Walking On Volume 4, Issue 10, October 2017 | Page 6

Back to Basics
Five Tips to Make Your
Senior Horse Winter Ready
By EquineSeniors.com
Making sure your equine senior
horse is in the best shape possible,
and has some additional physical
and nutritional support is key when
it comes to getting them through the
winter.
“You don’t want to wait until we’re
in the dead of winter to find out
your senior horse is too thin, too fat,
or needs a winter blanket or better
shelter,” says Laurie Cerny, editor
of www.equineseniors.com.  “By
then it’s too late and your horse will
suffer.”
Cerny offers these five tips to
ensure your senior horse is winter
ready.
1 Check teeth.  If your horse has
been on pasture (which is more
palatable) you may not notice
signs of tooth problems like
picking though hay for softer
stems, and wadding of hay
that’s been chewed.  Have teeth
floated if necessary.
2 Make sure your horse’s feet are
in good shape for ice and snow. 
This means staying on top of
your blacksmithing and adding
protective measures like rim
pads (to help pop the snow out)
and Borium (for traction) if
your horse remains shod over
the winter.  Hoof supplements
as well as regular application of
a topical hoof dressing will also
help hooves handle the ice and
snow.
3 Protection from the elements. 
In addition to having adequate
6 • Walking On
physical shelter like a run-in
during the day and a stall at
night, your equine senior may
need to be blanketed.  If your
horse is on the thin side going
into the winter - blanketing will
help him/her conserve their
body heat.  For horses with
Cushing’s Disease (and grow
an abnormally long hair coat)
a waterproof blanket will help
keep their coat from becom-
ing soaked from rain or heavy
snow.  This will be a great help
because a Cushing’s hair coat
won’t dry out as well as a nor-
mal hair coat.  Consider using
a fly mask in the winter, too. 
It will help keep your senior
horse’s eyes from watering on
days when it’s really windy and
will also help protect them
from the harsh sun’s glare on
fresh snow.
4 Provide a warm water source. 
Like people, horse’s teeth be-
come more sensitive with age. 
Now imagine drinking water
that’s barely 32 degrees.  If you
don’t have water heaters, at
least add warm water to your
horse’s drinking water several
times during the day.  The most
common cause of colic in the
winter is from lack of water
consumption.
5 Measure your horse now so
you can tell if it loses or gains
too much weight over the
winter.  Because it is so hard to
tell once a horse has a winter
coat (Trying to use a blanket .
. . that fits well in the summer
– to determine weight loss or
gain, doesn’t work as a horse
may have just lost muscle tone.) 
Using a fabric tape measurer
take a measurement around the
widest part of the neck and also
around the barrel of your horse. 
Write these down somewhere
in your barn, and re-measure
your horse every couple of
weeks.
 www.equineseniors.com  is devoted to the care and competition
of equine senior horses.   Find more articles and resources on car-
ing for the senior horse, as well as product reviews, at the website.