For those of you with horses in Canada, how do you cope with the winters?

Depends where you are in Canada, it is quite a big place with a diverse climate. Canada is 40 times the size of Britain. We cope fine with the winter and the horses do just fine as well. Thanks for asking.

A couple of photos from Boxing day last year ... they do fine here but there's usually only snow on the ground for a few weeks a year anyway (thank gawd )

There's real winter here, months of snow. We blanket when it's going to be below -15C and bring them in if there's going to be freezing rain. Otherwise they live out and cope better with the cold than the extreme heat of summer. The major problem is keeping the water lines working; carrying water is no fun at all.

Lots of pictures on the blog e.g.

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_Wd4mFLjWd8...h/IMG_5242.JPG

This is a Canadian horse discussion board, it may help:

http://www.equiman.com/

This is an American one with lots of posters in Canada or similarly cold states:

http://www.chronicleforums.com/Forum/


And, for the person who clicked on the picture and complimented me on my ass, thanks, I know he's beautiful and it is my best feature.

Here in NB keeping horses is a challenge at times.
I don't have an indoor school so for the last two winters I have had to stop riding for around 4 months.
This summer has been very wet and since the rain eased up the humidity and mosquitoes have made riding more of a chore than the pleasure that it usually is.
But that is unusual, the summer and fall are normally good.

We board c40 horses, roughly 50% live outdoors 12 mths of the year, the others are stabled and come in over night. Winter's not really a big deal in the southern interior of BC. They're rugged up mostly, though some owners are happy for them to grow their coats and they cope fine too, though cooling them off after a ride is more time consuming.

Our water lines are buried 6ft deep, so well below the frost layer, and heated/insulated water troughs ensure water remains unfrozen, though the cost of running 30 of them in the depths of winter is a little eye watering.

here, we have some excellent modelling skills by Stan.


and the other, is one i made earlier

I am from southern Ont, had horses for years, and we have lots of snow to contend with. My mare was a bit heavie, so she was out all year...the only time I ever brought them in was during ice storm,
they had thick woods for cover never put blanket on them, they had enough hair to keep warm, keep their bellies full, and as long as there is some outdoor cover, they will be fine!