Anyone here use heat lamps?

[mydaddysjag]

If you're worried about them being cold try bedding them extra deep, feeding extra hay, using blankets, giving them warm water, or even turning heatlamps on ONLY when you are in the barn. Also, make sure that after they are turned out they are dryed off when they come back in.

 

[MiniHoofBeats]

Thanks everyone for your opinions! I really appreciate hearing the voices from both sides, and hearing from those of you who are in the negative double digits like we are in WI!

I did just want to comment that when I mentioned seeing horses outside and miserable in the cold, I didn't mean healthy, well fed horses with lots of hair! There are a few farms around here where I truly feel bad...one is a Belgian draft horse farm, they keep their draft horses separated in small 15x15 pens with NO shelter and only once have I seen a blanket on ONE of them...it saddens me to see them whether smouldering sun, pelting rain, or freezing cold they stand alone in those tiny pens...there's also a farm or two that are just very poorly kept and you can drive by and see the horses huddled in groups with no shelter and I swear they're shivering. With good shelter and other bodies to huddle with, I can totally understand happy, healthy horses staying outside!

I hope that was explained better? I didn't mean to stereotype for "every horse kept outside" =)

 

[Humhill]

I think there's actually a law here where horses must be given some sort of shed or shelter, it's illegal to do otherwise.

Although, I've noticed that mant times, even when they have shelter, they won't go in it. They'll stand out in the rain and eat grass. Horses can be funny creatures....

 

[Matt73]

I have a heat lamp here at the farm that we use for the rabbits if they've kindled in the winter. I may need one for the new bundle and I was going to use it. However, with the straw I'm so paranoid. If I can find this at a store somewhere I'm getting it...it looks so much safer: http://www.premier1supplies.com/detail.php...6&cat_id=12

 

[Relic]

Our horses don't want for shelter it's there they just need to want to use it but opt to stand out in pouring rain drenched and looking like they are abused. Yet if the winds start because ours hate the wind you wouldn't even know horses lived here. For heat lamps NEVER had one bulb break years back and the pieces went flying and almost burned the barn down if we didn't have the hose and were right there..we use the rubber light bulbs in the big barn they don't shatter...

 

[Laura]

Just wondering for those of you who are like me, in the NEGATIVES...do you hang heat lamps in your stalls for the horses at night when it gets really cold? Or would you be more concerned about it possibly being a fire hazard?

[SIZE=12pt]When I have used them, I make sure they are suspended by the cord, not a clamp. I had one fall off a clamp one COLD winter when I had shown at the National Western Stock Show in Denver. All of my horses were show clipped in January and it got below 0 when we got home!![/SIZE]

The bulb LUCKILY fell into nice green bermuda I had used as extra top bedding, not the dry shavings underneath. The smell hit me when I walked into the barn late that night to check blankets. There was a charred circle of hay around the bulb. The only things that saved my horses were the hay/shavings moisture difference and that late night check.

I much prefer the Kalglo healters and they are WELL worth the money. If I have to use a heat lamp, I make VERY sure that it can't fall more than a few inches, is secure (by loosely wrapping the cord around a post above the lamp) and that it's above a matted/dirt floor, not a heavily bedded area.

I watch for the Kalglo heaters at local farm auctions and poultry or ratite sales.

Nice quality hay, free choice, a good shelter/wind break and fresh water will keep your horses warmer than heaters

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[SIZE=12pt]For heat lamps NEVER had one bulb break years back and the pieces went flying and almost burned the barn down if we didn't have the hose and were right there[/SIZE]

[SIZE=12pt]We also had this happen years ago with baby goats. It did blow the circuit breaker, which just meant we had a fire in the DARK to try to put out! Again, it was lucky we were there![/SIZE]