What is best to feed in really cold weather to help your horse stay warm?
Well, the answer is hay or any type of high fibre forage really.
The fibre in hay and other forages is digested in your horse’s hindgut via the process of bacterial fermentation. A by-product of this fermentation process is HEAT!
By feeding extra forage in cold weather, you are giving your horse’s resident population of bacteria more fibre to ferment… which in-turn means they will generate more heat and help to keep your horse warm. Neat huh!
Just keep in mind though that you can overdo it. Feeding more than about 3% of your horse’s bodyweight in feed per day (or more than 3 lb/100 lb BW; 3 kg/100 kg BW) will have the effect of increasing passage rate through the gut.
So while there would be more fibre for the bacteria to ferment the fibre would spend less time in the hindgut, with less time for fermentation and heat production. Catch-22!
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Have you ever wondered about the impact of cold weather conditions on a horse’s calorie requirements? Although poorly documented, observations suggest that environmental factors play a significant role in how much energy horses need. This means that if you’ve ever asked yourself how many calories does my horse need in winter, the answer could depend on your local weather. Here are some observations to use as examples:
In Winter 2016 in the Hunter Valley, NSW, Australia, it was exceptionally wet and cold. It was a struggle to ensure weanlings grew at normal rates, despite feeding them maximum amounts of high-quality feed and providing excellent pasture. Paddocks were waterlogged, making it difficult for the weanlings to stay dry and warm. This meant they were burning calories just to maintain body temperature, rather than using them for growth.
Conversely, in 2017, with a dry winter, weanlings were thriving on less feed and lower quality pasture. Same feed, same genetics, same farms—just different weather conditions, notably dry.
During Autumn 2016 on the North Island of New Zealand, the weather was unusually warm and dry. One farm, following a consistent feed regimen, noticed cases of weanlings developing ‘contracted tendons’ and ‘going over at the knee’. This was attributed to the warmer, drier weather, which reduced the calories needed for warmth, allowing excess energy to spur rapid growth. Adjusting their feed intake prevented further cases.
In Saudi Arabia, during the summer months, broodmares and growing horses housed outdoors with no air conditioning require minimal feed due to high ambient temperatures. The heat reduces their calorie requirement to maintain body temperature, although excess body condition can become an issue.
Horses that don’t get rugged and are exposed to weather variations exemplify these effects. Last winter’s incessant rain left them with visible ribs despite ample pasture. While this year’s was cold, the dry weather has kept them well-insulated without any rib visibility, even with minimal pasture access. The presence or absence of rain significantly impacts their calorie requirements; wet conditions increase heat loss, necessitating more calories to stay warm.
As seen in the Hunter Valley, horses can endure cold, dry weather more easily. However, wet conditions strip their insulating winter coats of effectiveness, causing increased heat loss and subsequently higher calorie needs to maintain body temperature.
Understanding calorie requirements in horses is crucial, especially considering how weather influences these needs. As you know, calorie (or digestible energy) requirements vary from horse to horse and are, as just discussed, also influenced heavily by the weather. When using FeedXL, use the digestible energy requirement provided as a guide, but don’t be surprised if your horse is sitting above (needs more feed than is estimated) or below (needs less feed) than the requirement you are given due to these variables.
The only accurate way to know if your horse is getting enough calories is to use your eyes and your hands. Body condition score your horse regularly and adjust the amount of Digestible Energy in the diet up or down if your horse starts to lose or gain weight.
In conclusion, weather conditions significantly affect a horse’s calorie requirements throughout the year, and temperature and rainfall can increase or decrease how many calories your horse needs in winter. Colder, wetter weather tends to increase the calorie requirements of most horses, whereas warmer, dryer weather usually does the opposite. Monitoring body condition and adjusting feed accordingly can help maintain optimal health and performance, whether managing weight gain or loss in response to environmental changes.
Do you have a question or comment? Do you need help with feeding?
We would love to welcome you to our FeedXL Horse Nutrition Facebook Group. Ask questions and have them answered by PhD and Masters qualified equine nutritionists and spend time with like-minded horse owners. It’s free!
Winter can be a tricky time of year for feeding horses, especially if you have older horses or horses that lose weight easily. Feeding the right diet during winter will help keep your horses healthy and in good body condition. Here are some tips on how you can do it:
1. Prepare for winter early
Use late summer and autumn while the temperatures are still comfortable and the pasture and hay quality still high to get your horse in good shape for winter. All horses during this period need to be fed a balanced diet (more on this soon) to make sure they are generally healthy and their immune systems fully functional.
If your horse tends to lose weight over winter it can be fed a little more than normal during this time to get a bit of extra condition on them, so if they lose weight during winter, they won’t end up being too skinny.
You should also be looking to buy hay in summer as availability and quality are high but demand is lower meaning you will get a good quality product for less than you will pay in winter.
2. Feed plenty of forage
Forage (hay, chaff and pasture) provides your horse with many of the calories they will need to maintain weight during winter. Aside from that, forage will keep your horse warm in winter. During the digestion of forages in the horse’s gut, bacteria ferment the fibrous portions. One of the ‘by-products’ of this fermentation is heat, and it is this heat that really helps a horse to stay warm during winter.
Because of the ‘warming’ properties of forage, your horse will benefit more from an additional feed of hay than an extra feed of grain, pellets or sweetfeed in very wet, cold weather.
3. Condition score your horse regularly
Don’t throw a rug on your horse in winter and leave it on for weeks on end without taking it off to check your horse’s body condition (and of course that it doesn’t have any injuries or sores that are covered by the rug). Condition scoring involves looking at areas on your horse’s body such as the top of the neck, the wither, over the ribs and over the loin to assess the amount of body fat (which we call body condition) your horse is carrying. For more information on Body Condition Scoring, click here to see our post ‘Why Body Condition Score’.
At the very least, take your horse’s rug off every week so you can check to see if your horse is losing, maintaining or gaining weight.
4. Adjust your horse’s diet to control body weight
Because you will be condition scoring your horse regularly you will know if your horse is maintaining, gaining or losing weight. Depending on what you want your horse to be doing, you may need to adjust the diet to keep your horse at the bodyweight and condition you want.
If your horse is gaining unwanted weight, you will need to reduce or remove high energy feeds like grains, pellets, sweetfeeds or oils in the diet. If your horse is losing weight that you don’t want him to lose, you may need to feed more calories in the diet. You can do this by:
Feeding more hay and if you’re not already doing so feeding some alfalfa/lucerne hay.
Adding high energy feeds to the diet like pellets, sweetfeeds, oil or high energy fibres like soybean hulls, copra meal or sugarbeet pulp. Use the best quality feeds you can afford and if using a sweetfeed look for one that contains either extruded or micronised grains as these are more digestible for horses.
5. Feed a balanced diet
An unbalanced diet doesn’t meet your horse’s requirements for each of energy, protein, vitamins and minerals so your horse won’t be as healthy as he could or should be. Nutrient deficiencies can lead to:
Weight loss
Muscle wastage
Increased susceptibility to diseases like greasy heel and respiratory disease
Dull, dry coat and skin
Brittle and slow growing hooves
Suppressed immune systems
While traditionally, knowing if what you were feeding was meeting your horse’s requirements was quite hard, the FeedXL Horse Nutrition Calculator makes it very easy to see if what you are feeding is the right thing for your horse. FeedXL will also help you manage your horse’s bodyweight. Click here to learn more and get started now!
6. Beware of laminitis
For horses susceptible to laminitis (including overweight horses, horses with Cushing’s Disease or those who have previously had laminitis) winter can be a danger period.
If your horse is at risk, you should:
Restrict your horse’s access to pasture to only the very early hours of the morning up until 11 am.
Feed low sugar hay and avoid hays made from ryegrass or cereals like oats or wheat.
Avoid all feeds with grain or grain by-products in them.
Beware: Most feeds that claim to be grain free are NOT. Read the label of all feeds carefully. If they contain anything like bran, pollard, millmix or millrun do not feed them to a horse prone to laminitis. By ticking the ‘Laminitis’ box on your horse’s details page in FeedXL, all of the unsuitable feeds that contain grains or grain by-products will be coloured red and you will be warned not to use them.
A horse’s coat can become dry and dull during winter. To help keep the coat and skin healthy, add 1/4 cup of oil to the diet.
And finally…
Of course, all the normal rules of good horse husbandry apply in winter. Feeding a well-balanced diet in conjunction with good dental, hoof and veterinary care as well as a strict worming regime will help keep your horses in top shape over winter.
Do you have a question or comment? Do you need help with feeding?
We would love to welcome you to our FeedXL Horse Nutrition Facebook Group. Ask questions and have them answered by PhD and Masters qualified equine nutritionists and spend time with like-minded horse owners. It’s free!
