Horses and Cold Weather

Above, the horse I occasionally feed carrots. Her shelter
 is in the background at right. Photo by Armand Vaquer.

There are a number of neighbors who have horses here in Jamestown, New Mexico. I know virtually nothing about the care of horses.

I noticed that the horses in the area are usually outdoors in all weather. All of them I've seen do have shelters available to them. But I wondered, since I moved here, how can they stand frigid temperatures?

I checked with the American Association of Equine Practitioners and this is what they had to say:

It has been such a pleasant summer and beautiful fall; it is hard to believe that winter is just around the corner. But today, the wind shifted, and tonight, the temperature is going to dip down below freezing so it looks like winter is upon us. 

The good news is that horses are inherently well equipped to handle practically anything that winter can dish out as long as they have a way to get out of the wind. Their long winter hair coat traps air next to the skin, which helps insulate them against cold weather. In fact, horses in good body condition can withstand temperatures down to -40 degrees Fahrenheit without difficulty. 

However, problems can occur when strong winds ruffle the horse’s hair and disturb the insulating layer of warm air trapped beneath it. Wet weather, especially cold driving rain or sleet, can also flatten the hair coat, chilling the horse. To prevent this, make sure your horses have access to a simple shelter such as a three-sided, southerly facing shed or a heavy tree line that can serve as a windbreak. 

Many horse owners prefer to blanket their horses in cold weather, but placing a blanket on a horse with a heavy winter coat can compress the horse’s hair and reduce its natural insulating ability. The result is that the blanket might actually decrease the horse’s ability to ward off the cold. 

Horses that are body clipped or worked hard enough to sweat will benefit from a blanket. Blankets are also beneficial short term in extremely cold, wet weather.

I'm not planning on getting any horses, but I was curious about how they can withstand cold weather.

To read more, go here.