Management know-how
Condition building
When you’re the owner of a poor-doer, what can you do to ensure he gets through winter at a healthy weight? H&R highlights four areas to focus on
Photo: Jon Stroud
Horses are designed to gain weight over the spring and summer months when grazing contains the most energy, then during the colder months, when the pasture’s stripped of the majority of its nutrients and the energy content dips quite dramatically, that weight he gained in the warmer months gets put to work. This should be an inevitable part of our horses’ lifestyles, yet so often we intervene before nature has provided the chance to streamline our equine friends.
While this natural cycle works in the majority of horses and is essential for maintaining many of your horse’s endocrinological processes, there’s a minority of horses who have a tendency to drop to the unhealthier side of lean over winter. Maybe these horses are veterans or particularly poor doers, or maybe this year’s erratic weather conditions meant they didn’t fill out on grass as much as usual. Whatever the reason, if you know your horse is prone to rapid weight loss, you’ll want to think about ensuring you’re supplying everything he needs and supplementing his diet with something extra.