With the freezing temperatures that are currently sweeping the country, here are some top tips on how to keep your four legged friend as happy and comfortable as possible.
Beat the stable blues! With many horses restricted to their box due to ice and snow preventing turnout or exercise, there are lots of things you can do to help keep your horse from going stir crazy.
The first thing to adjust is your horse’s energy intake to reflect his decreased exercise. This can be done by reducing your horse’s concentrate ration and increasing the fibre part of his diet. This will not only help keep him calmer, but will help keep him warm from within as his digestive system will be kept moving. You could consider using a complete fibre feed such as Mollichaff Calmer, which ensures that your horse’s nutritional requirements will continue to be met, but the energy sources are fibre and oil, but are very low in level.
With freezing weather it can become virtually impossible to soak your hay, don’t risk your horse’s respiratory health, instead, try a good quality haylage. Preferably a brand which clearly states the nutritional content and select one that is higher in fibre, HorseHage High Fibre or Timothy would be an ideal product.
Try using more than one haynet, this will help slow down your horse’s eating allowing him to trickle feed like he would when grazing. It will provide mental and physical stimulation, resulting in reduced stable boredom.
Water intake can be massively reduced when it is freezing, especially in older or fussy horses. When cold horses are less keen to drink from a freezing water bucket. As water is the most essential nutrient in the horse’s diet, it is vital you do all you can to ensure your horse’s consumption is sufficient. Try adding warm water to your horse’s feed and add to your horse’s cold water bucket. Ensure the water is not so hot it will burn your horse!
If you keep your horse away from home, make sure you have his nutritional routine written down and kept at the yard. This will ensure that should you be unable to make it to the yard yourself, someone else can make sure your horse gets the right feed whilst you’re not there!
