5 Responses

1. COMMENTI have a small herd of senior Arabian mares, my main concern for them is making sure that they are receiving adequate care to insure that they come through the winter in good condition

2. Water and power used to be an issue, but 10 years ago I had geothermal automatic waterers installed and after hauling 300 gallons of water a day to 28 horses through many power outages for days and weeks I had a whole farm generator installed 8 years ago. However, the automatic waterers do tend to freeze over when temperatures are under 12 degrees F., so my proactive steps are to take 20 minutes in late winter to run drop cords and drop a low wattage heater into each of the waterers. It saves the aggravation of having to haul a couple of gallons of hot water to each tank to thaw the valves out each day it’s 12 and below. My greatest aggravation is when it’s cold but above freezing and I have to trudge/drag/wrestle/slide bales of hay to the pastures daily because the ground is too soft to get a truck, tractor, or gator through. I love it best when it stays around 26 degrees long term. The ground is solid and I can put round bales in every three to four days.

3. My big concern is freezing stock tanks which are heated. Our N.E. PA experiences power outages from wind and ice.

4. I agree with Cheryl = winter laminitis is always a concern. My horses live on 24/7 turnout, and I have one that is already in a grazing muzzle even though it’s only January. On the west coast, in the SF North Bay Area, we rarely get freezing to the extent that it effects water accessibility, but keeping horses warm and dry can be a concern. Heavy rain or rain for several days in a row requires having multiple blankets for each horse, so they can be changed out when they get soggy.

5. My biggest concern is Winter Laminitis.