Winter can be a challenging time for keeping both you and your horse happy and healthy. A recent article in Horse & Rider offered some excellent tips on how to achieve a healthy, happy horse — with a little tweaking it offers good tips for winter management as well.
The first important tip is to allow your horse to move enough. If you are in a boarding situation then this becomes even more important. If your horse lives in a nice, cozy, warm stall, it is absolutely critical that he has sufficient time out of the stall where he can get out and move and have a “change of scenery”.
Ideally you want your horse out with other compatible horses where he can move freely, meander about and just be a horse. You can vary the movement — maybe you go out and go for a ride or drive (indoors or outdoors), perhaps you do some ground work in hand, possibly just go and take your horse for a walk! There are lots of options to ensure your horse is getting daily exercise.
The second tip is linked to the first one — let your horse be social. It is in the horses’ nature to be with other horses. Not only is the horse getting the much needed companionship, it can also be a learning experience for your horse — a young horse turned out with a mature, seasoned horse can often learn valuable lessons that you can’t teach him. Horses need companions. There are lots of stories about companions being provided for lone horses — can even be other species such as donkeys or goats.
The third tip is giving your horse time to graze. It is not the normal condition for a horse to have set meals at a certain time of the day and that is all he gets. Realistically, sometimes we cannot prevent this situation as the logistics of keeping horses at a boarding facility require this type of feeding but there are ways to help simulate the need to graze.
One is to feed hay in several portions spread around in the horses’ paddock. Another very popular method is to use the slow feeding systems — I have found the slow feeding nets are great — keeps my horses occupied and they move from net to net in the paddocks. I actually put multiple nets in a paddock so movement is encouraged as horses travel from net to net (the other guy’s is always better).
The fourth tip is to provide mental stimulation for your horse. A group of horses in a pasture provides lots of mental stimulation but a horse confined to a stall or small paddock will need something else to keep his little horsey mind occupied. If my minis get bored, one of their favorite things is to pretend they are beavers and chew the fence boards. They can chew clean through a 2-foot by 6-foot plank in no time.
I have tried a number of “horse toys” in their pens but several of the minis look at me with total disgust — they really are not interested in stooping to play with balls. If I can incorporate a food treat into the toy, the minis will consider playing with it if occasional treats are received — picky, picky.
The fifth tip is to respect your horse’s instincts. The horse is basically a prey animal. Much of our training and schooling attempts to dampen some of the natural responses of our horses. Fortunately for us, our horses will take our leadership and companionship and allow us to override some of their natural responses. However, that instinct is always there and we must respect and understand that some of their behaviour that perhaps doesn’t make sense to us or is not what we want them to do is a result of their basic nature.
I have more tips and will share them in future columns. The bottom line is don’t let winter stop you from getting out and enjoying your equine friends — they will be happy horses to spend time with you.
