# :-( It's raining and my poor horse is shivering



## lupinfarm

I know you guys know I don't have a useable barn and that I was in a car accident recently. Unfortunately it started raining last night and continued into this morning with Mylie in the field and no blanket on (she won't let me put her brand spankin' new fancy blanket on, and anyway now she can't have it on until she dries off). If I hadn't been hit by that mail van, I would have been able to pick up some wood to finish off the walls on her run-in shed. Even with no roof the run-in shed would have provided a break from the rain that she desperately needs. I went down there to pick up feed pans for later, I'm making them hot bran mash tonight, and found Mylie eating hay shivering. I can't do ANYTHING to help her because we don't have the truck, and won't be able to switch the stupid rental Honda Civic until Monday. I have no barn to bring her into, and I can't finish the run-in shed without the truck. 

Is there ANYTHING I can do for her? Would it be a bad idea to put some tarps up on the fence to give her a small windbreak or would it just freak her out? I MAY be able to pick up some beetpulp, and a limited amount of feeds at the TSC, I have 12% sweetfeed, purina horse chow, a very small amount of cooking molasses, and some alfalfa hay. She is on a roundbale 24/7, which is now somewhat wet from the rain but she IS still eating it. I  cannot under any circumstances get a blanket on her, and now she's too wet to put one on her without her catching a chill.


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## freemotion

Hay free-choice is your best bet.  The fermentation in her gut will keep her warmer than anything else.  Don't load her up with grains and sweet stuff other than what she is used to.  You probably already offered her warm water....if she doesn't need to use body heat to warm it up, that will help....if she will drink warm water.

This must be driving you nuts.  It would drive me insane!  How long is it supposed to rain?  What is the temp there?  Has she ever worn a blanket?  Not too many blankets out there are really waterproof for more than a short while anyways.  If you can get a blanket on her, I would use a sweat scraper on her when it stops raining, and pile clean, dry straw or hay on her back and put a breathable blanket on over it.  Even a cotton summer sheet would work well with lots of straw stuffed under it.  This way it will create air space to trap her body heat while allowing evaporation to take place.

Shivering keeps her warm.  If she is still eating, that is a good sign.  If she starts looking depressed and lethargic, she may be getting dangerously cold.  Can you get her to move around a bit to warm up now and then?


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## FarmerChick

I take it there are NO OTHER buildings you can substitute as a stall?
well, if you could you would I am sure.

yea I am sure you are crazy over this, I would be.

just work on getting that run-in shed finsished as fast as you can.

wet, shivering, terrible weather etc horses eventually might get down on you.....do what you can to take care of the shelter as fast as you can.

sorry for the troubles...life just dosen't always go according to plan..I know!


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## lupinfarm

FarmerChick, we have an unusuable barn and that's all. It's FAR too low in headheight, there is NO stalls and it's actually dangerous for a horse to be in. And anyway, I can't pull her out of the field due to her still being nervous/uncomfortable around me. I wish I could get a blanket on her, she has a very nice Weatherbeeta 1200D, 220gram mid-weight hanging up at the house but she just isn't at that stage in our handling work that she wouldn't freak out at the blanket. 

I put a couple tarps on the fence, she's not too scared of them.. She took off at first but seemed interested in them afterward. If my run-in had been built in the field (it's not, it sits just outside the fenceline so she can't mess with the outside of it) then I could have put tarps on that and she may have used it. I gave her a hot bran mash around 4pm, she doesn't usually get grain but it seemed to warm her up quite a bit. She stopped shivering for a bit and even now it's not too bad.  I may go down and try to squeegee her later on so she's not as wet. 

Freemotion, I don't think even then we'd be able to get a blanket on her. She has a beautiful new blanket that I haven't managed to get on her yet. She panics, we're still working on her getting used to/comfortable with people again. She was wild when her last owner got her, was trained, wasn't wild after that but was left all year with NO interaction really with people and now is somewhat wild/fearful again. I'm working hard at getting her to be comfortable around us but it's not working that fast lol. 

She is shivering a bit, but she IS still eating like a pig and attached herself to her roundbale for about an hour. She even trotted up to me for a hot bran mash earlier which seemd to warm her up enough to stop shivering for a bit. 

I'll take hot water down for her water pail later, she WILL drink hot water and she usually has a heated muck bucket but I turned it off and took it out because we could lose power and that would do in the bucket. It's supposed to rain until tomorrow afternoon, light rain not hard rain... its mostly light but starts to just spit at some times and it does stop for a few minutes, or stops for an hour and then starts raining again. It's not really cold rain, I was out there in a hoodie and I wasn't COLD. And she HAS worn a blanket before, last year all winter because she was ridden but she's not being ridden because shes not safe to ride right now. But again, she isn't comfortable enough to let me blanket her yet without sedating her. She doesn't have the thickest coat ever, but she did grow some coat and has been fine in -25 celcius when its just dry out. I mean really, she's 4 years old, very healthy, big robust girl. If she isn't moving I can go down there and shake the lunge whip at her and get her to move around a bit at a walk. 

Our weather report has changed for the good it seems though. It was meant to be 1 degree Celcius overnight with mixed precipitation (light rain and 1-3cm of snow) and -7 degrees celcius by morning. NOW it reads 3 degrees Celcius with mixed precip. until the coldest part of the night, and then -1 celcius until Sunday afternoon when it will get somewhat sunny with wet snow at 3 degrees Celcius. So perhaps she'll be okay tonight with her big roundbale.


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## lupinfarm

This is our weather report...

http://www.theweathernetwork.com/weather/caon0411?ref=topnav_weather_savedcity

I don't know if that shows up but if it doesn't, type in Marmora, Ontario


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## lupinfarm

Well I was just out and it's probably about 3 or 4* degrees celcius, only raining a little now. I'm going down for night check at 10pm, 4am, and 7am to make sure she isn't cold still. It's supposed to dry off between 4am and 7am.


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## ksalvagno

Here's hoping the weather will dry up very soon and things will look up for you!


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## freemotion

If you aren't able to sleep tonight, I'd go out there when the rain stops and squeegee her.  If you get out there and she is already dry, take a rubber curry or similar tool and fluff up her coat.  If she is big-bodied (I think I remember her picture....) she'll be fine.  Sounds like she is doing ok, very interested in food, etc.  I hate to see any critter shivering!

Now that you said she needs sedating to get that blanket on, I would definitely NOT put a blanket on her, especially since you have no place to confine her while getting it on her, and you are injured.  She'll be fine.  You'll be a wreck, but she'll be fine!


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## lupinfarm

LOL she is indeed very big bodied. She actually had to be put on a diet when we got her, she was kind of enormous. I'm going to check on her in about 10 minutes, I may not be able to squeegee her in the dark so I may have to wait until the morning to do it.


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## freemotion

When I lived up North and managed a private horse farm, I learned not to do much grooming on the older horses who lived in run-in sheds in the winter.  The "dirt" in their coats made them very water-proof.  It took a lot of rain to get water to their skin.....and a lot of soap and about three baths to get the water to their skin with their first summer bath!

Just run a soft brush and your hands over her until spring and she will not likely get wet again...


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## lupinfarm

I don't know how long it has been since she was last groomed. She was muddy all fall and when I gave her a slight brushing about a week ago she was DUSTY. Her hair coat isn't thick like Luna's, but thats cause she was blanketed last winter because she was being ridden daily. I'll just keep an eye on her. We hopefully will be getting a rental pick-up truck on Monday and will be getting wood for the run-in shed sometime next week. Even if I had the walls up she'd be better off, even with no roof it's still useful for keeping the wind/rain off her.

Luna is happy as a clam though, LOL, she was trotting around throwing her head about all day having a ball whenever she saw me coming. Mylie DID trot over to me, and whenever she sees me on the driveway she starts walking over and she makes frequent trips to her roundbale.


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## lupinfarm

I just went down and did the 10pm night check on the horsies. Mylie isn't shivering anymore, it's got to be about 4* celcius out right now and it's hardly raining at all. When I was down there earlier she was soaked through, her whole face and all around her eyes was soaked but when I went down just now the hair around her eyes was dry, so she's drying off some. Her back and neck also looked a bit dryer. 

I'm going to leave off the 4am check since it should be dry out by then, but I'll go down at 7am and if she's a little wet I'll towel her down.


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## freemotion

Oh, good, she should have plenty of good clean dirt in her coat to help keep her dry longer at the skin.  Being blanketed last winter won't effect this winter's coat, but a good day or two of shivering will help her grow a thicker, longer coat to prepare for the coldest weather yet to come.

You'll probably just need to fluff her coat up at 7 AM.

It will be a relief to get that shed up!


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## lupinfarm

Yes it certainly will be a relief! It's really a shame because if I hadn't been in the car accident I had actually planned to get wood on Christmas Eve, or, we could have gotten it a couple days before. It's just I was hit by the mail van on Monday and we were planning on going to the dump then to the mill to buy some wood. *shrug*, Not everything can work out perfectly around here LOL. 

It's probably just going to be a shed with no roof, but walls done because we're a little short of cash right now. We needed a new oven because there is something really wrong with ours that could end up killing us so we bought a new one on boxing day, $1700 because of COURSE we have to have propane hookup  I love the gas range but they cost a fortune and it's stainless steel, not the one I wanted because the LG was $1700 before taxes and the GE was $1700 after taxes. But at least it's a new, nice, oven. 


ANYHOW, yeah I'm going to fluff her up a bit. She's fairly receptive to some light brushing, nothing too major and if I spend longer then 15 minutes brushing her she gets anxious. It's taken 2 months to get her to let me touch her even a little and I've done this all without a professional trainer at my disposal (I simply can't afford it). My trainer is coming out in May so that money that would go for a trainer NOW is going on a roundpen for May.

Mylie is my $700 horse LOL. That's hecka cheap in Ontario, I know you hear of horses going for $40 in the US all the time these days but you'd be lucky to find anything under $1000 around here. Mylie went cheap because she's unhandleable and young with little training but she has immense potential and great size.


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## freemotion

Can you secure a tarp to that shed so she can have some protection from winter rains and wet snow?  Although, in my experience, they do tend to stand out in the worst weather, given a choice!


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## lupinfarm

Not really, it's actually not IN the field. The shed is built outside the fenceline and the fence will be connected up to the front corners so she doesn't have access to the outside of it. I've got tarps on the fence but she decided once I put the tarps up that it was no longer her favourite spot to stand and moved back to her regular spot in the corner by where Luna's water bucket is. Silly horsey.

LOL I know right, about them not using shelters. I drove past a barn up on Highway 7 that was shelters in all fields and standing at the other end of the field is 7 VERY WET unblanketed paint horses just chillin' in the rain.


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## lupinfarm

My mum went down to see Mylie this morning and told me that Mylie isn't shivering at all and she's only a little wet on her bum and shoulder. I'm going down in a few minutes to feed Luna and change Mylie's water back over to the heated bucket before going grocery shopping so I'll check on her then too. But, it seems we have averted disaster LOL.


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## ducks4you

I would try tarps--at this point, ANYTHING to stop the wind would improve things.  Don't be concerned about her fear of things--if it makes it warmer she'll get over her fear fast--that's why horses are the only non-meat eating animal on the top 10 intelligence list, because they figure things out.  Is there anybody nearby that could keep her until you can get a shelter fixed for her?


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## lupinfarm

I put tarps up Ducksforyou, and she decided that she didn't want to stand there anymore -_- She was fine in the end. There is a boarding barn on my road but she's too dangerous to go to a barn right now and there is no way we'd get her on a trailer anyway, plus no one will trailer in icey conditions here.


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## ducks4you

lupinfarm, I found this article online for you:  
*Winter Weather Tips and Reminders for the Farm*
_http://www.hobbyfarms.com/hobby-farms-web-exclusives/winter-weather-tips.aspx#home_
Creating a Windbreak
Wintery winds make the frigid temperatures feel even colder. When you provide a windbreak, your animals will have a place to guard themselves from cold blasts of air. Here are some easy tips for creating a windbreak in the field for your outdoor animals:
	Establish a large growth of brush to serve as a natural wall. 
	Secure a heavy board against a fence. 
	Secure a piece of heavy canvas over a fence. 
	Purchase and/or build a manmade shelter. Several companies that offer animal shelters suited to this purpose include: 
o	Cameo Fencing; (800) 822-5426; www.cameofencing.com 
o	Clear Span, a division of FarmTek; (800) 327-6835; www.FarmTek.com 
o	QuickStructures; (866) 533-2333; www.quickstructures.com 
o	Noble Panels and Gates; (800) 437-3966; www.noblepanels.com 
o	EZ Hutch; (800) 837-8691 
o	Quick Stalls; (505) 453-4322; www.quickstalls.com 
o	Port-a-Hut; (800) 882-4884; www.port-a-hut.com 
o	AgStructures; (888) 281-9337; www.agstructures.com


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## lupinfarm

lol thanks!

I'm almost done the walls on her shed actually, tomorrow I'm starting the third wall and by the end of the weekend hopefully I can have the kick boards up and let her in. The roof won't be on yet but it'll be good enough for now. 

Sadly though, our truck is still messed up.


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## ducks4you

So Sorry!


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