NEWS & ARTICLES : Winterize Your Horse

Winterize Your Horse – (originally published in PetFolio magazine)

Your horse has special needs to consider during harsh winter months.

As the storm approaches, a band of wild horses huddles together up against a grove of junipers, heads down and tails to the winds…

A lone horse in a small pen with no shelter available begins to shiver, searching the ground for morsels of hay left over from its last meal, head down, tail to the wind…

What do these horses have in common? Well, along with their posture, they are horses having to deal with the elements of nature in a harsh winter climate.

What advantage do the wild horses have over the horse in the pen? They are free to roam and find a sheltered area, and there they can form a tightly knit group, adding to their chances of remaining comfortable and fairly warm throughout the storm. The horse in the pen is forced to remain out in the open, alone, where there is no chance of conserving energy and staying warm. He’s looking for additional food as a way to help himself survive it.

Winterizing your horse is important for your horse’s health and comfort, and it will help you sleep better at night knowing you’ve provided well for your horse. Here are a few tips to help you get started.

· Always allow access to a shelter of some sort. It may not be very cold (to your horse) but he will appreciate being able to get out of the winds. Wind is the number one reason a horse will shiver. It cuts through the multiple layers of a horse’s winter coat and saps the horse of warmth and energy. That heavy coat can hide the fact that the horse has lost weight and needs additional feed.

· Always keep a source of unfrozen water available. A primary source of colic in winter months is impaction colic caused by insufficient water consumption. 

· Keep up on hoof care with regular trimming and cleaning of the hoof to check for injuries, thrush or other potential problems. Even if you pull your horse’s shoes for the winter, proper hoof care will keep your horse comfortable and sound.

· If you choose to blanket your horse in the winter, it is up to you to diligently monitor the temperature outside, and check your horse to see if he is too hot under the blankets. A poorly fitting blanket will do more damage than good if it is left on the horse for any length of time. Horses do very well in frigid temperatures if allowed to grow their natural winter coat. What we consider cold, they find perfect! The primary reason to use a blanket is if your horse doesn’t have a shelter and there are strong, cold winds blowing. Otherwise, temperatures must get down well below freezing, and stay there, before it will bother your horse.

· Have your horse up to date on all vaccinations, deworming and teeth care prior to the onset of winter. A horse will utilize energy from its feed better, thus require less feed, if all of these things are in order.

· Many people feed their horses grain during the winter months, thinking it will help to keep them warmer. This is not true. Good quality grass hay actually does more to fuel the fire. The act of digesting it produces much more internal body heat than grain will.

These are just a few ways to help your horse survive the winter better. Winterize him, and he’ll come back better in the spring!
-Rebekka Rhodes

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