Winter Outerwear

[Bob]

Because the horse's body condition affects the extent to which horses can deal with severe weather, it's important that horses come into winter carrying extra condition. It's a little more difficult for some horses to gain weight and create additional heat-producing energy at the same time.
"Additional body fat serves as insulation and energy reserves in times when the thermometer dips below the critical temperature," Davison says. "But once cold weather sets in, it is difficult to put weight on horses. Thin horses get colder and use so much energy trying to stay warm; there often aren't enough calories left for weight gain. Young horses and broodmares in late gestation may not be able to consume enough of a high-roughage diet, such as hay, due to restrictions in digestive system capacity."
Start increasing the hay in the diet when the pastures start to decline in the fall, Williams suggests. "You could start supplementing with other things such as rice bran, multi-vitamins, soybean meal, etc., only if necessary and when the temperatures start fluctuating around 30°F or when nights start freezing."
If your horse isn't in good body condition and needs to gain 50 pounds or more for winter, you can safely feed him an extra five pounds of hay per day, Davison says. "Just calculate how much he needs to gain and how many days you need to achieve that gain."
"It takes roughly 4,000 calories above maintenance to gain one pound," she states. "With most hays having 800 to 900 calories per pound, an extra five pounds of hay above the amount that maintains his current weight would allow him to gain one pound per day, so it would take 50 days to gain 50 pounds. Due to the calorie density, it would only take an additional 2.2-2.6 pounds per day of a feed like Purina Ultium, Strategy, or Omolene 200 to achieve the 4,000 calories needed per day. Again, this is in addition to the amount taken in to maintain current condition."
Keep in mind that water is an essential nutrient, too, and with increased amounts of hay in the diet, an increase in water consumption is vital for good health. Explains Davison, "Mature horses in temperate climates normally drink from five to eight gallons of water per day. With increased amounts of hay in the diet, water consumption rises to nine or 10 gallons of water per day. Increased hay intake combined with decreased water intake can potentially lead to impaction colic."
Because many horses drink less when their water is cold, keep your horse's water supply heated to 45°F to insure adequate intake and add one or two ounces of salt to his feed to stimulate water consumption, Davison advises.
If supplying water from unheated sources, break the ice at least twice a day and, in the case of buckets, replace icy water with more tepid water at least twice a day, adds Williams

[ladmin]

I don't put the coats on until we get a steady 20 or so degree days.

[joesph898]

well thanks for telling us....i have 3 horses and i am still using coats and other cloths as well for there protection....you know there is -2 centigrade temp is....and there is shelter too other than cloths.....

[ladmin]

Nice picture