What do you do with your horses when you think you will get snowed in??

GLEEK

GLEEK

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Basically i had to go to work and my husband said he would feed and turn out horses. However the road had not been cleared so he couldnt get there. I managed to get to them at 11.30. I have just left them in now and will go up again in a bit to sort them out tonight.

It looks like we will be snowed in tonight. Im not sure if to turn them out and give them hay and feed in the field. Or do i leave them in a get to them when i can tomorrow. There isnt a huge amount of shelter in the field but i just worry about them being in for another day. I would walk but with 2 young kids it makes it impossable.

I dont have anyone to help feed im at a yard on my own. What does everyone else do with there horses if you think you will be stuck at home? They lived out last year at a different place. They had a field shelter but they just used it as a toilet!!!!!
 
I left mine out last year in the snow. It meant I wasn't worried they were stuck with nothing to eat or drink. We hayed in the field & had to keep on top of the ice in the troughs, but they were very settled being out & didn't loon around when they were given their freedom.
 
I think i might leave them out when it looks like we are going to be stuck. We have a good foot of snow at our house just now and it is still falling. I feel bad leaving the horses in but dont want to put my kids in any danger

My horses are about 7miles away! We had thigh deep snow last year!
 
I left all mine out in the snow last winter (normally in at night). The yard got quite slippery so it was safer to leave them in the field. All coped really well with ad lib forage, fibre rich feeds and good rugs where needed. I will do the same this year if need be, I hate having them stuck in the stable for days on end.
 
I keep mine at home thankfully as we did get snowed in a lot last year so so long as I have plenty of haylage and feed in we will be fine.

If I were you, and they have lived out before, I would turn them out with good rugs and plenty hay, then they aren't stuck inside if you're delayed getting to them.
 
If I had to choose, I would leave them out. A silly lady who has her horse up the road from me left hers in for two days last year. A neighbour let them out as they had eaten the bale of haylage she had left them, and had no water. Goodness knows when she would have got to them if not!

To be honest, if I couldn't get to my horses (am lucky, they are at home..) I would have them on full livery or a DIY yard where they could be converted to livery in bad weather... Its something that you have to think about when you get a horse... Even living out, the water supply could freeze, or there could be a problem. so you really need to be able to get there.
 
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If you've got decent rugs I'd turn them out with plenty of hay or haylage. Far better than them being stuck inside for potentially hours on end without any forage. And less pressure for you as well if you know they've got plenty to eat.
 
Only got my boys this year but last winter they stayed out so will be doing that again (they live out 24/7) very lucky as at moment they're in paddock opposite my house is a stable in there if they want to go in - Echo is rugged but not little Archie(and as of 1st Dec renting big field behind that) or got 6 acre field just down lane but at moment that really muddy and water logged
 
This is when have ridiculously large barn stables are a godsend...

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No worrying about them going stir crazy. Only downside is our concrete yard gets very slippy, so they simply cannot come out at all :(

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I was lucky last year that my friend/YO has a massive 4x4 and picked me up every day, and we did the whole yard together, chucked them out in the field for a few hours while we went to the local pub for lunch and a warm up by the fire, and then went back and brought them in. It ended up being quite fun!
I'm at a different yard now but it is walking distance about 15 mins on foot so worst case scenario i'll walk up twice a day...hoping the snow doesnt make it down this far!!
 
I carry on as normal; the TB comes in at night and the ponies stay out with hay - they have a shelter but won't use it *rolls eyes*.

The last 4 winters we have been in kent we have had snow, and I have always managed to get around driving carefully (hills included), even when the trains don't work and everyone else is getting themselves stuck. If I really couldn't get there by car, I would walk!!
 
siennamum said:
I left mine out last year in the snow. It meant I wasn't worried they were stuck with nothing to eat or drink. We hayed in the field & had to keep on top of the ice in the troughs, but they were very settled being out & didn't loon around when they were given their freedom.
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Seren is out with hay, in case I cannot get there I feel at least she can forage and move about if I am stuck, she was out all last year and was perfectly happy
 
mine live out all year around, so nothing changes for them, they just get extra hay. thankfully, between myself and my two friends that share the fields, we've always been able to get to them two or three times a day even in all the snow!
 
i have left mine out 2nite, it has been snowing since about 3pm. they are well rugged and plenty of food. i dont want them stuck in their stables if i get stuck trying to get down their. YO is away at a comp in liverpool and shes the only one with a 4x4! will be walking if it gets really bad! bloomin snow!!
 
Luckily the person on our yard who we can pay to do jobs is within walking distance so whatever the conditions she walks up.
She had to do mine today as the battery in my car gave in! Just got in fback form the garage about an hour ago!
 
Mine are at home, but the snow got so bad last year that the snow plough couldn't get to me, as they were worried about knocking the power lines out with the piling snow at the sides of the road:eek: I had to evacuate and go to my mums, so not knowing when i would get back, and most reluctantly:o I chucked them out with as many rugs as i could muster, Left the end of my barn open so they could get their heads in and left a bale of hay in the barn with a couple of buckets of water:o
I didnt get back for three days :mad: but they were happy as larry! Id have worried about them even more if they were in esp with the collapsing sheds up here:eek:, Luckily the farmer down the hill can see them over the field so he txt me every couple of hours to say he could still see them and they both looked fine through binoculars Lol!
 
Two of ours are at home, but their stables are a few mins walk through the woods, which is slippery when icy, but still reachable.
And the other boy is at a yard a few miles away, if I couldn't get there then someone else will and the yo lives there as well.

Im more worried about work, I cant get my car out and up our track when its bad, and now I work for the police I have no way of getting out of it, I have to sleep at work, walk for miles to get there or get the nice police men to come and rescue me in the 4x4's! :)
 
Thanks for that everyone. I have put them out they have a extra rug on each. I cant give them adlib hay as they are very greedy. Last year they ate a big round bale in just 3/4 of a day!!! I gave them loads though. They looked quite chuffed to be out. Im not usually one for keeping the horses in for longer than over night but just how today worked out (or didnt!!!) this was unfortunatly the outcome of today. My standardbred box walks when she has had enough of being in and she was doing so when i put her out so right decision made i think!
 
On really bad days, I call the groom, who can walk round the corner to the yard and sort out the horses. Sadly (or brilliantly, depends on the reason), work is diagonally opposite the yard so I can't do the horse while claiming that I can't get out of my street!
 
Mine are 15 miles away at mother in laws croft, I have to drive over a 3000ft above sea level hill called the Struie to get to them hence hubbys 4WD needed at the mo. They are in a realatively small acre and a half field/ corral with a huge field shelter that has an open front and a four foot overhang, and two bales of hay per day. Water in trough in field shelter with straw around it to insulate. I have a water collection system from the roof which fillls two 200 litre insulated containers. Both have rugs on and seem happy enough and are staying close by or in the shelter. If things get worse we can stay over at mums but its difficult as we have some issues!!
 
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