Winter Horse Care

Winter horse care does not have to be complicated, but it does require a bit more planning and flexibility than in the warmer months.

How many calories?

Horses need MORE calories in the colder months to maintain their body temperature.

However, most of these calories should come from long stem forage, which provides much more heat production per pound than grains and processed feeds do.

Ideally a horse will be provided with as much grass-type hay/forage as he can eat during the winter months, but this is not always feasible.

The Importance of Water

The ideal situation is to have a heater of some kind that keeps the horse's water unfrozen and at a comfortable drinking temperature around the clock. However, various obstacles such as expense, lack of electrical outlets near water sources, and horses that insist on destroying anything in their reach often prohibit water heaters being installed for many horses.

If a water heater is not a viable option for your horse, there are some things you can do to keep water available for longer periods of time:

• Provide water in a larger container -- one large container will stay unfrozen longer than multiple smaller containers.
• Put a small football or basketball in the water container. This will help slow down the freezing of the surface, and also provide an area where the horse can more easily break the ice.
• Protect the container from the elements as much as possible.
• Position the container in the sunshine (yet still protected from wind and other elements) if possible, as the container (especially a dark container) will absorb heat from the sunshine and slightly delay freezing

Exercise

If possible, I like to turn out stabled horses into an indoor arena for winter exercise, as they are usually quite exciteable and this provides much safer footing for them than being out on slippery ice. However, this is not an option for many horse owners.

When there is no indoor exercise location available, I prefer to exercise my horses in as controlled an environment as possible. If the pastures/turn out areas are slippery at all, I will often opt to ride and/or longe instead of just simple turnout, as this allows me to keep them more controlled.

It is essential when exercising horses in the winter that you ensure they are completely cooled down before putting them away (especially if they are blanketed) to ensure that they do not become chilled by sweat trapped against their skin.

For pastured horses, exercise is somewhat easier, as the concern about them injuring themselves from running around is much less, since they are out continuously. I insure my pasture horses get adequate exercise by feeding my hay as far away as possible from the water tank. This ensures that they have to walk back and forth to the water/hay. I also spread the hay out a great deal, making twice as many piles as I do in the summer, just so the horses have to move around to get to all of it.