How to Care for Horses in Extreme Weather Conditions

Today, I want to discuss how to take care of your horse during extreme weather conditions. As horse owners, it’s crucial to prepare for various weather scenarios to ensure our horses remain safe and comfortable. If you find this guide helpful, please consider sharing it on social media to help other horse owners be prepared.

Understanding Extreme Weather and Horse Care

For those who don’t know, I lived in Oklahoma for four years before moving back to Virginia. Oklahoma is definitely known for its tornado season, and I learned some valuable lessons in Oklahoma—not only about tornadoes but also about flooding and other severe weather conditions. When it comes to owning horses, there are specific things you need to be aware of to keep them safe when the weather starts to get wild.

Caring for Your Horse in the Rain

This may be something that horse owners can easily overlook because horses are out in the rain all the time, especially if they live out 24/7 in the pasture. But sometimes, you get those seasons where it just rains way too much. I remember one year in Oklahoma was one of the wettest years on record. Usually, Oklahoma is really dry and has droughts, but this particular year wasn’t like that—it rained a lot.

Since my horse was used to living in the arid weather and terrain that Oklahoma typically has, I had to make sure I monitored him to see how he was handling the rain and how his body was reacting to it.

Provide Adequate Shelter

The first thing you want to do if you’re dealing with a lot of rain is make sure your horse has adequate shelter. This is for obvious reasons. If your horse wants to get out of the rain, they should have the option to go into a shelter. If they’re stabled, that’s great—just keep them out of the wet. If your horse gets too wet, it can cause them to get fungal infections or even cause them to get cold and chilled.

Cater to Your Horse’s Specific Needs

It’s always important to cater to your horse’s specific needs. All the horses I’ve ever had have always lived out 24/7, no matter what the weather was like. Tucker and one of my other horses did great; they could handle anything—the cold, the rain. But I had this Thoroughbred named Pepper who, if it would be like 60 degrees and rainy, she would start to shiver. She’s one that would need a turnout blanket on or would need to go into the stable because, for whatever reason, she just can’t handle the cold.

If you’re working with a horse like that, just make sure you cater to their needs. My main concern was I didn’t want Pepper to be outside freezing and miserable, so I would just put a turnout sheet on her or bring her in for the day.

Watch for Fungal Infections

I mentioned this earlier, but when it’s raining, you want to watch out for fungal infections on your horse. This can look like rain rot in the colder and winter months when your horse is starting to grow out their winter coat. When it rains, their long coat actually retains the moisture against their skin, and that’s what causes rain rot. If your horse is out in the rain and it’s those months where their coats are getting longer, you’re going to want to make sure you’re checking them for that.

Another fungal infection you need to be aware of, especially in wet environments, is thrush. And I sure do hate thrush; I think every horse owner does as well. Thrush is a fungal infection that happens in your horse’s hooves, and the fungus will eat away at their hooves and cause them to stink, and it will cause this black goo inside of them. You just want to make sure you treat that. There are a number of ways to treat it. I actually have a YouTube video about a certain product called Pure Sole that I use to treat thrush, and that product is awesome.

Horses’ feet are actually very sensitive in wet environments. When it’s wet outside, your horse’s hooves naturally become softer because they’re absorbing all that water. It’s a lot easier for them to absorb things into their hooves that they shouldn’t be absorbing, like the thrush fungus or some other kind of parasite or bacteria that can cause an abscess or just things like that. Their hooves will actually rot a lot faster in wet environments. That’s just something to be aware of. If you live in a wet environment, just be sure to check your horse’s feet on a regular basis and make sure that they’re not having any issues.

Caring for Your Horse in Snow

Now let’s talk about how to take care of your horse in snow. And by snow, I mean a lot of snow. One childhood memory that brings this to mind is when I boarded at a stable where the barn manager didn’t live on the property. There was someone who did live on the property, but they didn’t run the barn or anything. It was calling for some crazy snow in the forecast, and the barn manager ended up sleeping in the barn to ensure that she could tend to the horses the next morning.

Sure enough, it snowed like three feet, but she was there, so she didn’t have to worry about driving there in the snow, and she could take care of the horses. It’s important if snow is in the forecast to make sure that someone has access to the barn and the horses in that situation. If that means someone needs to stay at the barn for the night or stay at a house on the property or anything like that, you just want to arrange ahead of time for someone to be there to take care of the horses.

Consider Stabling and Shelter Safety

Depending on the amount of snow you’re getting, horses can get snowed in. If they’re in the stable, you may have to shovel them out and shovel them a path out of their stall so they can get to the pasture—just stuff like that. That’s why it’s important to be prepared for snow and crazy weather like that.

Another thing to keep in mind is that a lot of people like to stable their horses if there’s a lot of snow in the forecast. I completely understand this; I’d probably do the same thing. One thing that’s important is you need to make sure that wherever you’re stabling your horse, that barn has the ability to support the amount of snow that’s coming. The worst thing that could happen is you’re stabling your horse, it snows, and the roof collapses. So, you just want to make sure you know those things ahead of time before you arrange for your horse’s shelter.

Prevent Snowballs in Hooves

If you’re dealing with snow and horses, another thing to be aware of is that horses will get snowballs in their feet, especially if they have shoes on—it gets really bad. What this is, is the snow will pack into the horse’s hooves, and so they can literally be walking on like a foot of snow under their hoof, like this, and it looks horrible and painful. If you live in an area that you know is going to snow, one thing I did that kept those snowballs away in the horse’s hooves is before the winter season hit, I put pads in my horse’s horseshoes, and that pretty much keeps those snowballs out of their hooves.

Ensure Access to Food and Water

If a snowstorm is coming or it has snowed, you just want to make sure that your horse still has access to food and water. If there’s a lot of snow, you may need to shovel a path for the horses to get to their water, and also make sure that the water hasn’t frozen over so they can still drink it. Then you’re also just going to want to make sure that your horse has access to food, especially if they were before relying on grass that’s now covered in snow.

Actually, when it snows, usually it’s cold, and so if you’re wondering if your horse is going to be warm enough, if a horse has constant access to food, the majority of them will be fine because eating is what keeps them warm, and it helps them produce heat in their body. Just making sure they have enough food so that they can stay warm and that they can also get the nutrition they need.

Caring for Your Horse During Tornadoes

Now for the interesting and probably terrifying one: how to take care of a horse during a tornado. The last year that I’ve lived here in Oklahoma, I think it broke the records for the amount of tornadoes in a summer season. It was crazy—tornado sirens were going off every night. I went to the park, and the park had been destroyed; these huge trees had been ripped out of the ground.

Leave Horses in Open Pastures

You’re probably wondering, “Well, what the heck do you do with your horses in a tornado?” There’s not really a good answer. What I’ve heard from the news stations is it’s probably best to actually leave your horse out in the pasture rather than put them in the stable, just because in the pasture they can flee; they just have more room to go if they need to, rather than in a stable. If a tornado is heading for the stable, the tornado can just obliterate the barn. So, it’s best to keep them out in the pasture.

This is just a hard one because, on one hand, I want to put them in an area that has shelter and trees because I want them to be protected from the wind and the hail and the tornadoes. But at the same time, if you put them out in a field that has trees, those trees can become flying debris. It’s just a difficult situation altogether.

Prepare Ahead of Time

I think the best thing is to prepare ahead of time. I’ve actually seen people who have tornado shelters for their horses. It’s like this aisle that goes through their barn, and then it slopes down into the ground, and the horses can be led down into a bunker. If you have one of those, that’s awesome. I would just make sure beforehand that your horse is comfortable walking down there and being down there because I would hate for it to be a tornado watch, and you’re trying to lead your horse down there, and they’re refusing to go.

Identification

I’ve also heard that if there’s a tornado watch, either put a breakaway halter on your horse that has your phone number on it, braid an air tag into their mane, or write your number in a grease pen on your horse. That way, if you get separated, someone can contact you if they find them.

Caring for Your Horse During Floods

Another thing about Oklahoma—they have crazy floods, and we had crazy floods our last year there with the tornadoes, and it was a record-breaking season. It also made me very aware of having a plan if I needed to evacuate my horse.

Have an Evacuation Plan

That is my first point when it comes to dealing with horses and floods: have an evacuation plan. Have an idea where you want to evacuate your horse to. If you don’t have a trailer or a truck, have a plan on how you plan on getting them there. That will just save you a lot of stress if, God forbid, that situation happens. You’ll have this plan in place that you know you can follow, rather than having to just figure it out on the way, which would be terrifying.

Move to Higher Ground

If you’re caught on short notice around flooding, the best thing you can do is move your horse up to the highest property possible. I don’t know if y’all have heard of the Misty of Chincoteague story, but Misty is a famous horse from the coast of Virginia, where I’m from. They had a hurricane, and it was crazy flooding. They actually put the horses in a house because the house was on high ground, and they didn’t think that it would flood. So, they put their horse in the house; they filled this thing up with water and left hay, and then the people had to evacuate. But the horse was fine in the end, and she even gave birth to a foal in the house!

I guess the point of Misty of Chincoteague is just moving a horse up to the highest level. If you’re dedicated enough to put them in your house, then put them in your house—I know I would.

Ensure Adequate Supplies

Another thing is to have extra food on hand, just in case your horse gets trapped. Even if it’s kind of flooding around you, you still want to make sure your horse has access to adequate water and grazing or hay or just any kind of forage that they can eat.

Identification

Just like tornadoes, you’re probably going to want to put identification on your horse—whether, like I said, a breakaway halter with your phone number or writing in a grease pen. That way, if something happens and someone finds them, they can contact you.

Caring for Your Horse During Hailstorms

A big thing when it comes to dealing with your horse in a hailstorm is just making sure that they have secure shelter, whether you’re stabling them or if they’re out in the pasture and they have a run-in shed. If it was me and I knew a hailstorm was coming, I’d probably just be cautious and bring all my horses into the barn, just to make sure no one’s injured.

Caring for Your Horse During Fires

The last extreme situation I want to talk about when it comes to caring for your horse is if you’re caring for your horse and there’s a fire—whether it’s a forest fire, a wildfire, a bushfire. This is a scary situation, and it’s dangerous, and it may seem like one that’s pretty helpless, like if there’s a tornado. These are the hard situations because, in reality, when it comes down to it, you don’t know what the situation is going to be.

If you’ve actually gone through this and you have better points, please feel free to email me. This guide is about helping people, and I want to make sure that this is going to help people who have horses to create the best situation for the horse, even if that’s hard to do. That’s why we’re talking about this.

Have an Evacuation Plan

The biggest thing is having an evacuation plan. Even if it’s not fire season, just make sure you have a plan. If there’s a fire coming, what are you going to do? If your horse has to be evacuated, where are they going to go? If there is a fire, at what point do you choose to evacuate? How close are you going to evacuate? Because I’ve heard stories where there’s fire, and then people realize that the fire is just too close, and they don’t have time to get the horses and get out, which—that’s a sad situation, and it’s scary, but it’s real. This happens. Fires can just start.

There’s no blame on the people who have been in these situations because it’s a life-or-death situation, and you have to make the right choice. But that’s why it’s important to have an evacuation plan for your horse ahead of time.

Community Resources

I’m sure if you live in an area where fires are definitely a threat, you can start asking around in the community, and I’m sure people will have recommendations for this. I was just reading about the California fires back in around 2003, and a lot of horses got evacuated to some of the racetracks out there. Just researching things like that and knowing where to send your horse ahead of time will help give you peace of mind.

Final Thoughts

I know in these situations they’re scary, and sometimes they’re just random, and God forbid any of us have to go through them, but some of us have had to. For the sake of helping other horseback riders out there and other horse owners, if you have a tip for handling these situations with your horses, email me as I’d love to put together a more comprehensive resource to share.

Enhance Your Horse Care Knowledge

For more comprehensive information on general horse care, consider enrolling in My Horse Care: Keys To Success Course, where you can learn the vital information you need to confidently and correctly care for a horse.

Remember, being prepared is key to ensuring the safety and well-being of your horse during extreme weather conditions. Stay safe and keep your horses safe too!

Save this article to your “Horse Care” board on Pinterest, or share it to Facebook!