This last week as been very cold at nights and early mornings. The water is frozen solid and the ground is frozen making it very slippy making it dangerous to walk on. The lady who fills the water up hasn't been able to do so since the frost arrived. The outside tap and the hose is now frozen up! I do have a very large metal contain which was filled up just before the frost arrived, thank God. The small container is now empty! I have been going up with an hammer to break the ice layer on top of the water so they can have a drink but the water is so cold and it doesn't matter which gloves you wear, it goes straight to your body. I can't image what the poor horses feel like when they have to drink it! I have tried just about everything to try and stop the water from freezing. When we had the outside stables I would stand the buckets in deep piles of shavings and even wrapped the buckets in padding, but, Ollie and Pip, would rip the padding off and the buckets would fall over. Paris's stable was inside and her water would still be frozen every morning. |
You can buy special buckets with heaters to stop the water freezing. You will have to be careful if using one of these. You would have to make sure the wire is not accessible to the horse. The problem I would have is my horses tend to kick their water buckets or put their hooves into the water and splash around if the bucket is low. Plus you would need electric and a shelter or stable to keep it in. The other draw back is the handle. I have seen foals and small horses get their heads caught in the handle of buckets like these ones. Yet people still leave them on! You would have to make sure it is safe if you hang the bucket up. Double check the horse cannot knock it down. Keep it in a safe place. Horses also get their lower legs caught in the handles by pawing at the bucket and the handle jumps away from the bucket and then the hooves gets caught up in the handle and that's where the trouble starts. |
I have read that people use salt in the horses water to stop it freezing and also tablets used for fish ponds to stop freezing. I would NEVER use any form of salt or anything else for that matter. The harm it would do to the horses. Table salt is a much more pure form then the salt licks you can buy for horses. You would have to use a lot of salt to stop the water from freezing and the chances are, the horses wouldn't drink the water. Just by using salt in the
water would make them drink a lot more water and if they was unable to get to water if it did freeze, then they would start to get dehydration.
I do use, Ollie's, foal ball. It has a small handle the top of it. He will pick it up with his teeth and run all over the field playing with the ball, but now he doesn't bother so much with it. He did lift it out of the water yesterday though! It does help to stop the water freezing so much and sometimes when the water starts freezing, they can move the ball and drink from the hole the ball as made. I have took most of the ice out of the water on the photo opposite. The ball did stop nearly a quarter of the water freezing completely. Ollie, will move the ball around the water which is a plus! |
You do have to be careful when walking around the field, you could slip very easily. I have been wearing
wellies and they aren't the best for frozen ground as I have nearly slipped over a few times. This is the time I am worrying about the shelter for them. At the moment I am having to move homes and looking for a place to move to. I have packed quite a lot of stuff away and moved it to my mums place. Then with work
and trying to make items to sell and see to the horses has been hard work.
Plus the loss of my beautiful fur friends has took its toll on me. This year I will start making more money to put to the shelter. I know it will be impossible to get one this part of the year, but I WILL get the cash together for next winter. We normally get the snow at the end of January, early February. I am praying that we miss it this year, or we do not get it so bad. We have bee so lucky not to have had the
weather like last year. That was horrendous. It is not to long for spring now and that makes me feel so happy inside. There is nothing so beautiful as spring. To see all the buds on the trees and the flowers pushing up through the soil. It makes my heart happy.
TIPS FOR COLD WEATHER
Always make sure your horse has plenty of hay/haylage to eat when the weather is so cold. I have been giving the horses a small feed also.
Check that the water is free of ice. If you have a layer of ice, remove it for them to drink. When we were in the old field and I had low buckets of water outside the stable, the horses would hit the top of the ice with their hooves to break through the water to drink. If your water container is high, like mine, remove the ice, make sure you are wearing water proof gloves on top of gloves or your hand will feel like they are going to drop off! If at all possible try to add hot water to warm the warm up.
If your horse is wearing a rug, check it is dry inside and out or your horse will feel the cold more so and could get ill. It is always best to have a couple of rugs to change over. When, Paris, was able to stay out in the field at night, I would use a thicker rug to use and then change it over to a light weight rug in the morning. Never fold up the rug you have taken off. Lay it across a stable door or something similar to dry the rug.
Always check for tears in the rug. Repair any tears in the rug straight away otherwise water or damp will get into the rug and make your horse very cold and wet and with these cold temperatures, your horse will suffer for it. A needle and cotton is all you need.
Trying to poop pick is impossible in this weather. It is frozen to the ground but at least it helps to
kill the worms in the poop. When it starts to dry up it is best to arrow the field if you do not pick up the poop. Then the frost will help to kill of any worms. I always have the horses field arrowed when it is dry.
If you have any tips on frozen water then please send in your comments for me to add.
Enjoy your day and give your wonderful horse a (((Hug))) from me.