12/01/2025
Every year as the temperatures drop, I notice horses are more body and joint sore than typical and their guts are more tender or prone to issues such as colic, f***l water syndrome, and gas irritation.
I’ve compiled a few ways you can help your horses feel a bit better in the winter months and help prevent muscular, joint, or gastric issues in this video.
The main points:
💧Water should always be available. Dehydrated tissues are restricted tissues. Lack of moisture in the gut can lead to impaction colic. Place multiple sources about to encourage movement.
🧂Adding salt to your horse’s feed helps to encourage drinking and hydrated tissue.
🥣Soaking hard feeds increases water consumption and helps prevent choke. If your horse is not a great drinker, soaked hay pellets are a great way to increase water consumption without increasing risk of gastric or inflammatory issues from increasing processed or grain products.
🌱Feeding an appropriate amount of hay per day, spread out to allow near constant access to forage is ideal year round, but especially during winter months when it is colder and grasses have little nutritional value. Near constant forage encourages gut motility and a warmer horse as well as discourages gastric ulcers, bolting feed, or weight loss. You may need to feed more hay than usual in cooler weather. Place hay in multiple areas, away from shelter, or away from water to encourage movement between sources.
🏃♀️MOVEMENT is a huge factor in winter comfort. Movement aids in good digestion, joint lubrication, bone and soft tissue density and strength, increasing warmth and range of motion, and more. Horses who are sedentary or stalled are typically the ones I see being more body sore. Colder weather does often mean longer warm ups and cool downs as well.
Bonus:
👚Properly fitted blankets go a long way in preventing body tension associated with cooler weather. I often see sore shoulders, withers, hips, and neck/sternum areas from blankets that don’t fit well… think pressure sores from a belt that’s too tight, only you can’t adjust the fit. If it falls to one side, pulls backwards, gets water in the neck or shoulder area, leaves rub marks, alters your horse’s movement… it probably doesn’t fit well.
💅Hoofcare- wetter weather, mud, frozen ground, diet changes, less movent can all mean changes in hoof health. Treating and preventing thrush, monitoring hoof comfort across multiple surfaces, watching for retracted soles, and keeping up with farrier appointments will go a long way in preventing body soreness.
🐴Keeping your horse’s bodywork appointments in this cooler weather is important to help combat soreness or stiffness issues, keep tissues gliding easily, and help with your horse’s overall comfort. It also helps to have a second pair of eyes alert you to any changes in body condition, posture, or overall temperament.
What are ways you are keeping your horse’s bodies and bellies feeling good this winter?
