laura_nash
Well-Known Member
Hi
So Hurricane / Tropical Storm Ophelia is forecast to hit us tomorrow and we have a red weather warning for wind gusts up to 130 km/h. I'm struggling to decide where to put my two for the day, they are both sensible older geldings who live out unrugged and are used to windy conditions - a 14.3 HW cob and an 11.2 pound pony. Sorry if this is a bit long! My options are:
1. Leave them where they are. They are in a small paddock by a quiet road, lots of grass and no mud, its next to a neighbours house and yard and has a single large horse chestnut tree next to it. Normally the house and tree provide good wind shelter, but the storm is forecast to come from the wrong direction, on the plus side less chance of things blowing towards them (there is nothing on the other side of the road for miles). The road-side boundary is an unstable dry stone wall with electric fencing on plastic posts inside it, pretty likely to blow down, but I'm not sure they would bother to leave unless spooked (as plenty of grass) and hopefully wouldn't be many people driving anyway.
2. Bring them into the barn, open-fronted barn in a small paddock near the house. This is what I usually do in strong wind, but again the wind is coming the wrong way and will blow straight into the barn. Plus there are some things nearby (e.g. a corrugated shed roof) that are probably highest risk of damage and blowing about.
3. Put them back in their summer field behind the house, it has more shelter from the right direction (a higher, better stone wall and some sycamore trees), but then more chance of those things blowing over. Plus it has sycamores (a fair amount of seeds on the ground), some muddy bits and not much grass. It only has one electric fenced boundary and that leads onto an elderly neighbours drive rather than a road, the other boundaries are properly fenced and have neighbours secure fields on the other side.
I'm torn between 1 and 3, last thing I want is to move them because I'm worried about the storm and end up with one getting AM but then don't really want them loose on the road in high winds either. Any advise very welcome
So Hurricane / Tropical Storm Ophelia is forecast to hit us tomorrow and we have a red weather warning for wind gusts up to 130 km/h. I'm struggling to decide where to put my two for the day, they are both sensible older geldings who live out unrugged and are used to windy conditions - a 14.3 HW cob and an 11.2 pound pony. Sorry if this is a bit long! My options are:
1. Leave them where they are. They are in a small paddock by a quiet road, lots of grass and no mud, its next to a neighbours house and yard and has a single large horse chestnut tree next to it. Normally the house and tree provide good wind shelter, but the storm is forecast to come from the wrong direction, on the plus side less chance of things blowing towards them (there is nothing on the other side of the road for miles). The road-side boundary is an unstable dry stone wall with electric fencing on plastic posts inside it, pretty likely to blow down, but I'm not sure they would bother to leave unless spooked (as plenty of grass) and hopefully wouldn't be many people driving anyway.
2. Bring them into the barn, open-fronted barn in a small paddock near the house. This is what I usually do in strong wind, but again the wind is coming the wrong way and will blow straight into the barn. Plus there are some things nearby (e.g. a corrugated shed roof) that are probably highest risk of damage and blowing about.
3. Put them back in their summer field behind the house, it has more shelter from the right direction (a higher, better stone wall and some sycamore trees), but then more chance of those things blowing over. Plus it has sycamores (a fair amount of seeds on the ground), some muddy bits and not much grass. It only has one electric fenced boundary and that leads onto an elderly neighbours drive rather than a road, the other boundaries are properly fenced and have neighbours secure fields on the other side.
I'm torn between 1 and 3, last thing I want is to move them because I'm worried about the storm and end up with one getting AM but then don't really want them loose on the road in high winds either. Any advise very welcome