hubby dont) and I seem to have doubled the use since Christmas and need to get some in :O
 
I wrap my tap in bubble wrap and a tea towel seems to stop it freezing although its not been -9 here but the wet haynets were frozen solid this morning so must have been pretty cold.
 
One yard I worked at filled containers with water and hid them in hay to keep them warm and it worked well!
My ménage isn't frozen but covered in snow and since 2 of mine have shoes on I can't ride in it since the snow balls in their feet. I did ride the youngster in it but it was even balling up in her feet.
Can't hack as the drive is a ice rink.
Luckily we have fields not far walk (50yrd) from the stable and the fields still have lots of grass so they are coping being turned out.
 
I have to take water from home once our yard supply freezes, which it has done this morning for the first time. Ive got a couple of water carriers designed for caravanners I think, they have a handle thing that attaches so you can push/pull them. Its a pain in the a*** but no choice. I have a stream through my paddock which due to the wet summer still has enough water in it for the ponies through the day but its as broad as it is long whether to take water from home for the yard or carry endless buckets back across the paddocks from the stream :(
Just seen Rowys post, burying cannisters in the muck heap works quite well as well.
 
Pearlsasinger said:
Tell me about it!

I tried the hose-pipe yesterday, when starting to fill the stable water-trugs. The first part flowed beautifully but when I joined the next part to it (both drained the day before), nothing happened. I ran hot water through it and then spent the next half-hour playing 'find the lady' with the blasted hosepipe, as I kept having to swap the two parts around, while I was freeing one half, the other froze again. Nightmare! It took me two hours to bring in 3 horses, who were as good as gold and actually came in in less than 3 minutes, about 10 minutes after I started trying to fill the trugs. Fortunatley everything except the water had been done before I went to work.

Our next problem is straw - I'm expecting a big round bale delivery today, IF he can down the ungritted road and along the lane. Hopefully he'll come in the tractor, rather than the Landy and trailer that he sometimes uses. I also need to go out to collect Honeychop, which has been held up since Christmas, so I'll get some shavings as well. Fortunately we don't have a disruptive amount of snow but we certainly have plenty of ice.
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I've completely given up with the hosepipe. I may try leaving it in the tack room overnight, but I think even in there it might freeze. Hope you get your straw ok!

Hippona said:
My outside tap freezes, my IBC's freeze like giant ice-cubes.....nightmare

Usually means me in the kitchen filling water carriers with warm water and chucking them in the 4x4 to take to the stables...only 100m away from house but too far to carry. Pain in the butt.....:mad:
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What a nightmare. I suppose we are both lucky though having usable water on site, even if it mean carting it.

Ambers mum said:
Our taps froze yesterday, thankfully I was able to fill every bucket and trough to the top and have a few barrels wrapped up in the hay store with old rugs and covered with a tarp. The gas in my camp stove has liquidised so I can't use that so I have a couple of flasks to have a cuppa and also melt the ugar beet which even though I have wrapped in numnahs and put in an empty feed bin its freezing more than the water barrels!

I don't use a car so if it gets too bad I rely on my sister to cart me a barrel or two of water up if we get too low.

I'm just hoping my hay lasts another week as I don't get paid till the 25th (well hubby dont) and I seem to have doubled the use since Christmas and need to get some in :O
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It's amazing how much hay they will get through if they are in. I do have to ration some of the horses though. One winter when I still fed ad lib, they all started to look pregnant. So now, only the poor doers get ad lib. The rest have theirs carefully weighed and fed in five portions throughout the day.

Pinkvboots said:
I wrap my tap in bubble wrap and a tea towel seems to stop it freezing although its not been -9 here but the wet haynets were frozen solid this morning so must have been pretty cold.
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Good tip. I have pipe insulation around the pipes to the taps, but they still freeze. Will have a go wrapping the taps as well.

Got to go out now and resume my battle with the cold. :(
 
bubble wrap and plastic haylage bags wrapped round taps and pipes really works :)

wash box tap frozen this morning but water feed to stables still ok and we have hot and cold water in tack room so not *too* much of a ball ache to fill water bowls from that.

I have to bucket water up the field to the trugs anyway, so again, no biggie to bucket it from tack room instead, 2 x buckets each day keeps 3 trugs topped up iwthout it becoming a huge job.


so far the one paddock with the trough is ok, still filling up and even last winter when it DID freeze there was enough residual water in it, to last one horse a week or so until it thawed.


biggest PITA is poo picking! couldnt find a single poo in the snow on mon, found about 2 per paddock yesterday and 4/5 this morning, which means when it defrosts theres going to be loads of soggy poo to remove, bah!
 
At my old yard I used to have to fill containers of water from home and barrow them to the stables. Fortunatly I now have my horses at home so I bucket luke warm water from the downstairs bathroom out to my stables.

Keeping the horses buckets from freezing is easy enough by using warm water and padding around them with straw. I am struggling to keep my water bottle on my ferrets cage above freezing, im tempted to knit a little jacket for it!! :D
 
we are all frozen up. It really messes with my routine as the water boiler in the feed room is frozen too - so it's boiling kettles for feeds.
I routinely have 3 buckets of water filled every night incase of a freeze, so the 2 stabled at home have water in the morning avoiding journeys to and from the house. They are stabled in the barn in 20ft stables so this is Day 2 in - I may turn them out for a couple of hours at lunchtime, but won't ride.
My hens are huddled infront of their infra red lamp :)

My 2 up the road are out 24/7 - they are fed in the morning - water trough ice broken and given a bale of hay. Same in the evening. Really felt for them walking uncomfortably on the frozen uneven poached ground :(
I will need to take up water tomorrow if the freeze continues.
 
No snow here yet but frozen very very hard so no water. Stable buckets were filled up last night so the 5 lads had water when they came in. The 2 girls wont leave their straw filled shelter so i delivered hay and water to their door. Yearling and new forest have a 10 acre field to graze so being mean and only haying at night. Not sure how to manage snow with no arena to turnout and no eletricity for a kettle. When it gets colder our water freezes underground so we have to bring water for 11 from home 20mins away!
 
Ours are in an indoor barn that stays quite warm. Farmer switches off the water & we drain pipes, then switches it on once a day for as long as it takes to fill everything before draining again. The pile of spare buckets freeze on the surface, but we fill plastic bins that never freeze solid. Field the trough is big enough to smash through the ice, if it gets really bad we have to lug buckets out though which is a pita cos no alternative than doing so at 7am. If its really bad we get water from farmers house which really is a pain.
 
no snow here and today is the first time it's gone properly below zero, I didn't test the tap this morning, the horses are all out and have access to the stream, we've had so much rain lately that the stream is flowing well so shouldn't freeze. I will get some insulation sorted for the tap though, they've only just re done it after it burst before we moved in:eek:
 
We have water drinkers and its the first time I've seen them properly frozen today as they're quite well insulated (only been here since june) mine has a water bucket though. He didn't have much left this morning and tap was frozen solid with no other way of getting water. Luckily water barrel thing we use in lorry had some in so managed to get him about a bucketful. Have brought it home and filled it so can either fill his up with that or use it to boil kettle and unfreeze tap. If no one else has when I go back at 12.

At one of our old yards they filled a big water bowser using a hose across the road from the house and wrapped blankets round the tap bit, worked really well even kept it unfrozen when it got to -18.
 
Our tap at the yard has a duvet wrapped around it. A few of us will put the hose inside the tack room and leave the tap on a very slow drip - if this is the case we always have water even in -7. However, there are some liveries who don't bother and leave the hose out, in which case we have no water. I have been filling my water container for the trailer when the tap is working and leaving it in my mares stable and it doesn't freeze.
 
I bring in warm water from home in about 8 of those huge water containers you can get from supermarkets (cant think how many litres they are).

At my old yard, over night I left the tap running veeeeery lightly in the evening into a water bucket, as running water doesn't freeze! I got there early and used the bucket of water to top hers up so it wasn't wasted, and then bingo - the tap was ready to use with no defrosting!
 
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