Holistic Winter Health Through Nutrition

with Larissa Bilston

(BAgrSc – Hons 1), Animal Nutritionist, Farmalogic

Keeping your horse happy and healthy through winter only requires a few small feeding and horse husbandry changes, but these provide significant health benefits over winter. In this article, equine nutritionist, Larissa Bilston (BAgrSc), offers tips to boost your horse’s health and well-being over winter.

Why do horses need feed changes in winter?

Horse pastures in many parts of Australia become lower in quality and quantity over winter. Unfortunately, this is the time of year when horse requirements for good forage are higher because they burn extra calories to keep warm during cold weather.

Older horses in particular can have trouble maintaining weight over winter as their bodies become less efficient at producing, processing and absorbing nutrients.

Horses can be prone to developing a runny nose through change of season and in some areas, wet weather increases the risk of mycotoxin ingestion.

Hint: Help your horses get even more feed value from their roughage by adding a daily serve of live yeast probiotics as an aid to digestion. These little guys are scientifically proven to improve feed use efficiency (and gut health) by promoting the natural microbial populations that improve plant digestibility. Microbial fermentation of indigestible fibre turns it from a waste product into a source of available energy whilst producing valuable vitamins.

Health Check

If you have a horse who struggles to hold weight over winter, now is the time to check that your worming program is up-to-date and that dental and other health or veterinary issues are dealt with before the full chill of winter hits.

Keep them warm

The two most important things you can do to help horses prone to winter weight loss are also the two easiest - keep them warm and feed plenty of hay.

Keeping warm in cold weather burns body fat, so appropriate use of rugs, windbreaks, shelters and stables helps less thrifty individuals hold condition over winter.

A bonus for horses eating plenty of forage during cold weather is that microbial fermentation of fibre in the hindgut produces heat and has a ‘warming’ effect.

Provide Adequate, Appropriate Roughage

Plant growth is naturally slower in winter due to longer nights and fewer sunlight hours for photosynthesis to occur. Plant growth is further restricted by cold weather, frost, drought and water-logged conditions.

When pasture is in limited supply, it is essential to provide enough good quality grass or meadow hay to fill the gap in pasture availability.

If you feed lucerne or cereal hay, limit these to no more than 30% of total intake. When grass is sparse, the best replacement to feed is grass or meadow hay.

Hard-keepers and underweight horses will benefit from access to free choice grass hay whenever pasture is overgrazed or the average length of leaves in the pasture falls below ankle height.

Horses with poor teeth who ‘quid’ or ‘ball up’ long stem roughage will need chaff (predominantly made from grass hay if possible) rather than hay or long grass.

Although spring and autumn are the highest risk times for laminitis, it is important to monitor pasture and horses carefully through winter as well. Overweight horses and those with metabolic conditions should not have access to short, green or frost affected grass as these are higher in the sugars and carbohydrates that can trigger laminitis.

Hint: When a horse’s roughage intake is predominantly hay, provide a concentrated source of omega-3 fatty acids. Plants contain omega-3 in the form of ALA, some of which is converted by the horse into other forms (DHA and EPA). Marine-sourced omega-3 can be used to provide DHA and EPA more efficiently. Marine sourced omega-3 supplements can also assist horses with inflammatory conditions such as arthritis, airway disease, allergies and itchy skin.

Keep them Drinking

Some horses don’t drink enough water during colder weather, which can lead to impaction colic. Encourage drinking by:
• Providing fresh clean water that is not too hot or too cold;

• Keep water under cover especially if bat or bird droppings are likely to contaminate it;

• Empty and clean the water trough every few days to avoid algae, bird droppings and dead insects building up in the water;

• Add 7 - 10 grams of salt per 100 kilograms of horse bodyweight to feed to encourage healthy levels of water intake. Remember to include the salt content of pre-mixed hard feeds when calculating how much to add.

Is there enough protein?

An adequate quantity of moderate to good quality roughage usually provides enough protein to meet the needs of adult horses. Pregnant, lactating or growing horses may need extra protein in their diet. Some older horses are less efficient at digesting protein and may also need supplementary protein. Higher protein feeds include lucerne, clover, soy or legume products. Performance horses can benefit from a boost of the amino acid leucine immediately after work to help ‘switch on’ muscle repair and building pathways.

Add calories (but only when required)

Although many mature easy-keeper horses and ponies at rest or in light work hold body condition easily from hay and grass alone, others need more calories over winter to prevent unwanted loss of weight. A hard feed of grains and/or superfibres is often necessary for ageing horses, Thoroughbred types and those in harder work.

Always ensure adequate roughage (as pasture or hay) is available before deciding to introduce or increase hard feeds.

It is healthier to make small and regular adjustments to the diet to maintain optimal body condition rather than making drastic changes once a horse becomes very over or under-weight.

If using oils, be aware of their omega-3, 6 and 9 content and add an appropriate omega-3 balancer to optimise immune system function.

When feeding older horses, take into account the condition of their teeth and digestive efficiency when choosing a hard feed. A bathtub full of mixed chaff is the best alternative to free-choice hay for old horses who can no longer chew
long stems.

The amount of concentrate required depends on the horse’s size, level of activity or breeding status and the individual’s metabolism (easy-keeper or hard-keeper).

Another major factor impacting concentrate requirements is the ever-changing calorie content of pasture. Because changes in roughage quality are often not visible, it is important to remove winter rugs at least every two weeks to monitor for changes in body condition and make changes accordingly.

Balance the vitamins, minerals and fatty acids

Feeding a correctly formulated diet complete with all the vitamins, minerals and fatty acids in balance allows the horse’s body to function optimally. This can result in improved ‘fuel efficiency’ and immune function to help horses through the cold of winter.

Grass and hay alone never provides a horse all the minerals required for optimal health. Supplement with the full recommended amount of a quality pre-mixed feed, or by adding a balancer powder/pellet to an unfortified feed. If feeding a reduced rate of pre-mixed pellets or muesli, use a balancer powder to top up and balance your horse’s vitamin and mineral requirements.

If your horse is prone to respiratory disease or over 15 years old, consider adding extra antioxidant nutrients such as vitamin C, natural vitamin E and organic selenium.

Manage Mycotoxin Risk

Fungi love growing in wet conditions and unfortunately this includes the fungi that grow on grass, grass seeds, hay, silage, grains and stored horse feeds, producing harmful and invisible mycotoxins. Horse health, welfare and physical performance can be severely impacted by eating mycotoxin-contaminated food and pasture.

Because there are many types of mycotoxins which can act on many organs, symptoms can vary widely. Symptom severity depends on the type and amount of toxin present and the individual’s immunity or tolerance to mycotoxins.

Affected horses need the help of a broad-spectrum mycotoxin binder to stay in top health.

Nutraceuticals for Joint Care

Horses with osteoarthritis often ‘feel their bones’ and suffer more pain during the cold of winter. Whilst feeding cannot cure degenerative joint problems, adequate vitamin and mineral supplementation supports your horse’s joint health. Vitamins B6, C and E and the minerals manganese, copper and zinc are required to help the body build, maintain and repair joint fluids, connective tissues, muscles and bones.

Orally ingested joint supplements containing hyaluronic acid (HA), MSM, glucosamine and DHA omega-3s can have anti-inflammatory and analgesic (pain relieving) affects. These can be used in addition to veterinary oral or injectable treatments where required.

Conclusion

Maintaining horses in optimal health and condition over winter takes a little extra attention to forage availability, body condition and tweaking a well-balanced hard feed. Your efforts will be rewarded with the satisfaction of horses that glow with a healthy winter shine!