Winter Horsekeeping – Meeting the Challenge

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Winter Horsekeeping – Meeting the Challenge

Keeping a horse in the winter can be challenging. Even though our main issues in the winter here in western Washington are wind and rain, we can encounter the occasional problems with freezing temperatures and snow. Maintaining good horse care is a challenge here because we need to be prepared for just about anything. But by following some key Best Management Practices (BMPs) you can meet those challenges and not let them overcome your enjoyment of having a horse

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Confinement Areas for Horses

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Confinement Areas for Horses

One of the most important aspects of pasture management is the length of time you keep horses off the pasture. When horses are allowed year round access to pastures, grass plants can become overgrazed, making them dramatically less productive and allowing weeds to take over in their place. Grazing during the winter months is especially hard on pastures. When soils are wet they are easily compacted, suffocating the roots of grass plants and doing long-term damage to vital air and water channels in the soil. Consider adding a confinement area to your grazing system or farm.
 

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Safer Grazing

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Safer Grazing

In horses, “fat” is not healthy. The high sugar and non-structural carbohydrate issues in hay and grass may explain why we are now seeing so many overweight horses with metabolic disorders and insulin resistance problems. The way we’ve been grazing horses and the types of pastures we’ve developed may be contributing to very serious horse health issues.

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