This will probably annoy every single person that lives north of like… Oklahoma… but Texas is about to be plunged into a particularly nasty cold front and I am not here for it.
Especially since last week it was like 83 degrees and I was sweating my ladyballs off. Look, Texas, you’re miserable AF from May through October, please at least have the decency to only have one day of “winter” per year. You used up that day a month ago when it snowed (which was cute and wonderful, because it literally only lasted the one day).
You know what’s not cute? This.
Or, up where where Presto is, the forecast is even worse.
What the actual eff? Hard pass. HARD. PASS.
One perk, I suppose, if you’re making me look on the bright side, is that I finally get to bust out Henry’s PS of Sweden quarter sheet that I got from their outlet last year. At least his ass will be warm while my face freezes off?
Although honestly I don’t think my horses have the right blankets for this kind of weather. It’s not really a thing here. A few nights below freezing scattered throughout a few month time period? Sure. But several days in a row, and well below freezing? Is it REALLY gonna snow again? Girl, no. Get outta here with that. Where Presto is living at the moment won’t even get above freezing for FOUR DAYS IN A ROW. In Texas! And nights down to SIX? SIIIIIIX??? WTF EVEN IS SIX??? WHAT DOES THAT FEEL LIKE??? It’s a good thing Presto runs warm, I guess, but probably not that warm. Now I feel like a terrible mother for not sending him with real heavy blankets, but I’ve legit never had to blanket a horse in Texas for temperatures like that. Not even close. My horse’s “heavy” blankets are 250g and they usually don’t wear them very much.
Which just kind of makes me think that the universe is trying to tell me that I SHOULD totally buy one of the new Pony-O blankets in an actual heavyweight. This is a sign, right?
Thank goodness I do at least still have Henry’s old HUG midweight, so I can layer both together for him. I’ve only got a no-fill neck cover though. It definitely makes me glad that I was too lazy to re-body clip him again in January… he’s got a little bit of coat back at least. Quinnie is covered in a shag carpet and isn’t even comfortable until it’s 40 or below, so she’s less of a concern. She’ll be fine in her blanket. I’m sitting here thinking I should try to Prime a liner to Presto. They’ve got one on Corro too that could def arrive in time but my options are 75 and 81, and Presto is in a 78. Anyone know how the Horseware (or Shires) liners run?
I honestly don’t know how you real winter people do this. I mean I guess the plus side is that y’all don’t have 6 months of godawful heat, but still. I can’t really decide which is worse.
If anyone needs me I’ll be outside winterproofing my t!ny h0use and the barn, grumbling incessantly about how I don’t sweat my tits off half of the year just to freeze them off this severely in the winter. We really need to talk about this climate change thing.
breedrideevent.com 
Horseware blankets in general run a bit big…my guy is a solid 84” but he’s an 81” in anything Rambo or Amigo.
Layers are your friend!!! Sheet + medium = heavyweight in my barn. We’re New Englanders living in VA so we have allll the winter gear but a lot of people here don’t have heavyweights and their horses are still alive to tell the tale.
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I just Primed a liner to Presto so he can have it under his mid-weight. Henry will layer his two mid-weights! Horrid. This is horrid.
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Haha here in Vermont it gets to feels like -20 and you start to wish you had two heavys to layer your horse in!
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Ewwwwwwwww that’s a no for me
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same in TN. I am over it. We have an ice storm moving in over nite but tomorrow will be a balmy 34 high. Then Friday thru the end of time (really until Monday) will be high 20 maybe with low in 10s or lower. AND theneven all next week have nonstop rain (or snow) and lows in 30s. SO that is going to be real fun. MY horse wont get out again for a week due to mud and muck and cold. UGH.
Saying that i offered to help feed tnite in cold icy conditions just so i can layer Remus up with all his layers. The barn is cold and airy so trying to think if i am taking my 200 liner out and putting his 100 gram on with it OR if i am going to break the heavy out that is hanging in the garage. The cold will be sustained for about 4 days in the lows so he wont be sweating. I love my boarding barn but also like dressing my horse as I like him when it is dropping.
All this to say i am over this freaking cold ass weather. I cant even deal with it. Our house heat runs constantly and the electric bill is crazy but it is cold as F out. UGH.
oH and snow called here for next mon-weds. So shoot me now. I am waiting for toads to fall from sky next!! UGH
Stay warm and safe!! I agree with layers!!
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sorry Horseware liners. I have a 200 in a 78. Wonder if i could drop ship it to Presto LMAO. I havent even opened it yet.
ALSO the size is true. Remus is a 78 and Horseware 78 fit him PERFECT so I guess it depends on the horse (saw someone else said they ran big).
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I agree with true to size. The majority of Peter’s blankets are Horseware (Rambo with one Amigo) and he is an 81″ across all and wears an 81″ in the 2 other brands I have for him.
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Yeah, you’re not getting much sympathy from me here in Colorado…..your forecast for next week is our seasonal weather this time of year. I did a 10-mile ride yesterday because it was “nice”: about 25 and sunny. Pony had her quarter sheet on (she only has a trace clip but is a thin-skinned Arab with no body fat), I had allll the winter gear on, and we were both kind of hot. We’re not supposed to get above freezing again until Tuesday or Wednesday next week. And we’re not nearly so bad as the Midwest!
I have a friend who lives in north Texas (northwest of Fort Worth, nearish Decatur) who posted on Facebook asking for suggestions to keep warm and safe while riding. I gave her my layering suggestions, and she responded, “You’re my inspiration, you ride all winter in the weather I’m complaining about for a week!”
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That’s normal in Colorado though lol. Not at all normal here! We’re acclimated to something quite different.
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All the Texans on my friends list freaking out about the “cold” makes me laugh because we haven’t had a “feels like” out of the negative or single digits for like 5 days now and won’t for the next 10+ days… *laughing so I don’t cry*
Changing Trigger’s bandage is impossible because its so cold the duct tape won’t stick together and falls apart trying to pull it off the roll. But I do understand that’s not “normal” weather for you guys, so I’ll think warm thoughts for your layered ponies 😉 and tiny house!
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You need a winter home in Florida
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In Alberta we are going in to day 6 of an extreme cold weather warning. It’s getting down to -40⁰ overnight. All of mine have between 600 and 1050g of blankets on!
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I have never even seen a 1050g blanket 😂
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Her 1050g horse doesn’t count because she is a freak of nature LOL.
Its allll about the layers because I dont think anyone makes more then a 450g outer. Alberta weather can suck it
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I’m picturing a horse all bundled up like that kid in A Christmas Story 😂
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That is essentially what they look like 😂
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Midwesterner here. Driving to the (thankfully heated, so it stays above freezing) barn yesterday a.m. it was -17 real temp. I didn’t look at the wind chill because I didn’t have the mental fortitude. I’m told it’ll be “really cold” this weekend with highs below 0. I’m supposed to be sweating a leg which feels like insult to irony. Fortunately none of the horses are clipped and we have heavies for everyone so they still spend a lot of time outside.
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*Laughs in Minnesotan* we practically threw a celebration when it was in the single positive digit yesterday and today. Last weekend it was below zero temperatures and the temp with windchill was in the negative 30s, and the diesel tank froze. But the horses are doing fine, with lots of extra hay and plenty of water and shelter. The draft horses especially are living their best lives, they’re built for this sort of thing. My senior Anglo-Arab is handling it ok with his heavyweight blanket and a hay buffet, and is just maintaining his weight.
But now we’re getting even more hot and humid days in the summer, so we have temperature swings of 130+ degrees over the course of the year. So we have year-round weather complaints up here.
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Take your hottest days and give yourself 5 straight months of it and then you’re at Texas Hell level lol. I dunno how y’all do this with cold for months on end though. I think it’s worse.
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My little commuter car needs to go into the shop for (probably) some new brakes, and I had contemplated doing that this week and just driving my diesel truck all week. Then I looked at the weather and said, “Mmm, not the weather I want to try to cold-start my diesel in when I need it to get to work…..I can get another week out of these brakes!” I have no way of plugging in said diesel truck, so it’s a real concern!
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1) lol that would be an amazing heat wave for us right now
2) if it’s a temporary cold snap you’ll be better off just stuffing them full of hay than worrying TOO much about layering. digestion generates heat, extra hay (especially the chewy first cut stuff if you have it) can help more than a blanket. if horses aren’t used to breaking ice in water buckets you can add hot water to keep the water lukewarm too.
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They always have hay in front of them when they’re inside anyway. We’ve already got grass in the pastures! It’s been spring for a month. 😂
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…green grass? my brain is breaking a little bit right now.
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Ours is green December through May/June since that’s our “not surface of the sun” season 😂. It’s burnt to a crisp the rest of the time.
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Told the shoer this morning…you know its been cold when 6f is a heatwave and we’re going with the Rambo Lightweights, LOL! And thats the only good thing to come from Chicago Winters!
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When I had a horse in Minnesota he stayed out 24/7 (his previous owner had neglected him in his stall for months so he had a lot of stall fear for a long time) and in the winter his coat would no joke grow to 4” long fur. So even in the worst of it I’d toss a medium weight on him and he was happy as a clam. I would ride bareback occasionally (and very very lightly to avoid any sweat whatsoever) to heat my own bum and when I got off it looked like I had full seat breeches where the full seat was made of fur lol.
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(Shedding season was a fucking nightmare though)
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And don’t forget the humidity. Skin can’t breath, horse or human. LOL
Next some Canadians or people in upper North Dakota will log on to tell everyone “oh they don’t need blankets at 10 degrees”! Since that’s kind of late fall weather up there, I guess.
I think it was last year that I pointed out to one such person on FB that my horse, who has lived all his short life south of Nacogdoches (not that they know where that is), had never before experienced actual freezing temps, or really anything close.
Mine has been shedding like mad since mid-January, he has only a base layer of winter coat left. But we’re ready to layer blankets, and last year I got him a just-in-case neck cover, on sale at the end of the winter season. 🙂
It’s been so mild, I was thinking maybe they canceled winter … but here we go. Fingers crossed it’s just this one week.
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Yeah, mine are shedding a lot already too! They are def not acclimated to temps like this, so I’ll be blanketing them for sure. Luckily I can easily keep an eye on them and adjust as needed. Gonna be a super gross next-5-days though. Yuck.
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I don’t know… Somehow on Sunday you got our original temperatures. 2 days ago it was going to be 8. Now they’re saying 24… Thanks! You can keep it!
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NO TAKE IT BACK
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I am not far north of where Presto is, and I’m just… no. Nope. This is Not On. I want a refund. I told my New Englander friends to take their BS weather back; I don’t want it. lol
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This is it. 2021. Hell literally is freezing over.
Forecast for Tuesday Feb. 16 is 7F, and ***maybe even*** below zero on the thermometer (here where it snows once every 10 years, actually, literally). (Do thermometers go that low?)
TIP FOR Y’ALL : DRAIN YOUR PIPES before the hardest freeze. Y’all here in the south, the outside pipes and city water system is not set low enough into the earth for this weather, and WATER IN PIPES. WILL. FREEZE. The water expands as it freezes, just like ice cubes, and that’s when things happen inside pipes. .
Some people leave pipes dripping with hot water in an attempt to keep warmth below. Drain first, then drip.
If you do not drain your pipes, you will have towers of ice sticking up from your drains into your sinks, as well as bursting pipes. I saw this once before when I was a kid here.
Normally our earth remains well above freezing even on sub-freezing days in this geographic region. But those temps will freeze it.
Good luck all !!!!!!!!
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I don’t wanna talk about it.
Horseware runs a little long. I have 81s for my full sized boys and they’re a bit long over the butt, but the smaller ones make Eros look like a fat guy in a little coat… I don’t think they mind the extra warmth over their butt though. I’d rather longer than too short I think. For reference, they generally wear 80’s in other brands for a perfect fit.
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I ended up with a Shires since it was the only one I could get to him in time without paying insane shipping fees. I just bought it slightly big since the options were limited.
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