Freezing Weather Horse Care Tips

This is a post I distributed to horse friends earlier this winter. I thought I should share it with my blog friends too.

In extreme cold weather help your horse by:
• Feeding more forage, such as hay and grass.
• Ensuring access to reasonably warm drinking water. (Use bucket or tank heater, or bring warm water out from your house at least 3 times per day.)
• Providing shelter and windbreak.
• Blanketing horse with a waterproof blanket if shelter is not available, horse is underweight, or otherwise vulnerable.
• Use a cooler blanket to properly cool down your horse after workouts so it does not become chilled.
Explanation:
Anytime your horse is exposed to severe weather the horse can develop health problems.
In colder weather, a horse burns more calories to generate body heat and maintain its normal core temperature. In the past, horse owners fed corn during the winter to help horses generate more body heat and reduce the stress of cold weather. However, a horse is able to generate more heat in the hindgut from the fermentation of forage, such as hay and grass. So increasing the amount of hay feed can help your horse more easily maintain its body temperature.


Check the food supplies in the pasture every day and make sure that the water left out for the horses doesn’t freeze. If you are concerned about your horse’s water bucket icing over, use heated water buckets available at most horse supply stores or feed stores to keep the buckets from freezing.

When the cold weather begins, horse owners can notice a greater frequency of impaction colic. One of the main causes of impaction colic can be dehydration from reduced water consumption, inadequate water availability, and eating hay (which only contains 10% water) rather than grass, which contains 80% water.

Making sure that horses have good access to unlimited warm water can help encourage horses to drink more and prevent impaction colic. When a horse drinks cold water, they must use extra energy to replace the heat lost to the chilling water, and they instinctively drink less. Adequate water intake ensures that the fiber in the digestive system stays hydrated, which allows it to be broken down by intestinal bacteria. Adding a free-choice mineral supplement or mixing salt, mineral supplements and electrolytes into a horse’s feed can also simulate a horse to drink more water. Providing adequate exercise also reduces colic by helping to aid gut motility.

Pay attention to the barn’s ventilation. Good air flow is even more vital than warmth to horses kept in a closed barn. Also, care should be taken when feeding hay to horses kept in enclosed barns. Horses that are fed hay from nets above their heads have more frequent respiratory problems than horses that eat hay from the ground or from hay nets hung low enough to allow the respiratory tract to drain down. However, be careful not to have the nets hung so low that a horse can get its legs tangled in them.
Add extra bedding to your horse's stall when it’s very cold to act as insulation
If your horse has a short coat or if it’s very cold where you are, make sure that your horse is blanketed during turnouts and that the blankets are securely and correctly fastened so that the horse will be safe. If your horse does wear a blanket, remove the blanket at least once every few days for grooming and to make sure that the horse’s coat isn’t dry or irritated because of the blanket. Wash blankets regularly.
Use a cooler to cool your horse down after riding in the winter. When a horse has been ridden and is all sweaty and warm it can catch a chill in the cold winter air or its muscles can stiffen up and cause problems. Using a cooler will allow your horse to cool down naturally without the risk of catching a chill. If you are not prepared to take time to properly cool down your horse, do not exercise it to the point where it becomes sweaty.
Horses deal with cold temperatures better than a lot of animals and many horses actually prefer to be outdoors in the cold weather rather than being stuck inside the barn. Don’t keep your horse locked in the stall all winter. Even if you are riding your horse regularly during the winter, give the horse a good amount of turn out time during the winter so that the horse can play outside and get some fresh air.

Content courtesy of http://www.horsehealthcare.info/horse-care-tips-for-cold-weather.html and http://www.horses-and-horse-information.com/articles/0102frozen.shtml