WINTER CHILLIN’

By Michelle Beagle, RVT, Redwings board member

As winter approaches, your horse needs extra care. Here are some tips to help your horse get through the winter in comfort and health.

What to feed your horse is a personal decision. There are debates about feeding hot food, feeding for warmth, feeding less or more fiber. Your veterinarian and your feed nutritionist can help you.

Winter feeding must include plain white salt blocks to encourage regular drinking. When water ices over and horses become reluctant to drink the cold water, salt encourages them. This also helps prevent colic.

An old farmer’s trick is to put large rocks in water tanks to help retain a bit of daytime warmth which may prevent freezing over. You can also kept a floating piece of wood in the water. Horses can bump the wood for easier access to the water. In the morning, bring a hammer to crack any ice so your horse is able to drink right away.

Remove your horse’s blanket during the day so its skin gets air. Brush your horse a few times during a week, paying attention to areas the blanket is rubbing or areas where hair loss may indicate fungal infection. Change and clean blankets before they smell.

Cold weather burns calories. By late autumn, pastures have lost much of their vitamin and calorie content from being exposed to summer heat. Supplemental feeding of hay is important because a horse’s digestive system produces heat while digesting cellulose, the stem part of hay. This in turn helps raise the body temperature. Older horses aren’t able to process the thicker stems, so cubed hay may be more appropriate. An oat/alfalfa blend contains appropriate cellulose content.

You can feed your horse a combination of alfalfa and oat hay, the oat hay being fed at night so the cellulose-digesting “furnace” can keep the horse warm.

Many begin feeding a bit heavier in the fall so their horse can get a bit more weight for insulation. Don’t put on too much! Overweight horses can have serious health issues.

If higher caloric intake is needed, talk to your feed specialist or veterinarian before starting your horse on corn oil, rice bran, or any other calorie-raising feed. There are feeds and supplements which can be detrimental to certain horses.

Horses grow a thicker winter coat that should be brushed out more regularly, as a thicker coat tends to catch dirt and debris that can cause skin infections. This can occur especially after the first rains, when summer dirt remains on the skin.

If you need help deciding if your horse is at the right weight, ask your veterinarian or look on the Internet for equine body condition score charts. With a little extra attention, your horse will have a healthy winter.

>> Back to Equine Health

REDWINGS WEBCAM

Image updates each hour. Refresh your browser to see new images.