Warm Days, Chilly Nights and a Cold Snap Moving In - Salt is for Winter, Too!

Just another reminder that these conditions in the Southwest can set up your horse to easily become dehydrated which can lead to an impaction.

Your first line of defense? SALT!  An adult horse needs about an ounce of plain white salt a day added to feed for maintenance - about four teaspoons or a small handful. This will ensure an adequate "thirst response" as long as fresh clean water is available.  Most horses can't get enough salt solely from a block, although a plain white block or brick should always be kept available in their feeder and/or turn out area.

Next in our line of defense is monitoring water intake. My horses consistently are drinking ten to twelve gallons each now that the weather has cooled down, and a little more when daytime highs go up into the 80's (I just love living in Arizona!)  I long ago got rid of my automatic waterers and switched to large muck buckets for water, along with a 100 gallon tank in the turn out area. If you use automatic waterers, they need to be checked every day to ensure they are working properly and not freezing up during the night; providing a bucket of water also is good insurance but not always possible if you board. You should also do a hydration check on your horse daily - squeeze a fold of skin between your index finger and thumb, it should snap back flat in less than three seconds, and check that the gums are moist, not dry or sticky.

As horses age they make less saliva when they chew; this can be aggravated if water intake is inadequate. Combined with worn or missing teeth hay can become difficult to chew into digestible lengths which will pass easily through the digestive system leading up to an impaction.

Consider using a leaf mulcher to chop hay into finer lengths and/or wetting the hay down.  Getting the older horse used to accepting concentrates as a mash, with wetter and soupier consistency as it's accepted, is a good way to get more water into these older campaigners.  Hay pellets and beet pulp shreds will hold many times their weight in water and the fineness of the grind makes them a good option.

Caution with beet pulp pellets - unless they're soaked for several hours, beet pulp pellets can retain a hard center which may cause a problem for some horses.  I've been finding much more consistency in the beet pulp shreds I purchase now (cleaner, more consistent chop) than when I first started feeding beet pulp fifeen years ago, plus they soak up water quickly, eliminating the need for a long soak.

Feeding the mash in a large muck bucket will also encourage whoever is doing the feeding to add more water than if the feed is mixed up in a small bucket. I mix the beet pulp shreds, Timothy hay pellets, supplement (AZ Copper Complete), salt and any other add-ins in easy to carry buckets out to the stalls, then dump it into the large muck buckets and soak it all with a hard spray setting with a hose to thoroughly mix, using at least a gallon of water per horse.   The muck buckets are easy to keep clean and don't tip easily - at least not until they're down to licking up every last drop!


Bottom line - plain white salt is likely the most essential supplement you can provide to your horse - along with lots of clean, fresh water and quality forage.

Stay warm and enjoy your horses!

Patti
in warm sunny Vail AZ - until the weekend (Brrrrrr)

Links:
AZ Copper Complete - http://horsetech.com/arizona-copper-complete
Leaf Mulchers - http://www.bestreviews.guide/leaf-mulchers?
Large muck buckets -http://www.tractorsupply.com/tsc/search/muck%20bucket

Feed Naturally to Prevent Winter Colic - and Don't Forget the Salt!

Prevent Seasonal Colic and Ulcers Holistically by Joyce Harman, DVM from HolisticHorse.com

Not something we want to see in our barn!

“It’s no secret that horses have a finicky digestive system. By design, they should move and graze for up to 20 hours a day. This natural behavior keeps the hindgut full, which leads to a properly functioning digestive tract. Most horse owners aren’t able to provide this optimum environment and alter the horse’s patterns to fit into their lifestyles. At times, that means stalling horses or keeping them in small paddocks, while feeding them large amounts of processed feed. Whether we realize it or not, altering the natural behavior puts stress on the horse’s body.”

See entire article here.

Dehydration is often a primary cause of winter impaction colic. As the weather cools down, our horses may need to be encouraged to continue drinking adequate water - this is best done by adding salt daily to their feed. Most horses won’t get the one to two ounces (four to eight teaspoons) of salt they need to provide their sodiumrequirement (it's the sodium which triggers a thirst response) from a block. If your horses aren’t used to having salt added to their feed, you can start by “salting the environment” - literally sprinkling salt around their stall, on their hay, etc. the help them get used to the smell and taste.  Then gradually add up to at least one ounce per day for an average 900-1100 pound horse. If you provide free choice salt, make sure you monitor their intake.

It’s also important to monitor your horses’ water intake during the winter which can be difficult if you use automatic waterers - especially as they can be subject to freezing.

Old Camping Trick:  In my part of Arizona, we generally have only ten nights or less of hard freeze. I’ve found the easiest way to get fresh warm water to my horses on these days is to place a clean trash bag in muck buckets, fill them at the house then tie off the top of the bags.  I can then drive them to the barn in my truck or in a cart without sloshing or losing a drop. 

Warm regards from

Patti in sunny Vail AZ
 - where Fall has finally arrived

Links:

Winter Water Needs for Our Horses

http://www.desertequinebalance.com/articles/Winter-Water

Introducing New Feeds (or “salting the environment”)

http://www.desertequinebalance.com/articles/introducing-new-feeds

Prevent Seasonal Colic and Ulcers Holistically

http://holistichorse.com/health-care/%3A-prevent-seasonal-colic-and-ulcers-holistically/

Baby It's Cold Outside

The thermometer showed 42°F this morning - chilly for those of us used to the sunny warmth of Southern Arizona but just right for our horses.

Horses thrive in “thermo neutral” temperatures ranging from 40 or 45°F to 65°F.  Above 65, they begin to rely on sweating, with water and salt loss, for cooling.  Under 45 they use energy to maintain their body temperature.  

According to Dr. Robert A. Mowrey, Extension Horse Specialist at North Carolina State University, the standard “critical temperature” is 45°F, with 10 degrees subtracted for wind and another 10 degrees subtracted for rain/wet coats becoming the “actual” temperature. 

On a 45 degree day, if the horse is wet and unprotected from wind the “actual” temperature is 25 degrees - which is cold.  For each degree below the critical temperature the horse requires a 1% increase in calories to maintain a constant temperature.

At 25°F a horse needs 20% more calories than when the temperature is a neutral 45 degrees. That’s 20% more calories, not 20% more forage - how that translates to hay or beet pulp depends on the DE (digestible energy in Mcal per pound) of the forage.  For grass hay with a DE of 0.8 Mcal/lb that would mean an additional 1.2 pounds of hay, with alfalfa hay or beet pulp at about 1.2 Mcal/lb, he would need less than a pound of additional forage.

The calorie increase should come from forage - preferably long stem grass or alfalfa hay, but cubes, pellets or beet pulp also work. This is because the greatest amount of immediate heat maintaining energy is produced by the fermentation of forage in the hind gut.  While additional calories from grain will help retain body weight, grain doesn’t provide the heat-producing fermentation that forage does.

The Cold Weather Feeding Chart and Calculator on my web site can help you determine how much additional forage is needed for your winter temperatures.  The Chart in the pdf file is set for a 1000 lb horse; you can use a percentage of the recommendation if your horse weighs more or less.  Or, if you’re comfortable with spreadsheets, you can download the Excel version (opens with Excel, Numbers or Open Office Calc) and plug in your horse’s weight and the DE of your hay.

These are starting points - your easy keeper may need less and your hard keeper may need the more concentrated calories from alfalfa or beet pulp. And if your horse is a senior or is IR/PPID and prone to laminitis in the winter, don’t forget the boots and leg warmers.  Do use a cooler until your horse is dry after work but think twice about blanketing a horse with a full winter coat - no matter how cold it feels to us your horse can easily become overheated and start sweating under a winter blanket.

Warm regards,

Patti in sunny but chilly Vail, AZ

Links

Cold Weather Feeding Chart (pdf and Excel) http://www.desertequinebalance.com/Files/handy-calculators

Cold Weather Feeding Practices for Horses 

http://www.cvm.ncsu.edu/vhc/efac/equine/documents/ColdWeatherFeedingPracticesforhorse-B.Mowrey.pdf

Nutritional content averages for feeds - Dairy One Feed Composition Library

http://www.dairyone.com/Forage/FeedComp/disclaimer.asp