How we handle rapidly changing weather

 So in NC pre-winter Mother Nature is a bit Bi-polar. It is not unheard of to have temperature swings of 40 - 60 degrees within a 24 hour period. We also get frequent and random HEAVY (3+ inch) rainstorms that come through.  Anyone with horses knows that these yoyo weather events can really upset a horse's digestive systems. 

I am *lucky* to have two very sensitive horses.  Dutch will go off his feed if you look at him funny, and Uno has issues with diarrhea and has had seasonal gas colic before. Yay! As an anxious over-planner, this is the perfect storm of things for me to obsessively monitor.

We go through this period every fall and I have found a few things that at the very least give me better peace of mind.

Turn out:

In the fall and winter horses go out in our bigger pastures during the day and spend the night in the dry lot with the donkeys. There is not a ton of grass (our rye and fescue did not thrive this fall IDK why yet), but there is enough to keep them busy for the 6 -8 hours they spend out there.  We rotate fields every two weeks and it seems to keep enough green alive and not overgrazed.

When the weather is gross I have found that the small area we made totally by accident in planning our barn stays nice and drains quickly.  We ended up with a small 30'x60' ish area between the barn and the back gate that I like to use to allow the horses to get out and move around in bad weather. Since Dutch stocks up, and Uno gets crazy too much energy when stalled 24/7 I use this area when I am cleaning stalls, or during short breaks in the rain to allow the horses to move freely and play a bit.

I have found that even as little as 15 - 30 minutes "out" each day makes a big difference in how much the horses eat and drink.

Feed:

This is where I go a bit crazy.  My horses' typical diet is weighed amounts of Purina Ultium and Alfalfa pellets along with their supplements.  Their round bale is a fescue and orchard grass blend and we feed orchard grass small squares in slow feed nets in the stalls.  As we approach winter I add flax oil to help with coat and weight, and vit E since much of our pasture is summer grass. Sometime between Thanksgiving and the New Year when the real temperature Yo-yo starts I make the following adjustments:  I replace up to 1 pound of the ultium with up to 2 pounds of the Triple Crown Stress Free Forage.

This has helped a lot with my two biggest winter feed issues - 1: Dutch hates electrolytes but also is a poor drinker.  2: Uno tends to get water-y poo when we have storms that keep them inside all day.  This is HIGHLY tastey and low enough in NSCs that I can also give it to the little donks to sneak in any meds or electrolytes that they might need.

This means that a typical meal consists of:

Dutch: 2.5 pounds Ultium, Flax Oil, Vit E, Acti-Flex, Farrier's Formula, Electrolytes, and .5 pound of Stress Free mixed with hot water.

Uno: 2 pounds Ultium, Flax Oil, Vit E, Acti-Flex, TriAmino, Electrolytes, and .5 pound of Stress Free mixed with hot water.

Fred and Steve: Split 1/4 pound Stress Free with electrolytes dry.

This only works because I am the one to feed my horses 99% of the time, and when I am not feeding I prep their meals ahead of time and leave detailed notes at home.

When the weather drops below 20 degrees I also add a flake alfalfa hay to the horses' hay bags AM and PM.

Water:

My biggest and probably most effective winter routine is heating my stock tanks. Growing up in Chicago my LEAST favorite barn chore was breaking the ice of the water tanks and buckets.  Being in charge of my own farm I immediately put heaters on all our outside stock tanks.  

This may seem like over kill to most people, but these small changes are the difference between Dutch looking like this at the end of winter:

I know this was after a bad COPD season, but his dramatic weight fluxuations happen whenever anything keeps him off his feed.

And this:

Right before we moved in Dec of last year.

Does anyone else go way over the top in managing weather changes for their horses?