Daily Poll: Horses & Winter?

[Reining Pony]

Winter is here and the snow is starting to fly regularly now; well in Canada anyways. Tonight is a normal night for myself, watching X Factor, on Facebook and on Y!A. I thought I could do a horse winter themed poll for everyone.

****PLEASE COPY AND PASTE THE QUESTIONS AND ANSWER THEM**** (Easier for me as well as everyone else to review them)

1.) Do you ride at all in the Winter (when it's more chilly out)?

2.) Do you have a feeding and riding schedule for your horse(s)? If so, explain when you feed and ride your horses and dodging it all with school/work/etc.

3.) What type of feed do you feed your horse? How much do you feed him/her? Is he/she at the right weight, a little chubby or needs to put some weight on?

4.) How much do you work your horse in the Winter? Do you ride indoors and/outdoors? Either or, how long do you ride for and what do you do with him/her?

5.) When turning your horse out and/or stabling him/her, do you blanket him/her just yet? If so, what type of blanket do you use (brand, thickness, etc). If you do not, why don't you just yet or even at all?

6.) When hauling your horse (no matter how long the ride is), do you blanket your horse in the trailer? Do you have him/her wear shipping boots? Wear anything else or even nothing at all?

7.) What does your horse wear out in the pasture? (Blanket him/her? Fly masks? Boots?) **Even though it's Winter.

Thanks for everyone answering my poll! (:

[Lazy-assedguide645]

Horses retire to their underground dens and hibernate in winter.

[Ilove]

horses do not hibernate in the winter!!!

[Hunter]

1.) Do you ride at all in the Winter (when it's more chilly out)?
Yes, unless it's like 20 below
2.) Do you have a feeding and riding schedule for your horse(s)? If so, explain when you feed and ride your horses and dodging it all with school/work/etc.
I don't feed until they're cool- like 45 min after riding
3.) What type of feed do you feed your horse? How much do you feed him/her? Is he/she at the right weight, a little chubby or needs to put some weight on?
My horses don't eat very much grain

4.) How much do you work your horse in the Winter? Do you ride indoors and/outdoors? Either or, how long do you ride for and what do you do with him/her?
I ride in and out. Approximately 30 min- jump or flat
5.) When turning your horse out and/or stabling him/her, do you blanket him/her just yet? If so, what type of blanket do you use (brand, thickness, etc). If you do not, why don't you just yet or even at all?yes- medium any brand!

6.) When hauling your horse (no matter how long the ride is), do you blanket your horse in the trailer? Do you have him/her wear shipping boots? Wear anything else or even nothing at all?
never hauled in the winter... but i always use wraps not boots
7.) What does your horse wear out in the pasture? (Blanket him/her? Fly masks? Boots?) **Even though it's Winter.
blanket and bell boots

[Smaug the Dragon]

1.) Do you ride at all in the Winter (when it's more chilly out)?
I barely do anything outside if it's chilly, never mind riding. But then, 40F is chilly for me. I've gotten used to 60F winters in the past ten years.

2.) Do you have a feeding and riding schedule for your horse(s)? If so, explain when you feed and ride your horses and dodging it all with school/work/etc.
24/7 hay. Supplement breakfast after I have my cereals. Grooming in the evening once the day has warmed up as much as it's going to. That's about all the routine we have.

3.) What type of feed do you feed your horse? How much do you feed him/her? Is he/she at the right weight, a little chubby or needs to put some weight on?

Nothing special. They get all the hay they want and I give them a few pounds of Purina Senior to mix their supplements in. They're both chub buckets.

4.) How much do you work your horse in the Winter? Do you ride indoors and/outdoors? Either or, how long do you ride for and what do you do with him/her?

If it's a nice day, we might go for a walk or lunge a little. Maybe work on some old exercises. Depends on the weather and if I've got stuff done that I needed to do. We usually do stuff for a minimum of one-two hours -- but it's not all exercise. I get them out, groom, walk, laze about, hand graze, test, yadda yadda. Then they can go do whatever they want to do and I can go do whatever I want to do.

5.) When turning your horse out and/or stabling him/her, do you blanket him/her just yet? If so, what type of blanket do you use (brand, thickness, etc). If you do not, why don't you just yet or even at all?

No. They blanket themselves for winter. It's the best kind of blanket because it's free, and made to the horse.

6.) When hauling your horse (no matter how long the ride is), do you blanket your horse in the trailer? Do you have him/her wear shipping boots? Wear anything else or even nothing at all?

They never go anywhere. We're all lazy.

7.) What does your horse wear out in the pasture? (Blanket him/her? Fly masks? Boots?) **Even though it's Winter.

They wear their dignity, but sometimes it's covered in mud.

[Leelee]

1.) Do you ride at all in the Winter (when it's more chilly out)?
i ride at least once a week in the winter if the weekends aren't too bad and its not snowing too much or anything. i would go after school but i get home at 4 and its pitch dark out at 4:30

2.) Do you have a feeding and riding schedule for your horse(s)? If so, explain when you feed and ride your horses and dodging it all with school/work/etc. i don't have any kind of schedule. my horse gets free access to hay pretty much all winter.

3.) What type of feed do you feed your horse? How much do you feed him/her? Is he/she at the right weight, a little chubby or needs to put some weight on? she's super chubby lol. she gets hay i think its an alphalph mix *my trainer buys all the food i don't really ask what type but i trust her she knows way more than i do* and thats pretty much it.

4.) How much do you work your horse in the Winter? Do you ride indoors and/outdoors? Either or, how long do you ride for and what do you do with him/her? i usually go for an hour or so. i ride outdoors in the snow. we don't have an indoor ring.

5.) When turning your horse out and/or stabling him/her, do you blanket him/her just yet? If so, what type of blanket do you use (brand, thickness, etc). If you do not, why don't you just yet or even at all? i don't blanket my horse at all. she grows a thick winter coats and doesn't need one.

6.) When hauling your horse (no matter how long the ride is), do you blanket your horse in the trailer? Do you have him/her wear shipping boots? Wear anything else or even nothing at all? I've only had my horse for 7 months so i haven't hauled her anywhere yet. she was already at my barn so i didn't even need to haul her. i generally don't put anything extra on though.

7.) What does your horse wear out in the pasture? (Blanket him/her? Fly masks? Boots?) **Even though it's Winter. absolutely nothing. except her fur

[Oreo Cheesecake]

1.) Do you ride at all in the Winter (when it's more chilly out)? I live in California, so yes. xD

2.) Do you have a feeding and riding schedule for your horse(s)? If so, explain when you feed and ride your horses and dodging it all with school/work/etc. My BO feeds in the morning and at night, but a lot of the time I end up feeding at night to pick up the slack. I go to school from 7:30 in the morning to 2:30 in the afternoon, so sometimes riding before it gets dark during the winter is a trick.

3.) What type of feed do you feed your horse? How much do you feed him/her? Is he/she at the right weight, a little chubby or needs to put some weight on? Alfalfa in the morning and grass at night, 4 flakes a day (2 in the morning, 2 at night) and 1 scoop of a rice/grain mixture as well. I'd say he's probably about the right weight currently, maybe a little chubby.

4.) How much do you work your horse in the Winter? Do you ride indoors and/outdoors? Either or, how long do you ride for and what do you do with him/her? Really, here in California, the biggest difference is we get a week or two of rain. I still ride outdoors, and I do my normal routine of leg yielding, w/t/c, turning on the haunches and forehand, playing games, whatever I wanna do basically. Usually an hour or two a day. I try to give him a day off once a week though.

5.) When turning your horse out and/or stabling him/her, do you blanket him/her just yet? If so, what type of blanket do you use (brand, thickness, etc). If you do not, why don't you just yet or even at all? Jag, with his furry winter coat, can handle Californian winters just fine without a blanket. (; I do have a blanket on my Christmas list though, just for piece of mind.

6.) When hauling your horse (no matter how long the ride is), do you blanket your horse in the trailer? Do you have him/her wear shipping boots? Wear anything else or even nothing at all? I haven't hauled Jag before, but whenever I hauled a lesson horse to a show we would make sure to have them where hoodies and blankets to keep them clean.

7.) What does your horse wear out in the pasture? (Blanket him/her? Fly masks? Boots?) **Even though it's Winter. Fly mask and that's it.

[burdfour]

1.) Do you ride at all in the Winter (when it's more chilly out)? unless it is below 50ish, I used to ride unless it was in the 30s, but I've gotten older and lazier

2.) Do you have a feeding and riding schedule for your horse(s)? If so, explain when you feed and ride your horses and dodging it all with school/work/etc. I'm retired so I ride anytime I like....I board, so they feed.

3.) What type of feed do you feed your horse? How much do you feed him/her? Is he/she at the right weight, a little chubby or needs to put some weight on? We feed Purina Strategy. I'd like to see her put on just a little more.

4.) How much do you work your horse in the Winter? Do you ride indoors and/outdoors? Either or, how long do you ride for and what do you do with him/her? Same as in summer, about 3 -4 days a week. No indoor, only outdoor....usually about an hour...we are schooling for western pleasure, so lots of gait changes, turns on fore and hind, lateral moves, and bending/counter bending, my legs get a work out.

5.) When turning your horse out and/or stabling him/her, do you blanket him/her just yet? If so, what type of blanket do you use (brand, thickness, etc). If you do not, why don't you just yet or even at all? I attempt to keep a show coat all winter, so in addition to a lighting program, I use a Schneiders heavy weight belly band blanket and hood if the temp drops below 65 degrees.

6.) When hauling your horse (no matter how long the ride is), do you blanket your horse in the trailer? Do you have him/her wear shipping boots? Wear anything else or even nothing at all? I blanket one layer lighter than whatever she was wearing in her stall....no shipping boots

7.) What does your horse wear out in the pasture? (Blanket him/her? Fly masks? Boots?) **Even though it's Winter. Depending on the temp, she wears a blanket.

[Kaitlin]

1.) Do you ride at all in the Winter (when it's more chilly out)? Yep, except when it's icy.

2.) Do you have a feeding and riding schedule for your horse(s)? If so, explain when you feed and ride your horses and dodging it all with school/work/etc. Not really actually

3.) What type of feed do you feed your horse? How much do you feed him/her? Is he/she at the right weight, a little chubby or needs to put some weight on? Alphalpha (can't spell to save my life ), have a constant supply, right wieght, some alittle under.

4.) How much do you work your horse in the Winter? Do you ride indoors and/outdoors? Either or, how long do you ride for and what do you do with him/her?As much as I can, most weekends, outdoors, I ride 3-4 hours. In winter I just do trailrides.

5.) When turning your horse out and/or stabling him/her, do you blanket him/her just yet? If so, what type of blanket do you use (brand, thickness, etc). If you do not, why don't you just yet or even at all?
No,I will soon probably.

6.) When hauling your horse (no matter how long the ride is), do you blanket your horse in the trailer? Do you have him/her wear shipping boots? Wear anything else or even nothing at all? No

7.) What does your horse wear out in the pasture? (Blanket him/her? Fly masks? Boots?) **Even though it's Winter. Blanket sometimes?

Just to clarify though I don't own a horse but I take care of 6 horses at a ranch I work at.

[Mariah R]

morning time wake up have a cup of coffee and a muffin. my daughter makes the best muffins and makes enough for all week long on the week ends. we go out feed do a quick stall clean while the horses are eating and then put them out if the weather is not suppose to be too bad. then my daughter goes to school. i go throw something in the crock pot.( i have a million crock pot recipes) then go get cleaned up time for work. when we get home my daughter and i feed and brush them while they eat. after we go have dinner for ourselves so the horses have time to digest. we have a small area we use as an indoor ring even though thats not whaat it is and play ride arouund sometimes with no tack at all and see who can control our horses best with just our seat. or we ride out side just depends. we ride bareback all the time since we are just poor country folk. the best is a midnight ride on new years. we feed field grass during the warm months and 1 coffee can of 12% two times a day and 2 flakes of hay at each feed. they are perfect weight. we dont blanket them nature takes care of that for me. and we dont trailer in the winter. we dont show so we just have fun. and ride all year long. we love to spend time with our best friends the horses.