winter horse care
Overview
Caring for horses in winter may well be harder on the human than the horse. We as people tend to place our feelings and values onto animals, and all the more so when they are our family! To be clear, this is not in the best interest of the horse, and may even be hazardous.
Horses needing extra care in summer will most certainly require extra care in winter. Horses that are acclimated to cold weather will probably do just fine as long as minimum thresholds are met in the following critical areas.
Acknowledgment to the University of Minnesota Extension for their concise and invaluable information to protect horses during the winter months.
Water
The goal should always be to maximize the amount a horse drinks to help prevent dehydration and colic. Most 1,000-pound adult horses need at least 10 to 12 gallons of water daily.
During the summer months, lush pastures contain 60 to 80 percent moisture and can contribute to a horse’s water requirement. In contrast, dried winter feedstuffs such as grain and hay contain less than 15 percent moisture. Thus, a horse will require more water in the winter.
If a horse doesn’t drink enough water during cold weather they may eat less and be more prone to impaction colic. Even if offered quality feed, horses will consume less if not drinking enough water. If horses eat less feed, they might not have enough energy to tolerate the cold.
Water intake maintains a horse’s fecal moisture level. If fecal material becomes too dry, intestinal blockage or impaction may occur. A horse won’t develop an impaction in one day, but can over several days to several weeks of poor water intake.
Nutrition
Lower critical temperature is the temperature below which a horse needs additional energy to maintain body warmth. The lower critical temperature estimate for horses is 41° F with a summer coat and 18° F with a winter coat.
- Factors affecting lower critical temperature
Individual factors that can affect a horse’s lower critical temperature include hair length and body size.
A horse with short hair exposed to cold, wet weather will have a higher lower critical temperature than that of a cold-weather-acclimated horse with a thick hair coat and fat stores.
Smaller animals have a greater surface area relative to body weight and can lose heat more rapidly than a larger animal. A weanling may reach their lower critical temperature before a mature horse. Cold weather can slow growth because calories go from weight gain to temperature maintenance. To lessen a growth slump during cold weather, you should feed additional calories to young horses.
- Lower critical temperature and energy needs
As temperatures decrease during winter, the horse needs additional dietary energy to maintain its body temperature and condition. For every degree below 18° F the horse requires an additional one percent energy in their diet.
The best source of additional dietary energy during the cold winter months is forage.
Some believe that feeding more grain will keep a horse warmer. But digestion, absorption, and utilization of grain doesn’t produce as much heat as the microbial fermentation of forage. More forage increases microbial fermentation and keeps the horse warm.
If a 1000-pound idle horse needs 16 pounds of good-quality hay daily when the temperature is 18° F, its requirement may increase by approximately 2 to 2.5 pounds to 18 to 18.5 pounds if the temperature drops to 0° F. The increased dietary energy requirement would be even greater if the horse doesn’t have access to shelter.
Shelter
Horses should have access to shelter from wind, sleet and storms. Free access to a stable or an open-sided shed works well, as do trees if a building is not available. In the absence of wind and moisture, horses tolerate temperatures at or slightly below 0° F.
If horses have access to a shelter, they can tolerate temperatures as low as -40° F. But horses are most comfortable at temperatures between 18° and 59° F, depending on their hair coat.
Blanketing
A horse will continue to develop a natural winter coat until December 22 (winter solstice), as the days become shorter. Horses begin to lose their winter coat (and start forming their summer coat) as the days become longer (starting on December 23). Don’t blanket before December 22 or you will decrease your horse's natural winter coat.
The hair coat acts as a natural blanket for the horse by trapping and warming air. Wet or muddy hair can reduce its insulating value and increase heat loss, thereby making shelter essential.
The decision to blanket a horse during winter needs to be made based on the horse's unique needs, including age, health, natural winter coat, and access to quality shelter.
Hoofcare
Horse hooves generally grow slower in the winter. But trimming should still occur every 6 to 12 weeks.
Horse hooves are prone to "ice or snowballs" during the winter (especially if shoes are left on for winter). These balls of packed ice or snow make it hard for the horse to walk, increases the chance of slipping and falling, and may put stress on tendons or joints. Pick your horse’s hooves daily, especially after a heavy snow. The snowballs can be all but impossible to remove if not addressed quickly.
Horses Are Herd Animals and Not Meant to Live Alone
Horses are naturally highly social herd animals. A normal healthy horse would never live alone by choice. When horses live in a herd situation (either in the free living or domestic state) they have a rich and varied social life that includes activities such as play behavior and mutual grooming behavior. Horses that live in herds and graze naturally get to exercise their senses frequently. For example, they smell each other when greeting and they smell each other’s dung. They use their visual and hearing senses to look out for and listen for danger. They use their senses of taste and smell when selecting which plants to graze.
Horses that live in a herd communicate with one another by using body language. Horses have developed subtle and not so subtle signals to communicate with one another. Humans can learn much about horses simply by watching herd dynamics.
Living as part of a herd has many advantages such as ‘safety in numbers. Grazing involves having the head down in the grass which makes it difficult to see predators approaching. More sets of eyes and ears mean that predators can be seen or heard sooner. A horse living alone in the wild would be much more likely to be caught by a predator. This horse would also expend too much nervous energy by having to stay in permanently alert state. So, for this reason horses either live in family groups (a stallion, a few mares and their offspring) or bachelor groups (for colts and stallions that do not have mares). Horses that live in herds can take turns to be alert and to rest and therefore responsibility is shared among herd members. In captivity, such as our horses at BixRo Horse Haven, it is easy to see when a horse is at watch and who is in deep sleep, light sleep and resting.
A horse that is isolated and kept apart from other horses will likely stressed as seen through limited deep sleep, pacing, and often limited free movement. While horses can and do have meaningful relationships with humans, a human cannot take the place of another horse for quality of life.
Navicular Disease Explained Clinically
Lameness is a limiting factor in many performance horses’ careers. One of the most common causes of performance-limiting lameness is navicular syndrome, which primarily affects the forelimbs of the horse. Typically, navicular syndrome develops between the ages of 7 and 15 years and can affect a variety of structures in the hoof. The disease is not limited to the navicular bone itself but is associated with the surrounding structures as well. It has multiple causes: genetics, conformation, poor hoof management, and repeated concussion on hard surfaces, all of which can contribute. Navicular syndrome commonly affects the horse bilaterally, meaning both front feet are affected.
The navicular bone helps support the coffin and short pastern bones. The navicular bursa is located between the navicular bone and deep digital flexor tendon (DDFT), which allows the tendon to glide across the navicular bone (Figure 1). When conformational problems exist, the mechanics of the hoof can be disrupted. Horses that are club-footed (upright in their pasterns) and those with large bodies and small feet are predisposed to navicular syndrome. Breeds commonly exhibiting this characteristic are quarter horses and thoroughbreds and tend to be affected at a higher rate than other breeds.
Navicular can be diagnosed in a variety of ways. Heel pain is associated with navicular syndrome, and potential causes of this pain can arise from the navicular bone itself or from trauma to the surrounding tissues. Therefore, gait characteristics are often used as a diagnostic tool. Horses will typically have a history of lameness in the forelimbs, which may be subtle at first and progressively worsen over time. It is also common for lameness to be seen in both front hooves and can appear to swap hooves, with the horse pointing the toe of the forelimb that is affected. Horses will land on their toes first when walking or trotting to take the impact off their heels, and they may have a stiff gait while experiencing worsening lameness when the affected foot is to the inside of a circle gait and thus bearing the most weight. An additional diagnostic tool is a strong digital pulse found in the affected hoof, along with flexion tests that determine if the DDFT and navicular bone are painful for the horse.
When evaluating hoof conformation, any trimming and shoeing should be done to the horse on a regular basis to ensure correct angles and hoof alignment. Navicular syndrome can be caused by improper shoeing and delayed farrier visits. Ideally, the hooves should be reshod or trimmed every six weeks to keep a proper balance. Horses that grow long through their toes and therefore become low in their heels develop a broken-back axis, which creates increased pressure on the navicular bone and DDFT and causes heel pain. Typically, the affected hoof will be more upright and narrower. Concussion to the surrounding tissues and navicular bone is amplified because the weight the hoof supports can no longer be evenly dissipated through the hoof, leading to areas of amplified pressure in the heel region.
Once a horse is diagnosed with navicular syndrome, there are a variety of treatment options depending on severity of the lameness. The easiest of these treatments is rest. Horses can be confined to a stall with controlled light exercise such as hand walking to increase blood flow. Rest can allow for inflammation in soft tissue to subside or allow the horse to adjust to changes in hoof angles from shoeing or trimming without worsening lameness by running or playing in a large paddock. Corrective shoeing or trimming can also be used to minimize the signs of navicular syndrome. Shoeing or trimming should be done to restore the ideal hoof angles for the horse. The angle of the hoof should match that of the pastern. This often requires a shortening of the toe since many navicular horses are longer through their toes. Shoes are often required for heels that are underrun to lift the heel and may also be accompanied by pads to raise the angle of the hoof. A good farrier can often help minimize the presence of navicular syndrome symptoms and thus prevent having to treat the horse with more drastic measures. Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDS) can also be used to relieve pain. Phenylbutazone (bute) or firocoxib (Equioxx) are commonly used to help with pain; however, prolonged use without actual treatment can lead to more damage to the navicular region. Isoxsuprine hydrochloride has also been shown to improve conditions. Intra-articular medications can also alleviate pain. These can be injected into the joint and can relieve pain for a duration of time that can vary from horse to horse. These injections help to lubricate the joint and improve movement. Surgery is often a last resort for many navicular syndrome cases. A palmar digital neurectomy can be used to relieve pain when the use of corrective shoeing, NSAIDs and joint injections are no longer adequate. This surgery severs the palmar digital nerves that are in the pastern region and desensitizes the heel of the hoof. Many of these horses are relieved of up to 90% or more of pain and can often return to performance. A less common surgical treatment is a navicular suspensory desmotomy, in which the suspensory ligament of the navicular bone is.
Smith, Bradford P. “Navicular Disease.” Large Animal Internal Medicine, 5th ed., Elsevier, St. Louis, MO, 2015, pp. 1,111-1,117. Stashak, Ted S., and Cherry Hill. “Navicular Syndrome.” Horseowner’s Guide to Lameness, Williams & Wilkins, Baltimore, MD, 1996. Thrall, Donald E., and Robert L. Toal. “The Navicular Bone.” Textbook of Veterinary Diagnostic Radiology, 2nd ed., Elsevier, St. Louis, MO, 2018, pp. 217-222.
