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

Mine live out 24/7. The snow is so much better than rain - frozen ground means no mud :D I'd like it to stay like this for the next 3 months please:o

They have adlib haylege (in a specially made round feeder) so a large round bale last 6 horses 5days and we just roll another in once they're finished.

Happy as larry and I feel so sorry for all the horses who got trapped in their stables for weeks on end :(
 
In Norway we have snow shovels for around our properties and clear the snow every day so we can get our cars in and out. Country roads in remote villages (like ours) are not cleared very often at all and some roads not. We put Winter tyres on our cars which we legally have to change beginning of each Winter (I changed mine for this Winter for a Range Rover to top of the range 'best in test' Winter tyres and even very expensive Norwegian prices they were only £700), they are not very costly for peace of mind and you will not come off the road with them on unless stupidly driving. We drive at 70mph on 50 cm thick padded down snow and ice in small cars, big cars, 4x4's whatever cars. I think if I still lived on the UK I would be changing my tyres to special Winter tyres each Autumn and keeping them on til Spring, Michelin and all the manufacturers sell them, perhaps they might have to order them in for you but at least you would be prepared and have peace of mind. You can choose from studded (like mine) or unstudded (studs are illegal to drive on in UK). The unstudded are just as effective, many in Norway have those as you have to pay to drive into cities with studs on.

Only main roads and around town are gritted or salted, the rest are ploughed or out with us not ploughed (the cars driving over it do it), during Winter here the temps in Jan/Feb go as low as -40 we get up to around 1/2 a meter or more of snow that stays from Nov to April/May and life continues exactly the same way.

As for horses being stablebound why??? At the moment my horses are barefoot until reshod, they go in and out every day, outside the stable is very thick ice and packed snow (think 40cm), we have a pile of chippings we throw down every week so the horses have traction...They have never slipped and I have a particularly clumsy unbalanced Irish Draught. He goes out in his HW rug around 7am and comes in around 9pm at night, temps here at the moment vary between -10 and -20. He has plenty of weight on him (perhaps a little too much) and is happy (I imported him last Summer from UK so this is his first Winter here) incidentally horses are worked in these temps also.

Makes me laugh when people say 'but other countries are so well prepared'...Not really, we spend the money on our tyres and dress warm that's it we do nothing else different from you guys in the UK, the council clears, salts or grits only main roads (most of Norway is made up of country roads)! No food shortages, no schools closing, work everyday. The only thing the British government need do differently is to ensure motorists legally have to change to Winter tyres each year and plough main roads and main country roads. Around here local farmers all have ploughs and usually take care of the rest between them on a rota (free of charge) just to be kind to us lot. My husband and I where we used to live would take the tractor and plough our elderly neighbours drives for them...We would get a pack of M&Ms for Christmas bless em lol ;) :D
 
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We keep DIY liveries and our own horses out all year round, barring illness, and the weaned foals come into cattle courts. The livery folk do seem to like to rug-up but our own stay out unrugged all year. They all have ad-lib hay, haylage or straw depending on their condition and do just fine.....even the TB and Arab mares, but they do have a spruce woodland to stray into for shelter. Water was a problem last winter and we ended up taking a bowser to the fields with a loader and filling troughs 2 or 3 times a day. We have a foot of snow now and it looks like being a similar winter to the last one. The liveries know that if they cannot get here that we will see to them and that there is always forage available.
 
im on a small diy yard and owner lives on site, last year our winter routine stayed the same, out in the day, in at night, we shovelled the snow off the yard and put salt down, hay in the field and plenty of rugs and duvets! i live 2 miles away so walked somedays as even our 4x4 had trouble getting through the village! 3 other liveries couldnt get down for a few days so we all helped each other out, the only problem we had was trying to poo pick in the snow as it just got buried and i like to do it everyday! also all the taps froze so i just took containers home and filled them up ready for evening stables, all the horses loved the snow! they all kept rolling and digging and licking it! more fun for them than being stuck in!
 
We have a monster 4x4 designed for snow, but if that fails we walk, its only 20min-30min walk we bring the dog as he loves a good run in the snow and will probably bring the sledges and go sleighing after we sorted out the horses :D
 
i am lucky he lives out with YO living on site and quite a few other liveries can walk to the yard so they help each other out - as not everyone lives out.

i would always try and go for a yard with YO on site for emergencies. the risk we do have is if there is loads of snow for a long time then we could run out of hay as the hay truck may not be able to get to the yard and there is a limit to how much hay can be stored, however last year YO got in extra bagged hayledge that can be stored outside just in case.

She is very organised and looks out for the weather forecast to try and be prepared.

we also have a feed merchant who delivers and he has a small truck with snow tires so can usually get through the snow.
 
I walk - it's 9 miles total and apart from the last 10 minutes is entirely along a bridleway so quite pleasant to do. This year I've got the dog with me and have elaborate and possibly misguided plans to take a sled. :eek:

I stick her out with hay and water, leave the stable ready and ask one of the other two ladies on the yard (who live next door to the yard) if they wouldn't mind bringing her back in in the evening.
 
Out - good rugs with hoods and loads of hay - water will need checking though but horses will be much happier out.

Personally, dont have that option - I am on a livery yard only 4 mins drive away but field is a good 15 min walk. Not sure if we will be able to get out to the field if it snows badly but hoping Bucks will stay reasonable.

Very light covering of snow today.
 
Haven't read all the posts but just to say I would be tempted to feed haylage rather than hay as it has more moisture and the horses seem to drink a lot less water - which might be useful if you are struggling to get to the field promptly!
 
Vixxy said:
In Norway we have snow shovels for around our properties and clear the snow every day so we can get our cars in and out. Country roads in remote villages (like ours) are not cleared very often at all and some roads not. We put Winter tyres on our cars which we legally have to change beginning of each Winter (I changed mine for this Winter for a Range Rover to top of the range 'best in test' Winter tyres and even very expensive Norwegian prices they were only £700), they are not very costly for peace of mind and you will not come off the road with them on unless stupidly driving. We drive at 70mph on 50 cm thick padded down snow and ice in small cars, big cars, 4x4's whatever cars. I think if I still lived on the UK I would be changing my tyres to special Winter tyres each Autumn and keeping them on til Spring, Michelin and all the manufacturers sell them, perhaps they might have to order them in for you but at least you would be prepared and have peace of mind. You can choose from studded (like mine) or unstudded (studs are illegal to drive on in UK). The unstudded are just as effective, many in Norway have those as you have to pay to drive into cities with studs on.

Only main roads and around town are gritted or salted, the rest are ploughed or out with us not ploughed (the cars driving over it do it), during Winter here the temps in Jan/Feb go as low as -40 we get up to around 1/2 a meter or more of snow that stays from Nov to April/May and life continues exactly the same way.

As for horses being stablebound why??? At the moment my horses are barefoot until reshod, they go in and out every day, outside the stable is very thick ice and packed snow (think 40cm), we have a pile of chippings we throw down every week so the horses have traction...They have never slipped and I have a particularly clumsy unbalanced Irish Draught. He goes out in his HW rug around 7am and comes in around 9pm at night, temps here at the moment vary between -10 and -20. He has plenty of weight on him (perhaps a little too much) and is happy (I imported him last Summer from UK so this is his first Winter here) incidentally horses are worked in these temps also.

Makes me laugh when people say 'but other countries are so well prepared'...Not really, we spend the money on our tyres and dress warm that's it we do nothing else different from you guys in the UK, the council clears, salts or grits only main roads (most of Norway is made up of country roads)! No food shortages, no schools closing, work everyday. The only thing the British government need do differently is to ensure motorists legally have to change to Winter tyres each year and plough main roads and main country roads. Around here local farmers all have ploughs and usually take care of the rest between them on a rota (free of charge) just to be kind to us lot. My husband and I where we used to live would take the tractor and plough our elderly neighbours drives for them...We would get a pack of M&Ms for Christmas bless em lol ;) :D
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I think conditions here are quite a bit different to compare them to Norway or other countries.

This is taken from the AA website with regards to winter tyres

Why are winter tyres not compulsory in the UK?
There are several practical and economic reasons why winter tyres are not compulsory in this country.

•There are many parts of the UK that never or very rarely experience weather conditions that would justify use of winter tyres
•There are many car owners who choose not to drive at all when snow or ice are around
•Even assuming that the industry could supply tyres in sufficient volume, the overall cost would be prohibitive – estimated at £500/car x 30million cars = £15billion for wheels/tyres plus storage and fitting costs
•In road safety terms a spend of £15billion would have to save more than 8,000 road deaths to be justified – that's nearly all road deaths in the UK over three years


Unfortunately with the snow we have just had, the local authrorities in my area did not bother to grit or salt the main roads or motorway which caused problems and I don't know any farmer around here that has any kind of 'snow' plough to help. But we have the same problems every year and we always seem to manage :)
 
Well I've got the advantage of having my horse living here at home with me, in our own yard this winter, so no need to stress out! His field is adjacent to the yard, so all I'll need to do is just open the gate, rattle his feedbowl and hey presto the piebald peril will come running! Simples!

Last year during the big freeze mine was on working livery at an equestrian college, so they had all the bother of freezing water taps, etc. I had two horses here on livery; owners (bless 'em) managed to get up here every day to "do" theirs, but the problem was we had no running water so I had to take out buckets from the house. Blimmin nightmare. Blimmin weather. But here in Devon we usually don't get it as bad as you guys up the country.

So tonight: as it gets dimpsy he'll come in for the night. I'll give him a quick groom and put on his stable rug (he's fully clipped), pick out feet etc., and then he'll have his supper and a haynet and a lovely deep bed of shavings. Then about 10ish I'll go out to do last feed and check water and haynet. Blimmin horse, he's got it mega good here.
 
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