I stepped in dog poop again, which prompted me to fashion a shorter hose.
We have two dogs which create lots poop in the back yard. I stepped in some for the second night in a row and finally decided to create a short hose for quick shoe rinses.
The problem with a longer hose is we have to straighten out all 50 feet and make sure it's drained so water doesn't freeze inside (short term it's probably fine, but I want these hoses to last). So a quick spray of water turns into a bit of a chore.
This shorter hose is super easy to drain and hang. Good stuff.
There are splitters with valves that can be attached to the bib and give you a second option instead of filling the entire hose. Useful for filing a bucket or a short sprayer without needing to disconnect anything.
We have to disconnect everything from the spigot when it freezes. We have frost-free spigots which drain themselves when disconnected. In the summer a splitter like you're describing might be redundant, because I just leave everything connected and full of water. A quick spray is very easy that way.
I've never considered that the length of the hose matters in temperate climates subject to freezing. I've never lived in a place capable of experience natural freezing temperatures.
It's probably fine to just disconnect the hose from the spigot so the spigot doesn't freeze. Hoses are flexible and can probably handle a bit of expansion by the freezing water, but I'm sort of anal about wanting them empty. The short length just makes it really easy to empty the hose out.
Be careful with this, if you hang your hose coiled you can still get splits with water sitting in the coils freezing. Also make sure you drain any nozzles, those will start to leaks like crazy if you let them freeze with water in them at all.