12/24/2022
We have had lots of questions about care of horses with the coming cold weather. It's important to remember that horses deal with the cold much better than we do, and much better than they deal with heat. Some points to consider:
Make sure that the water source is not frozen. Heated buckets or just breaking the ice in the trough as needed is fine.
You can encourage water intake by adding electrolytes or salt to your horse's feed. You can also try flavoring a bucket of water with apple juice, molasses, mints, etc....but always provide a plain bucket as well in case they do not like the flavor.
Don't overdo it with blanketing!! It is much safer for your horse to be cold for a few hours than hot/sweaty under a blanket. I have seen several horses colic from being over-blanketed; I've never seen one colic from being cold. A good rule of thumb is to blanket for the WARMEST part of the night/day. Most horses will do just fine with no blanket at all, as long as they have access to shelter from wind and rain. A very rough guideline is to use a sheet below 40 degrees, a medium-weight below 30 degrees, and a heavy weight or double below 20 degrees. This may need to be adjusted for wet, wind, sun, body condition, and coat length.
Plenty of good quality hay will help your horse stay warm from the inside out, since the gut is like an "internal furnace". HOWEVER, if your horse is not used to a large amount of hay, don't overdo it. This goes the same for increasing/changing grain or adding other feeds (like a bran mash). DIET CHANGE of any type is the number one cause of colic.
Along these same lines, if your horse isn't used to being inside, don't bring them in. Many pasture horses become very stressed inside and will not eat and/or drink normally.
If your horses do come into a barn, resist the urge to close it up tightly. Ventilation is very important. Dust and ammonia levels will increase dramatically and can cause respiratory disease.
Overall, just remember that horses generally tolerate the cold very well. If you have any questions or concerns, give us a call π₯Άπ
