Horse Care in the Winter Months

By Mary Jo Zanolli

With a little preparation, your horse can stay content and healthy through the winter. A little extra attention to your horses’ nutritional requirements, hoof care, exercise program, and deciding whether or not to blanket are four areas that require some thought as we head into the winter months.
In the winter, horses burn more calories in order to stay warm. It is a good idea to increase a horse’s daily amount of hay in order to maintain weight. It is important to remember that when the intake of hay increases, so does their water consumption. Water buckets are prone to freezing in the wintertime, so it is a good idea to use water heaters to prevent this from happening. Most horses seem to prefer warm water to icy cold water on bitter cold winter days too, so when possible fill your horses buckets with warm water so this option is available. Bran mashes are also a great way to hydrate your horse, and many barns include a bran mash as part of a weekly routine.
Snow, ice, and frozen ground can make riding throughout the winter difficult or impossible in New England. Consulting with your blacksmith can help, as a barefoot horse or shoes with borium or snow pads can make it possible to ride safely in the snow. Many horse-owners that keep their horses at home will board at a local stable with an indoor arena for the worst of the winter months just to keep their horse in consistent work throughout the winter. Turnout is essential to horses during the winter, but it is not enough to keep horses fit. If it is impossible to ride your horse regularly throughout the winter, expect to have to spend some extra time in the spring getting your horse’s muscles and cardiovascular strength back at the level you had at the end of the previous fall.
Blanketing is often a hot topic for debate among horse owners.  People often mistakenly believe that if they are cold and need a blanket, their horse must also need a coat! A horse’s natural winter coat will provide most horses with more than adequate warmth for the winter. In the winter, you will notice the hairs on a horse’s coat standing up, trapping in heat and increasing the insulation of the coat. A horse also naturally produces body oils that keep moisture away from the horse.
The problem with letting a horse grow a full winter coat is that a horse with a natural full winter coat will very easily sweat when worked. When a horse is sweaty and the temperature is cold, the horse will quickly become chilled. A sweaty horse with a thick coat can also literally take hours to cool and dry out. This is why many horse owners choose to clip their horses, and then blanket the horse to protect him from the elements. There are several types of clips to choose from.  A trace clip just clips hair from the belly and underside of the neck. The blanket clip leaves hair on the horses back, hindquarters, and legs, while the hunter clip leaves only the saddle area unclipped, as well as the legs unclipped from the elbows and thighs down. A full body clip is just what it sounds like, but remember a full body clip requires the horse to have quite a closet full of correct winter wear to stay warm!
Whether you ride throughout the winter or not, some extra effort to maintain your horse’s health in the colder months will pay off with a happy horse come spring! When the snow is falling and the wind is harsh, remember that warmer days and more time in the saddle is right around the corner.