How cold is too cold?

Our mares are out 24x7 and the only time you ever see them shivering is when it is around freezing, raining, and windy...that's the combination that makes them coldest, and that's the only time you'll see them in their run in. Just the cold or snow doesn't bother them a bit.

Your friend doesn't know anything about horses. Do people really think that horses are that fragile? Do you get sick if you go out in below freezing weather? My horses have never had a blanket on in thier lives and for the last two weeks we have had highs below freezing. I have never had a horse get sick from the cold.

Min big horses are always outside with a section of the barn to come into whenever they want. My minis are also outside with a chicken coop to cuddle up in. IF he is used to being in a stall all the time then I might wait until you get him a blanket but God made horses to be able to withstand most climates.


BTW, Make sure you feel at home at your barn, not like your horses care is out of your hands :)

My friend has had horses since she was teeny, and now that we're in college she has her set of "fixed" ways. I felt backed into a corner because the days I can't make it out to feed and clean his stall, she will come do it for me. I didn't want to deliberately do what she told me I shouldn't do and then her say she couldn't help me anymore. I doubt we're that immature at this age, but small things like that worry me... if she is helping me out on a daily basis, I do want to make her feel that her advice is being taken to heart.

Regardless, I let him out and I have never seen a horse buck so "over the top" in my life! He was very happy to be out and about. I figured he would be fine, horses are horses. I live in the deep south anyways, it doesn't get THAT cold here. 25F is very, very cold for Memphis.