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Routine care of your horse doesn't
lessen
in the winter months. In fact, extra
care may be required to keep your horse
in good condition in cold weather. Cold and wet weather can cause problems with hooves, colic,
and stable
vices (such as cribbing).
Your horse's nutritional needs
also increases in cold weather.
.
Winter
Feeding
As the weather gets cold, horses use
more energy in staying warm.
Their food supplies that energy.Know in advance what you
are going to feed during the
upcoming winter
months. Waiting until after the first frost kills your summer pasture to decide on a
winter feeding program
can
be harmful to your horse. Fall pastures
were already declining in nutritional benefit, and the good
selection of winter hay
might be gone.
The first step in planning a winter diet for your horse is knowing
his nutrient needs.
In most cases, a combination of hay and
grain will be required to meet his nutritional
requirements. It is difficult to judge whether a horse with a heavy winter
coat is fat
or thin.
Feel for ribs on a regular basis, and adjust
the amount of feed if necessary. Horses tolerate cold quite well
if they are have
some shelter
from windy or wet conditions, but
they still may need a bit more feed in cold
weather. A horse
that does not have
access to shelter will need additional feed to meet its energy requirements.
Make
sure that vitamin and mineral requirements
are met as well.
Increasing hay or a forage diet is better than
increasing the grain to meet a horse's
increased energy requirements. Hay or forages
contain
more fiber
than grain, and more heat is produced digesting fiber
(hay)
than digesting grain. So providing the horse with as
much
hay as it
will consume without wasting is a good way to provide
extra energy.
Increasing hay also helps to provide adequate
roughage for the horse to avoid cribbing and other stable vices associated
with a lack
of roughage. If his desire to chew on something is not satisfied cribbing often begins during times of wet weather.
You should
provide
hay
free choice to satisfy these needs and avoid potential cribbing
problems.
However, during extremely cold conditions or a
cold spell for an extended
period of time, a horse may not be able to consume enough
hay to meet its energy needs. In that case, grain
supplementation may be necessary to meet those energy requirements.
But use
caution when adding grain. A sudden large increase in grain
can lead to colic and founder. When you're expecting
a long or wet cold
spell, gradually increase the horse's diet to
accommodate its projected cold weather energy requirements.
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Make sure you have quality hay and the right
grain and supplements to help your horse in the winter. |
Water-
Horses should always have access to fresh water. If thirsty,
they will lick snow, but it is very difficult for them to get
enough water
to survive this way, and they may colic or lose
weight. Although water intake is typically reduced during cold
spells, horses can still
be expected to drink eight to 12 gallons per day.
Ideally, water
should be warmed so that the horse will consume adequate amounts.
Water should be available at all times. A water heater is
the best solution for winter water needs. If you use an unheated water trough
make sure
to break the ice at least twice a day.
Impaction Colic
A problem that sometimes occurs in horses
during winter is impaction colic,
which is caused by not drinking enough
water. If a horse
is at pasture
with a water source that
freezes up, or his automatic waterer quits working, or his
tub of ice is not dumped out and replaced
with
water
often
enough, he may get short on fluid needed
to aid in his digestion.
You may diligently fill a bucket or tub as
usual, but if most of it freezes, the horse may be seriously
shortchanged. This can happen
if the horse is watered just
in the evenings. When nights are long and cold the horse
doesn't drink as much as he would during daytime
and if his
tub freezes up at night, he has no water the next morning
and goes thirsty until his owner comes home from work and
refills
the tub or bucket. The horse will drink a
little, then the water freezes over again.
The horse eventually becomes dehydrated. Food material
within the digestive tract dries out and he is constipated.
There's not enough
fluid in his gut to keep the feed moving
through properly. Impaction may occur before an owner
realizes what's happening. The horse will
continue to eat at
first, then becomes less interested in food and does not
clean up his hay. The gut feels "full" so he's not very
hungry.
He may look drawn up in the flanks, and may start to
show signs of mild colic or dehydration.
The problem may go unnoticed for several days since first
signs of trouble are usually mild. Yet if this is not
treated and corrected, it can
be just as potentially fatal
as a more acute case of colic. Lack of water usually causes
impaction of the large intestine, which is not as
serious as
impaction of the cecum or an intestinal blockage or twist
(these are harder to treat successfully). There is more time
to
correct it, and treatment with mineral oil and water (by
stomach tube) is usually effective.
The horse is in moderate pain and constipated, dull and
sluggish. He may drink a little water, but not enough.
Rectal examination by
a veterinarian will reveal firm
enlargements in the intestine and a rectum full of hard, dry
fecal balls. Impaction is more serious in horses
than in
most other animals, because of the tremendous capacity of
the large intestine. Dry fecal material may gradually
accumulate
until it causes enough distention to create pain
and colic.
Moderate pain may continue for 3 or 4 days or even a week
or more, and may appear at intervals. The horse is not
violent. He may
stretch, lie down, or paw. Manure is passed
infrequently and in small amounts; fecal balls are small and
hard and covered with thick,
sticky mucus.
Most cases of this type of dehydration impaction will
respond to treatment, especially if treatment is given as
soon as the problem
is noticed. A horse may die of
impaction, however, if the over-distended gut ruptures, or
the horse becomes totally exhausted after
a long course of
colic.
The treatment given by most veterinarians is 2 to 4
quarts of mineral oil by stomach tube, along with a gallon
or 2 of warm water to
soften the mass of feed in the
gut--water will permeate and soften the dry mass better than
mineral oil will. The oil helps lubricate the
gut contents
so they can pass through more easily. If the problem is not
relieved within 12 hours, more mineral oil and water should
be given. In some cases the veterinarian may also inject a
drug to stimulate the intestines, after the contents have
been softened up
by the water and lubricated with oil.
Prevention of impaction is much better than having to
treat it. Make sure horses have good quality roughage (not
too coarse) and plenty
of water. Especially make sure a
horse is drinking enough in cold weather. He doesn't like to
drink cold water when he's cold, and is
more apt to drink
during daytime than at night. Giving him warm water or
keeping his water warm with a tank heater, or using an
insulated bucket to keep water from freezing can help solve
the problem of having it freeze up before he drinks it.
Hoof Care-
Hoof care becomes critical during winter months. Many
times horse's feet become so wet that the outer covering of the foot
deteriorates, which causes cracking and splitting. Mud and sand can
work their way into the cracks, causing the hoof to spread
even
further.
Every effort should be made to keep the hoof wall intact.
This can be done by keeping the hoof as dry as possible
and applying
hoof
dressing regularly. Hoof dressing is basically an oil or grease
that keeps water from soaking into the foot.
During wet weather, this
is a
very difficult task; however, it is important to maintain the
hoof quality and integrity.
If you will not be riding during the winter months, have your
horse's shoes pulled in the fall. Shoes are slippery on frozen
surfaces,
and also sometimes cause snow to ball up in the hoof, so
most horses are better off without them for the winter. All
horses, shod or
not, need their hooves trimmed about every eight
weeks - more often if the hoof is growing fast, possibly a little
less often if the hoof
is unusually slow-growing or is wearing
off. During the muddy season, thrush (a smelly infection of the
hoof) may be a problem, so
keep checking your horse's hooves on a
regular basis.
If your horse needs to wear shoes all winter, either because
you will be riding or because the horse has fragile hooves that
need
the protection, ask your farrier to advise you about special
shoeing for traction and/or rubber inserts to prevent snowballs
forming
in the hoof.
Hair Care-
A horse's hair coat is its first defense from the cold.
Horses that live outdoors in cold winter climates need their
long hair to trap
an insulating layer of air to keep warm.
A long coat will provide tremendous warmth as long as it is kept
dry.
Do not
body
clip
unless you can provide adequate protection and
blanketing throughout the winter.
Even the hair in the ears and around the fetlocks
adds to the
insulation, so do not clip those areas if possible.
The natural grease in the coat is water
repellent, so think twice about
bathing horses in the winter.
When cold weather sets in, the hair stands up, trapping and
retaining body heat. Once the hair coat becomes wet,
it loses its insulating
ability and lays flat against the horse's
skin, lowering the horse's critical temperature and
increasing feed needs. With that in mind, it is
often economical to
consider building a three-sided shed or windbreak
to shelter the horse from the wind and moisture.
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A "run-in" shelter will provide your horse
with protection without confining him to a stall. |
Late winter is often when fungus or parasites cause skin
problems, as the dampness and long hair provide a site for
ringworm,
lice or mites. Usually the horse will let you know about
the problem by itching, often rubbing patches of mane or other
hair off.
If you groom the horse regularly, you should notice the
problem in its early stages. Isolate the horse so as not to infect
others,
and if the problem is unfamiliar to you, contact a vet
about diagnosis and treatment.
Worming-
After you have had a week or two of consistently frosty
weather, horses should be wormed with a chemical that controls
bots as well as other kinds of worms. Because of the cold, horses
usually do not become re-infected with worms as quickly
in the
winter as during the warmer months.
Respiratory Ailments-
During the winter months, many horses are kept in closed barns and
respiratory problems develop. When the barn is closed up
because
of
rain or cold weather, ammonia, dust, and stale air are trapped in the
barn. Most of the ammonia and dust
remains
2 to 3 feet off
the ground. This makes air quality a big problem for
young horses. It is important to have good ventilation
and
air flow
through the barn to maintain good air quality and minimize
respiratory problems.
To improve the air quality
in a barn it is better to open the barn
doors and create a good air flow.
Or the barn should be designed to
have
good air flow
through vents on the sides and in the roof to maintain air flow when
barn doors are closed.
Clean stalls daily and
removing
manure and wet bedding greatly improves the quality of the air.
If possible, redesign the bottom of the stall to allow good
air flow at ground level.
Slatted boards at the bottom of the stall up
to 4 to 5 feet are recommended to allow air flow at ground level.
Wire
panels or metal bars
are
normally recommended for the upper half of
the stall.
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