Key Factors for Feeding Horses in Winter

Most horses have some down time in winter when adverse weather will not permit much riding or showing activity. A reduction in your horses activity level usually means a reduced need for calories and requirements for grain or concentrate feeding can be lowered. During the winter season temperatures typically fall below that necessary for pasture grass to grow. Pastures become rapidly depleted of natural forage and horses must increasingly rely on their owners to provide them with a nutritionally adequate diet. To properly feed a horse during the winter months the key factors of water fibre and essential nutrients must be addressed. 

Water should always be the first consideration in the diet for any horse. An adult horse 1000 lbs. that is not working or lactating in a cool and comfortable environment requires a minimum of seven to ten gallons of fresh clean water per day. Impaction colic during the winter months is a major concern. This form of colic is mainly due to a horse becoming dehydrated because it consumes less water due to cooler temperatures no sweating less water availability frozen ponds cold water etc. and a diet of hay at 10 percent water content instead of pasture at 80 percent water content. When horses drink cold water during the winter their bodies must expend additional calories to warm their tissues again due to the heat loss that has incurred so they instinctively drink less. Warming water or using insulated or heated buckets that keep water temperature above freezing will allow horses to consume more water.
Research has shown that horses drink the most water when the water temperature is between 45 and 65 degrees Fahrenheit 7 to 18 degrees Celcius or close to room temperature.
Adequate fibre intake is the next consideration in feeding horses during the winter season.