Good Winter Care Is Essential for Maine horses

If you want to have a healthy, well-conditioned horse, good winter care is essential. Winter weather brings challenges to providing feed, water, and shelter to your horse, but understanding the basic needs of horses in the winter, and a bit of extra effort, will reward both your horse and you.

As the air temperature drops, horses must increase their body heat production to stay within their "comfort zone." Horses increase their body heat production by speeding up the internal processes of food digestion, which produces heat. Several factors contribute to determining how much food horses must have in order to stay warm and in good body condition through the winter months. In addition to air temperature, the type, quality and condition of a horse's hair coat, the type of feed, the quality of shelter from the environment, water intake, and the horse's general health all affect what you should provide.

Many breeds of horses naturally grow excellent winter hair coats. Generally, breeds such as Arabians, Quarter Horses, Icelandics, and Morgans, if allowed to, will grow winter coats that trap and maintain body heat. Most draft breeds, like Belgian, Percherons, and Haflingers, will also produce coats that protect them against winter weather. A good natural hair coat, so long as it is dry, will provide terrific insulation against the cold. Horse hair that is wet or flattened down from being underneath a horse blanket loses its insulating ability.

Some other breeds, such as Thoroughbreds and Standardbreds, are less able to grow cold weather coats, and benefit from having blankets during the coldest conditions. It's important to frequently remove the blanket, brush your horse to fluff up the hair to take advantage of its natural insulating quality, and prevent chafing or wearing of your horse's hair coat or skin.

Whether your horse needs the supplemental warmth of a blanket or not, one of the most critical factors in maintaining its health in cold weather is providing water. In general, horses are likely to drink less water in cold weather. That fact, with the increased need for forage and/or supplemental dry feeds, is a major reason that horses have more colic or intestinal impaction during the winter. If at all possible, providing your horse with warm water during the cold months will encourage it to drink. Horses should generally drink eight to 12 gallons of water a day. Providing warmer water encourages increased water intake and discourages intestinal blockages, which are all too often fatal. Snow is not an adequate water source for domestic horses. Your horse must burn needed calories to melt the snow, and a very large amount of snow has to be eaten to produce enough water to maintain a horse. In addition, Maine law states that snow and/or ice are not adequate water sources for animals, including horses.

Preconditioning your horse for the winter can help maintain good health regardless of the temperatures. Body fat serves to insulate against the cold and also provides a store of energy for keeping warm. In general, adult horses should eat approximately 2% of their body weight in hay per day.

For more information, please go to www.thehorse.com and use the search feature to locate additional winter care articles.