This message is from: Robin Churchill <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> If you are going to work him significantly in the winter then he will sweat and you will have to spend time every day getting him dry after you ride if that is even possible with a heavy fjord coat or clip him. If you clip him then you have to blanket him to protect him from the weather. I have always ridden in the winter even when I lived up north and was lucky enough to have access to an indoor arena so I have always clipped my horses in winter and blanketed them. If you are not going to work him enough to make him sweat, then I have read all you have to provide is plenty of hay and a shelter that shields from rain and wind. If you are clipping and blanketing, it is better to blanket a little too lightly than too heavily. Down here, there is no choice, horses must be clipped in the fall because they get a coat much sooner than the weather gets cold and usually it doesn't get below 40 at night and gets as high as 80s during the day so they are miserable in a winter coat! and cannot be ridden without clipping. I have already clipped my fjord gelding 3 times since August and my warmblood once.
Robin in Florida, still in the high 80s to 90 in the afternoon ----- Original Message ---- From: "[EMAIL PROTECTED]" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: fjordhorse@angus.mystery.com Sent: Wednesday, October 11, 2006 11:32:04 PM Subject: Re: blanketing in winter This message is from: [EMAIL PROTECTED] If the weather is RAINY and COLD and WINDY, then we check for shivering. If there aren't any shivers, then we feed plenty of hay and don't worry about it. If there are shivers, we get the horses under cover and out of the wind. The little ones, sick ones, and the oldest ones are the horses to worry about in weather like that. (Such as what we've been having today in northeast Iowa.) As far as blankets go, we don't bother. They'd just shred them if we tried. Jean is probably right though -- you'd need a blanket if the horse is clipped, but we don't clip. Fjords are not hot-house horses -- they're bred to live in a cold climate and seem happiest when they're outdoors and running around. I personally worry more about them when it's very hot and humid. DeeAnna The FjordHorse List archives can be found at: http://tinyurl.com/rcepw The FjordHorse List archives can be found at: http://tinyurl.com/rcepw
