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It's officially "winter-blanket" season for those who 'celebrate', which means that, somehow already, winter is upon us. Horse-keeping in cold weather has many challenges, but we don't want nutrition to be one of them! Here are 4 easy tips on how you can support your horse's health with nutrition this winter!
Step 1: Assess body condition, and intended blanketing practices.
Knowing your horse's body condition, the climate they will be exposed to for the next couple months, and whether they will be blanketed during these months can help you custom-tailor your horse's winter nutrition plan. While the healthy adult horse is very good at thermoregulating in the cold, every horse must be considered as an individual.
For example, horses who are underweight, have compromised dentition, or struggle with other health concerns may benefit from blanketing.
Underweight: These horses have less fat cover, so will have less natural insulation.
Poor Dentition: Unblanketed horses will naturally increase their hay intake to thermoregulate, but horses with poor dentition will have an impaired ability to do so.
Other Health Issues: Chronic issues can interfere with other normal functions of the body, such as thermoregulation/circulation, impairing your horse's ability to keep themselves warm.
Body condition is a great indicator of energy balance - a horse in a positive energy balance will maintain or gain weight, while a horse in a negative energy balance will drop weight. If your horse does not score in the healthy range of 4-6 on a 9-point scale, you may need to adapt their diet to maintain a more optimal energy balance. Ensure underlying health issues such as fecal egg counts, dental checks, metabolic disorders, etc., have been checked for too.
Underweight, hard keepers, or senior horses can benefit from appropriate blanketing to help reduce their energy expenditure and maintain condition. Otherwise healthy overweight horses who have adequate access to shelter may not require blanketing, and the increased energy expenditure may offer a way to control their body condition from reaching unsafe levels, when paired with an optimized diet. Remember, keeping easy-keepers from becoming overweight over the winter will set them up for less health risks come the spring!
Step 2: Ensure an adequate calorie intake.
Using your horse's body condition, you can assess whether their current calorie intake is suitable for the winter ahead.
NEED MORE CALORIES? Fiber is a safe and physiologically appropriate way to increase calories in the diet, while promoting heat production by fermentation.
Adding more hay, and using feedstuffs such as hay cubes or beet pulp can increase calories without providing high levels of soluble carbohydrates.
High fat ingredients such as oil are very calorically dense and can be suitable options for some horses.
Fortified feeds that are high-fat/high-fiber may offer a more efficient solution if fed at the appropriate feeding rate.
NEED TO CONTROL CALORIES? Consider using a ration balancer or vitamin-mineral premix instead of a performance or complete feed. These products provide the vitamins and minerals (and in the case of ration balancers, protein and amino acids) that your horse needs, without providing excess calories.
Step 3: Consider nutrient sources in the diet.
For horses who are transitioning from a pasture to hay-based diet, Vitamin E intake will be lower when switched to hay. Hay is already lower in Vitamin E than grass, but its Vitamin E content declines as it's stored. While quality hay can sometimes meet energy and protein needs for some horses (we recommend hay testing to confirm this), hay alone cannot provide sufficient vitamin (and, oftentimes, minerals) to your horse.
The NRC recommends a minimum of 1 IU vitamin E per kg BW, however some horses require higher amounts depending on their lifestage, workload, and individual needs.
Meet vitamin requirements by feeding at least the recommended minimum feeding rate of a commercial feed, rational balancer, or vitamin-mineral premix.
As is the case with any supplementation, more is not always better, and may just increase your feeding bill. Having your vet check your horse's Vitamin E levels can help you identify if your current plan is sufficient, underdoing it, or overdoing it!
Step 4: Promote hydration status.
Ensure that your horse always has access to water. Research has identified that farms who do not provide water during turnout have been shown to have an increased risk of colic (Kaneene et al, 1997). This is likely as water intake is limited only to the contents of water buckets in stalls. Even the lowest equine water requirement still equates to 2-3 normal sized indoor water buckets. Horses with higher requirements (ie due to exercise) may require more than 5 buckets per day!
Water requirements increase as feed intake increases, so lack of water is of particular concern in the winter, when horses should be consuming more hay to meet increased thermoregulatory and caloric needs.
Adding warm water to your horse's ration right before feeding can help drive more water into your horse, supporting digestion and overall health.
Salt plays a key physiological role in your horse's hydration status. Ensuring your horse has a minimum of 1-2 tbsp of loose salt in their ration can help to guarantee intake, and promote hydration status and overall wellness.
For those horses who need more help remembering to drink, electrolytes can be a useful tool!
Step 5: Know When Additional Support is Required
While energy balance is always important, it becomes especially critical during the winter, when energy may be required for thermoregulation. The range of temperatures horses can regulate their body temperature within is called the thermoneutral zone. Horses can acclimatize to temperatures with time (10-21 days), but adaptation requires more energy. While some healthy, adult horses can maintain body condition throughout the winter without a blanket, they will require more energy in the diet than the blanketed horse, and if they are provided free-choice hay, will consume more to meet this need (DeBoer et al, 2020).
This zone has two boundaries: the upper critical temperature (UCT) & the lower critical temperature (LCT). Outside of these boundaries, horses will require help thermoregulating, and are more prone to thermal stress. The lower critical temperature is the minimum temperature that metabolic heat production can function to maintain core body temperature (Morgan, 1998; Novak, Shoveller and Warren, 2008) . A healthy, adult horse in a good body condition has a LCT between -15°C to 5°C, depending on factors such as (DeBoer et al, 2020):
Age: Senior horses will be more sensitive to cold.
Body condition: Underweight horses will be less tolerant to cold.
Acclimation: Horses who are not yet adapted to cold temperatures will be more sensitive.
Hair Coat & Precipitation: The horse's winter coat acts as an insulator by fluffing up to trap air and reduce heat loss. Rain, wet snow, and wind can impede the insulating properties of the horse’s winter coat. Access to shelter is imperative for unblanketed horses in the winter.
All horses will require more energy in the diet when the ambient temperature is below their lower critical temperature, to offset energy lost as heat. It is estimated that at maintenance, a mature horse’s energy requirement increases 2.5% per °C below LCT (Cymbaluk, 1994). Being aware of - and feeding according to - increased energy requirements, and frequent body condition checks (as often as weekly) are great strategies to ensure energy balance is maintained throughout the winter.
Need a hand with your horse's diet? Want to make sure you're on the right track going into 2025? Connect for a free discovery discussion, or book your consult today!
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