Just like us, as horses age they find cold weather more difficult to cope with. Horses in their early 20s and older can have trouble holding on to their weight, find it hard getting down on the ground to sleep or roll and then getting up again, and even struggle moving around well over winter. Frost, snow, freezing temperatures and icy conditions underfoot may keep an older horse from doing even basic daily activities, such as grazing and walking to the water trough.
There are two areas of winter management that have the biggest impact on the health of your four-legged geriatric, feeding and rugging.
Warmth from within
As Vets North director, Dr Dave van Zwanenberg, explains: in cold weather, horses use their digestive system to stay warm. This happens in two ways; within a few minutes of eating, the horse’s digestive processes start to generate body heat. And more longer term, any calories that are not immediately converted to energy and used to support body function can then be stored as fat, which helps to insulate against the cold.
Forage feeds, especially hay, are metabolised more slowly than grain-based hard feeds and because hay has a longer burn time, it produces more heat in the gut. “Basically, heat is a by-product of the digestion of hay in the large intestine, and along with the actual energy provided by the hay, this helps horses maintain a normal body temperature,” says Dave.
Feeding hay, and lots of it, will go a long way to keeping a horse of any age warm. “This kind of long fibre forage generates lots of internal heat due to hind gut fermentation,” explains equine nutritionist, Dr Lucy Tucker.
So it makes sense that a horse who has access to hay all night long is going to be much more comfortable than one who only gets a slice which is gobbled up by dark.
As a result, it’s sensible to increase your older horse’s feed ration during the winter – and make sure there are always enough piles of hay in the paddock that horses who are low down in the herd’s pecking order can get their share.
“People tend to underestimate the amount of food that older horses need in winter,” says Dave. “They won’t appreciate how much nutrition their horse gets from the grass from the pasture in the warmer months, and don’t give them enough hay to make up the difference.”
If older horses don’t get enough to eat, they can easily spiral into a weight-loss cycle – they use all the energy from their feed to stay warm, which makes them even thinner, so they have to use even more energy to stay warm.
As Dave says, older horses are prone to losing muscle mass through a lack of use, from Cushing’s disease, and also from being forced to use their own body tissues as a energy source if they are not given enough to eat.
” Fat is an energy store – if there is a net gain then fat is deposited, if there is a deficit it is used as an energy source. An older horse loosing muscle and fat as a result of these tissues being used as an energy source has a net deficit of energy entering the body, this is an early sign that the horse’s daily feed requirements are not being met,” he says.
Additionally, when the majority of a horse’s nutrients go to keeping him warm, he has fewer resources left for fighting off illness or repairing tissues, leading to a decline in overall health.
Compounding the problem is that fact that older horses lose the ability to digest food as efficiently as young horses. “Poor teeth and reduced enzyme secretion are both a characteristic of aging,” says Lucy. “Both of these issues reduce the ability to digest feed – as chewing is the first point of digestion, and enzymes are needed to complete the process.
“Older horses’ teeth are typically less efficient at grinding up roughage into small particles,” Dave explains. “This gives the gut bacteria less surface area to work on, so less of the material is digested on its way through the large intestine.”
So, even if they are being fed the same amount of feed as the younger horses, they will not utilise it all.
With all of this in mind, there is a four-step approach to feeding older horses in the winter.
1. Try to put weight on your older horse in the autumn, so he goes into winter with a body condition score of at least 5; ribs not visible, fat around his tail head slightly spongy, and his shoulder blending smoothly into his body. But don’t overdo it; older joints don’t need to be carrying an obese body around.
2. Increase a horse’s feed intake during the winter months. An ideal is free-choice hay all day and all night. Older horses with dental issues may find it hard to chew hay properly, so you can try a chopped hay/chaff product, or haylage. Soaked sugarbeet is another easily digested source of fibre.
3. Feed only good quality hay. Stemmy, stalky hay is not digested well by horses of any age, making it useless in helping a horse gain body condition or stay warm.
4. Monitor your older horse’s weight during the season, increasing feed if necessary. Dave suggests adding calories as “lovely, energy dense oil” (introduced gradually into the diet), and also swears by Gumnuts. Lucy says that many older horses do best on soaked or moist feeds, or processed/steam conditioned feeds. “And highly digestible sources of protein, such as milk-based products, heat processed protein grains or processed (ensiled or pelleted) lucerne can be good at preventing muscle loss,” she says.
Rugging up
Although mother nature has provided horses with their own winter coats to protect them even in sub-zero tempeatures, appropriate use of rugs is an important part of taking care of an older horse during the winter, especially if he is suffering from arthritis, as the cold weather makes it hard to move around to generate heat.
Even a perfectly healthy older horse is going to have a harder time staying warm when it is wet and/or windy, and particularly if they are clipped.
A cold horse not only will lose weight, but he will also become stressed and weak as his body struggles to maintain its temperature. This can lead to a compromised immune system, less able to fight off illness and infection.
But don’t just shove a heavyweight rug on your horse the moment the temperature drops and leave it there until spring. Especially in the north of the country – but even in the deep south – sunny afternoon temperatures can get up around 20 degrees. Sweltering and sweating under a heavy cover is just as uncomfortable for your horse as being too cold, and it’s just as much of a welfare issue because it can cause dehydration, electrolyte mineral loss, and nasty skin conditions. It also makes horses plain miserable – there is no escape or relief from overheating.
If you can’t be there to take a heavy rug off for a few hours on a warm day, then leave your horse during the day in a waterproof but lighter weight rug, such as a no-fill synthetic or a canvas rug, and put the heavy one back on at night.
Also have a think about your horse’s breed and type. A thin-skinned, fine-coated thoroughbred (who, like Arabians, evolved in desert climates which can get cold but are never wet) will need a warmer rug than a sturdy cob or stationbred. Many ponies, such as Shetlands, are best completely unrugged as long as they are also unclipped.
Over-rugging, especially in a pony prone to laminitis, leads to a negative cycle of ill-health. Without a rug, the pony will utilise any excess body tissue to stay warm, and will also keep moving and therefore exercising – both of these are good ways of reducing the incidence of laminitis.
The air temperature is less of an issue for horses than the wind and rain. Horses are quite comfortable unrugged even right down to sub zero temperatures on a dry, still day – sleet and hail, or a biting sou-wester, is another matter altogether.
If you’re not sure about rugging, watch your horse for signs that he is cold. The most obvious is shivering, which revs the horse’s metabolism and burns calories – but not for long and at an extremely high cost.
If your horse is shivering, he needs drying off and warming up with an extra layer.
No particular brand or style of rug is best for older horses, but a good fit is crucial. If a younger horse gets tangled up in too long straps, for example, he can usually shred the rug to bits and get himself free; an older horse might not have the strength or the energy to fight his way out. Be very particular when fitting and doing up your older horse’s rug.
And finally, take off your horse’s rug regularly. Every day is ideal, but a few times a week will suffice.
A lot of problems can go on unseen under a winter rug, including weight loss and bacterial and fungal skin infections. Thinner horses are also prone to cover rubs, as they lack the cushion of fat over their withers, hips and shoulders – unchecked, these can develop into pressure sores.
Winter woes
Several health conditions common in older horses are aggravated by winter weather.
Respiratory disease: Extremely cold air, inhaled deeply, can irritate lung tissue. Being turned out in a quiet herd is fine, but think twice before putting your older horse in a paddock with rambunctious young horses, as over-exerting himself in very cold weather will cause airway problems.
Poor mobility: Horses with arthritis, recurrent hoof abscesses or chronic laminitis may find it difficult to negotiate muddy or frozen ground. Slush, snow and ice are hazardous underfoot. Try and keep your older horses in paddocks with the best traction, ideally on fairly flat but not low-lying ground.
Arthritis: If you have arthritis, or know somebody who does, you’ll notice your bad joints hurt more in the cold. It’s safe to assume it’s the same for horses. Using anti-inflammatory medications can help, but it’s also good management to keep your horse as active as possible. If he is stabled, make sure he is hand-walked daily.
