13/05/2024
‘Over rugging is a huge contributor to metabolic disorders and obesity in equines’
Horses need the ebb and flow of the seasons as nature intended ☀️🍂❄️🌸
❄️ 𝙒𝙞𝙣𝙩𝙚𝙧 𝙄𝙨 𝘾𝙤𝙢𝙞𝙣𝙜…
🐴 Is anyone else in disbelief that it is May already and that winter is only 3 weeks away?! I hope the following leaves you with some handy tips for managing your equine friends throughout the next few months.
🧥 Let’s rip this Band-Aid off and start with the most controversial topic of winter… Rugging.
🌡️ Despite how cold we may feel, equines have a thermoneutral zone of approximately 5°C - 25°C. This means that most horses do not feel cold unless it is below 5°C, and do not feel hot unless temperatures exceed 25°C. Of course, we need to take into consideration factors such as clipping, wind, rain, and the fact that we know our individual horses best; however, it is vital that we don’t go reaching for the rugs unless temperatures are dropping to the lower range of a horse’s thermoneutral zone, or unless we know that our individual horse does not cope without extra layers for any given reason (i.e. age or body condition score).
🧬 The fact of the matter is, over-rugging is a huge contributor to metabolic disorders and obesity in equines. Using rugs inappropriately means a horse is not capable of regulating their body temperature and metabolism how they are designed to do so. 𝘕𝘰𝘵 allowing a horse to lose some condition during winter may result in obesity, further metabolic issues, and laminitis as they enter spring ‘well-covered’ and proceed to inhale all of the lush, green, and sugary spring pasture.
🐎 I can hear everyone internally screaming. “𝘔𝘺 𝘩𝘰𝘳𝘴𝘦 𝘪𝘴 𝘚𝘜𝘗𝘗𝘖𝘚𝘌𝘋 𝘵𝘰 𝘭𝘰𝘴𝘦 𝘸𝘦𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘥𝘶𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘸𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘳?”
⚖️ Yes… it is how horses are physiologically designed to regulate their body condition. Now I am not saying a horse needs to become underweight or malnourished during winter months, but it is normal and actually healthy for them to lose some kilograms during winter to prevent spring-induced health implications which are far worse than a couple of ribs being visible.
🦴 And with that being said… A glimpse of ribs does not necessarily mean your horse is skinny, malnourished, or emaciated. Society has conditioned us to accept overweight and obese horses as the normal and this is why we are seeing more and more metabolic conditions diagnosed. Being able to feel/slightly see ribs is 𝘏𝘌𝘈𝘓𝘛𝘏𝘠.
🌱 Winter can often be used as an advantage to owners who are struggling to keep weight off easy keepers. If you’ve owned easy keepers for several seasons then you know how challenging spring pasture can be. Get ahead of spring and allow your easy keepers to drop some condition by not rugging them unless absolutely necessary, not over-feeding them good quality hay, and continuing to exercise them if and where possible. A fat, fluff-ball of a pony may look cute but it is a ticking time bomb if not managed carefully.
🌾 Harder keepers can be a little more difficult to manage during winter, but that is not to say they need to be over-rugged either. Over-rugging does not do their metabolism any favours and may further reduce their ability to regulate their body condition even once winter has passed. This category of horses will often benefit from an increase in quality roughage i.e. good quality grass hay fed ad libitum. Digestible fibre aids to keep a horse warm from the inside-out, as microbial fermentation in the hindgut produces heat as a result of the process. Additional warmth may be achieved by adding a legume hay to the diet such as lucerne hay which is an excellent source of quality protein that produces increased heat when fermented.
🏇🏻 It is often hard to separate horse’s needs from the needs of humans; however, it is essential to remember that they are a completely different species who are biologically unlike us.
🍎 Please feel free to share. It’s really important that we get on top of metabolically-challenged and/or obese horses who are predisposed to life-long health implications that have been created by humans. Similarly, putting measures in place to prevent our harder keeping horses from too much weight loss during winter months sooner rather than later could take some pressure off of feeding management once winter really sets in.
🤝🏼As always; rain, hail, or shine I am available for Equine Nutrition Consultations should you need a helping hand with managing your horse’s dietary needs, weight control, external health, internal health, or performance.
https://stableisedequine.com.au/products/remote-equine-nutrition-consultation
