Winter is coming… How to maintain a healthy winter weight for your horse.
With the darker mornings and the nights rapidly drawing in, sometimes it feels as though we have less and less time to ride our beloved four-legged friends. Then again, for some horse owners it means time to bring their horses back from their summer holidays for the autumn and winter seasons!
Either way, worsening weather conditions and lower temperatures often mean that horses become stabled for longer periods of time and the amount and quality of grazing will decrease. Now is an ideal time to adjust your horse’s diet in preparation for the weather changes. This does not however mean that your horse needs to put on excess weight, but they should simply maintain a constant healthy condition.
Due to the change in pasture quality and grass intake it is even more important to ensure that your horse is maintaining an adequate fibre intake of around 2 to 2.5% of their bodyweight, as well as receiving all the essential vitamins and minerals they need. Providing ad lib hay or haylage can be a great option for some horse owners whether their horse is stabled or turned out. For some horses their workload will decrease whilst for others it may increase, especially if they are partaking in winter sports such as team chasing and hunting, or regular competitions. This means that their calorie intake should be adjusted accordingly. Unrugged horses, those without shelter and those who are living out may also require a higher calorie intake in order to stay warm in the cold weather through fibre fermentation. On the other hand, for overweight horses, winter can be a brilliant natural time for them to lose weight before coming back into the spring and summer months.
Woolly coats and rugs can make it more difficult to notice whether your horse is at a suitable weight. The use of a weigh tape or weigh bridge and body condition scoring will help you notice any fluctuations in condition so that you may adjust their diet accordingly.
For those with an increased workload or for horses that struggle to maintain weight, such as older horses, providing a high fibre and high oil diet will help. Ingredients containing high levels of oil, such as Linseed and Soya meal, have a high fat content and provide a great source of amino acids which are great for building topline and muscle without fizzing them up. We have the perfect supplement, take a look at Condition & Shine…
Horses that tend to lose weight easily will need a higher calorie intake which can mean having to feed larger quantities of compound feeds. Horses are trickle feeders so avoid feeding one large feed, instead try to split it into at least two feeds and if possible, even three or four feeds per day. It must also be noted that any changes or new additions of forage, compound feed or supplements should be introduced gradually into your horse’s diet to help the micro flora in their gut to adjust. This will also increase the likelihood that your horse will continue to eat it as they hopefully won’t have been put off by it!
Let’s not forget hydration! Horses may be less tempted to drink in the colder weather so why not add some warm water to their feed to increase their daily water intake. Providing warm water and electrolytes can also encourage drinking. Due to the high fibre diet, the addition of pre and probiotics and Brewer’s yeast will help to keep their digestive tract healthy and working efficiently, especially for horses with hard workloads. Take a look at our range of digestive supplements to support your horse…
Sourcing good quality forage for your horse is the cheapest and easiest way to maintain your horse’s weight with the addition of a vitamin and mineral supplement such as either our Benevit, Original Balancer or SlimAid for their everyday needs. The addition of a high oil-based product like Condition & Shine will aid weight gain and condition maintenance, and if required, a pre and probiotic such as our BioPro will support optimum digestion so that all nutrients are absorbed and utilised.