To maximize the benefits of winter turnout and keep your horse safe and healthy, you will need to provide additional resources than you would the rest of the year and be proactive in protecting against seasonal hazards. Your efforts will be rewarded by your horse's good health and contentment during the winter months.
1. Feed lots of forage
One of a horse's primary mechanisms for dealing with cold weather is to stoke up his internal furnace. In cold weather, the hypothalamus, buried deep within the brain, signals the adrenal glands to increase metabolism. As a result glycogen, fats, carbohydrates and protein are broken down more quickly and these chemical reactions generate heat deep within a horse's core, warming him from the inside out.
The best and safest fuel for this furnace is hay. Roughage takes longer to beak down, providing more sustained heat. Thus, when temperatures drop, offer your horse an extra flake or two of hay. Resist the temptation to increase your horse's grain ration as this could lead to colic and laminitis triggered by carbohydrate overload.
Ideally a horse at pasture, during winter, will have hay available at all times. If feeding off the ground is not practical using a hay-bag or box feeder is a good alternative. If you are unable to provide free-choice hay, make sure your horse never goes for more than four hours without access to forage, even if it means venturing down to the paddock just before bedtime to give him a few more flakes.
2. Provide shelter
Horses do not need to be indoors during winter, but they do require protection from the elements, specifically wind and precipitation that undermine the insulation of their winter coats.
Shelters can be simple: In milder climates, a single wall or stand of evergreen trees might be all horses need to block prevailing winds. If winds and variable, a three-section windbreak with walls arranged around a center post (like wheel spokes) allows horses to choose which section offers the most protection.
If rain or sleet is the winter norm in your area, provide a shelter with a roof as well. The best protection is a simple, three-sided shed topped with a roof that directs water away from the entrance. Ideally, the structure should be located on ground that drains well with its back wall facing the prevailing wind.
If heavy snows are common in your area, make sure your shed is strong enough to withstand an accumulation. A steeply pitched roof, sloping away from the shed entrance, can help snow slide off before is becomes too weighty.
3. Blanket mindfully
Equine outerwear can serve an important role in keeping horses warm and dry while turned out. Look for a waterproof blanket that protects the horse against average winter temperatures without causing him to become overheated. A horse sweating under a blanket in winter can catch a dangerous chill. With the large variety in blanket materials and styles available, it shouldn't be too difficult to match the best blanket to a particular horse and its environment.
The use of turnout blankets does require frequent monitoring on your part. You will need to check your horse daily to ensure the blanket is in good condition (tears or dangling straps can catch on a hoof or leg and cause injury), look closely under the blanket for signs of irritation, pressure sores, rainrot and even lice.
4. Minimize mud where you can
In areas where the ground does not stay frozen for long periods, winter means mud, mud and more mud. Mud can cause muscle and ligament strains and even pull off shoes - not by sucking them off, but by forcing horses to overstep onto their own heels.
Of course, it is best to prevent mud from forming in the first place. This means limiting the number of horses on each pasture, cultivation a good growth of grass during warmer months and properly grading areas where horses congregate such as around gates, water troughs and their shelter.
The ideal, of course, is often unattainable, but you can minimize mud that has already taken hold by adding porous material to the soil and facilitating drainage. For example, spreading "crusher run" gravel in low-lying muddy spots will firm up the footing and raise the area to reduce the amount of water that collects. Avoid spreading wood chips or mulch on muddy areas because these materials will break down and make the quagmire deeper.
5. Look out for ice
Although mud is annoying, ice can be deadly. A slip on ice can injure tendons or even break bones. Bare hooves offer little traction on a hard, slick surface and hoseshoes only make it worse, unless they are outfitted with ice studs or borium.
The easiest defense against large patches of ice is to keep water from pooling in your pasture. By using drains, grading and gravel, you can keep water from pooling. This, though, has to be done before freezing temperatures arrive. * Be aware that it is illegal to drain wetlands (generally defined as any area saturated long enough to sustain wetland vegetation). If you are unsure of the status of you boggy area, contact your local department of natural resources.
If you find yourself with a large frozen puddle in the pasture, assess how dangerous it is. Usually horses will avoid frozen patches when they can, however, if the ice patch is blocking their access to food, water and/or shelter, you MUST take action - either move the resources to a different area or fence off the ice. It is a good idea to keep bags of non-clumping cat litter on hand to keep your path to the barn and pasture gates safer. Should a horse wander onto an icy area you can give them traction by spreading the cat litter around them and creating a path to safety.
When sleet or freezing rain cover an entire paddock with ice, horses who are already out will typically stay safely inside a run-in shelter until footing is safe, provided they have food and water. To get there resources to them, you will need footwear that provides traction and a sled or makeshift skid that allows you to pull your load behind you. If there are horses in a barn during an ice storm, hold off turnout until the conditions improve. Look for other ways to keep the horses moving such as turning them loose in an indoor arena or walking them up and down the barn aisle.
6. Keep the water flowing
Reduced water consumption in winter can significantly increase a horse's colic risk. Keeping fresh, clean water available when horses are turned out in freezing (and below) temperatures can be a challenge.
Automatic pasture waterers designed to keep water flowing are a great solution and require your watchful eye to ensure they are operating properly. To keep water drinkable in traditional tanks, you will need water heaters, installed and turned on before the temperature drops. Should you forget to set up your tank heater ahead of time and the water freezes solid, you will have extra work to do to ensure your horse has water to drink. Even if the horses come in at night to heated water buckets, they must have water available during turnout time.
Be sure to encourage your horse to drink. Studies show that equine water intake drops in colder weather and when the water itself is extremely cold. Monitor the water level in your trough to see whether your horse is drinking. Some automatic waterers have meters that enable you to check consumption. In addition, you can check your horse's for dehydration with a skin-pinch or capillary refill test.
If you think your horse is not drinking enough, you might trigger his thirst by adding electrolytes to his feed. Another way of increasing a horse's fluid intake is feeding warm, wet mashes of beet pulp, oatmeal and bran.
** follow the link to a previous post by WAGS Organics regarding equine hydration**
7. Protect their eyes
Although insects are long gone, your horse's fly mask can still be useful this winter. Gusting winds an pick up fine dirt and debris and carry it directly into your horse's eyes. Conjunctivitis, inflammation of the sensitive membranes around the eyes, is common where conditions are very dry and windy.
Any horse with a history of eye irritation should be turned out with a flay mask if windy weather is predicted. Masks also benefit horses with uveitis or cataracts who may find the "snow glare" annoying or painful. In these cases, a dark fly mask or one with very fine mesh can serve the same purpose that sunglasses do for skiers.
8. Shoe wisely
Wet snow can quickly accumulate between the branches of a horseshoe, melt slightly with the horse's body heat and then refreeze. The resulting trapped ice can strain tendons or cause a horse to fall. A thick layer of petroleum jelly can prevent snow and ice balls from forming, a better and longer-term solution are snowball pads that pop out accumulated snow with each step.
Always check with your farrier for the most effective options for your horse given its specific hoof health and winter living environment.
Now that you are cozy and warm in the house, the last thing you might want to do is pull your boots back on and head down to the pasture to make sure the water trough hasn't frozen over. No one will fault you for grumbling under your breath, but your efforts to preserve your horse's turnout time this winter can be repaid when you are able to look out the window to see a happy, healthy horse frolicking in fresh snow - and knowing that they wouldn't have it any other way.
The opinions, suggestions and advice shared within this blog are based upon the writer's experience.
You are encouraged to consult your veterinarian and other animal health professionals to determine the most appropriate line of action for your specific needs.
