This message is from: Jean Ernest <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> I feel that all horses are healthier if they are outside, with adequate shelter, of course, and up here the thinner haired breeds do need blankets in the below zero temps. but keeping them in a heated barn, IMHO, is conducive to respiratory problems. My Fjords are quite active peridically throughout the day, playing, running and bouncing around. Even in the early morning hours the dog will awken me with her barking, as my fjords are racing around the corrals, which are right out front of my house..They can race in a huge circle through the two big paddocks and run and buck. Far better than standing in a stall for many hours day and night.
Old Bjarne, 28, did shiver last winter occssionally but stopped a few minutes after starting to eat his hay as digesting hay produces heat. This year, however, after putting him on Senior feed , joint supplements, and ground flax, he has gained about 100 lbs from what he was last spring (He was very thin last spring) and he hasn't shivered once, even in that 40 below temp we had for a couple days. The harshest condition, I believe, is when there is freezing rain, sleet and wind, early in the winter, or late fall, before the Fjords have completely grown their winter coats. I will throw a blanket on them if shivering and put them in the stall to eat hay to warm up. If you keep your fjords in the barn when temps are below +15, and blanket them when outside, how do they ever grow decent coats? No wonder they want to come back in! I must admit, I do envy those folks that have nice big barns, where they can work with their horses inside, comfort for the human. My ideal barn is what some friends down the road have...Four big 12x 12 stalls, two on each side of a wide center isle, and at one end of the barn is a large run-in area (which used to be another 2 stalls) which opens to the corral. Essentially, their horses (morgans and arabs,) have this 12 x 36 run-in area which can be closed up, the barn is also heated, . Oh yes, it would be nice! Also, as long as I am dreaming, give me a lovely big indoor arena to play in in the bad weather! (Hey, anybody know a nice millionaire?) Jean in Fairbanks, Alaska, where the sun has set already at 3:00 PM and the light is all lavender tones with a rosy glow behind the mountains in the south. -15F > LoL, okay it is now confirmed that I baby my Fjordies. If it's below 15° >F no matter what the weather, my guys are in the barn (yes, it's heated, but >only to about 45° F). Obviously I never blanket in the barn, but I will >bundle them up when they go outside and it's cold and cloudy, or if it's >snowing. >Basically, I never want to see them shivering. > They do tell you, though, when they want to come in. If they're standing >next the barn door, they want in. It's not like I'm *forcing* them to be >wimpy! > ************************************************************ Jean Ernest Fairbanks, Alaska mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
