This message is from: "David McWethy" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
My horses live outside all winter, with temps down into the minus 20's, and
they do fine with trimmed manes. If you don't trim them, the manes tend to
divide in the center, and create a part. If anything, I think this would be
colder for the horses. I don't consider manes a problem.
(I probably have reported this before, but since it is related to the
topic...)What I have started doing differently is hoof trimming. I think on
cold nights of them standing on snow, and how come their feet don't freeze.
A couple of years ago I was at a lecture by the Austrailan laminitis
researcher and veterinarian. He told us of research on hooves of horses in
Alaska. They attached temp sensors to the hooves and recorded temps over
successive 24 hour periods. What they found was that the hoof temps stayed
near and just above 32 degrees almost all of the time, and roughly once
every 12 hours, the temp rose to closer to body temp, and then went back to
the cold state.
Part of what impressed me about this is how horses have body mechanisms that
protect them from their environment, many of which we are totally unaware
of, and couldn't guess.
Nonetheless, I wonder about them and worrry for them on the coldest nights,
despite the fact that they never get colds or show evidence of suffering.
One thing that I have changed is how I trim in the winter. I tend to leave
them plenty of sole, taking off almost nothing, and also not much frog,
other than minor tidying. Maybe it helps them, maybe not.
Dave
Camptown Harness
www.horseharness.com
