Winter Horse Care
For most of us Winter and Summer mean totally different routines with our horses.
The change from 24 hour turnout to a mix of stabling and turnout can be as disruptive to you horse as it is to you, so keeping it interesting and workable for both is important.
Find a routine that is manageable for you; your horse will adapt, so donâ??t set yourself goals you cannot achieve.
Enlist the help of other riders, friends and family â?? dark nights and early mornings can get pretty tiring by the end of Winter and itâ??s nice to be able to take turns to have a night off or a lie in.
Try to do as much as possible when you have spare time, as leaving things until the last minute does not allow leeway for the unexpected.
I always make my feeds up in the morning, then if I get held up, someone can put a feed in for me, rather than end up with an agitated horse wondering where her tea is.
Fresh air and/or good ventilation are major requirements for horses. They can tolerate considerable cold if they can move around and are dry. Avoid drafts, but allow sufficient air exchange to move stale air, humidity, and ammonia out of the horse’s environment.
Keeping the stable clean will keep ammonia levels low and there are some very good products available that destroy ammonia without harming your horse, even if ingested. I use a fresh smelling product that can be sprinkled onto the rubber matting or mixed in with the bedding. It not only reduced the bacteria but smells nice too.
Try to turn your horse out as much as possible. The lucky ones will have an area for adequate exercise well drained or with a hard standing area and access to a shelter. Most of us however will probably make do with a muddy paddock, but that can be better than standing in for hours. Remember to still have your horses hooves checked regularly, and pick out mud and stones when they come in as they will be uncomfortable and potentially cause damage to your rubber matting if you have it.
You may need to clip your horse according to how much exercise it is getting but then you will need to rug up to compensate. My horse usually has a full clip at the end of Autumn then a blanket re-clip later in Winter, as she grows a very heavy coat and is a hot horse when exercising.
Donâ??t neglect your grooming just because your horse is rugged up. Itâ??s a good idea to take rugs off daily and check for any rubs or damage. Dry mud will brush off easily with a stiff brush and I find that applying a bit of coat shire mud repellent lotion really helps. I find it very soothing to have a chat with my horse whilst grooming her â?? sheâ??s a great listener and it makes up for the reduced time we spend riding.
The change of diet from grass to hay/haylage can cause colic or digestive upsets, so try to make the change gradually. As Autumn sets in the grass will probably be very sparse anyway so you could start to put out some hay/haylage in the field. Keep an eye on your horseâ??s condition through the Winter and adjust the quantity or type of feed, depending on whether your need to increase or decrease your horseâ??s weight. Better to keep it under control, than to have to suddenly make drastic adjustments. Be particularly careful if you have a horse that could be potentially laminitic.
Ensure that you horse has access to drinking water, particularly when temperatures drop and external water supplies may freeze. I have read that warming water to at least 60 degrees F will increase water consumption by 40 percent to 100 percent. Dehydration (lack of water) is apparently the chief cause of impaction colic in horses.
Try to maintain a programme of exercise for your horse that fits in with your lifestyle. You may be restricted to road work, but a good brisk walk will do wonders for your horseâ??s fitness, and avoids risking damage from too much trotting on hard ground. Do plenty of flexion exercises at the walk and trot using leg yield and shoulder in if you can find a safe quiet lane. If you have access to a schooling area, use the time to do some groundwork exercises, lunging, free schooling or long reining.
Remember to warm your horse up slowly and thoroughly before asking for serious work. You may need to use an exercise sheet to keep the hind-quarters warm, and they have the added benefit of providing protection from the rain and if you use one of the fluorescent ones, aid visibility to other road users.
Hot horses need to be cooled down thoroughly then brushed to stand the hair up again before turning them back out. Fluffy hair traps air and keeps the horse warm; hair plastered down flat or wet lets body heat escape.
Adapting your routine to take into account weather changes, work schedule, turnout schedule, and feeding programs mean that there is no reason not to enjoy your horse as much in Winter as in Summer.
Nancy Griffiths
2007
Horse owners - how do you care for your hands over the winter?
I've had horses for 14 years, and every winter I get dry, chapped hands, and ingrained dirt in my fingers! Yuck!!!
Does anyone have any magic products that keep your hands from getting like this? Don't like working in gloves, so wear fingerless ones, which doesn't protect my fingers!!
The joys of horse ownership - at least I'm not the only one!! And yes, my feet also suffer. At the moment my right welly is leaking, and my boyfriend swears I've got trenchfoot…!
i don't wear gloves at all, when i get home i wash my hands in a mixture of washing up liquid and washing powder and a bit of sugar, with very little water to start with, then add water to get a good lather going using a scrubbing brush, my hands are clean again !!!!!!! hope this helps
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If you can find a product called "Gloves In A Bottle" try that out. My dad's a farmer and that's what he uses. It's supposed to form a protective barrier on the skin. http://www.glovesinabottle.com/about.html
Maybe try deep moisturizing your hands at night–like with coconut oil, olive oil, or vitamin E oil.
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How do I care for my hands over winter ? Very unsuccessfully it would seem, I have the same problem every year as well, Also I tend to get very chapped lips each year, no matter how much lip balm or salve I put on them :(. Gets quite painful sometimes.But if you dislike gloves you could try coats with long sleeves that you could tuck your hands into, so that they avoid most of the weathering.
Good luck xx
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good old E45 i swear by it. and if you can get hold of it, fullers earth cream. you'll find it in little chemists. my hands used to split like hundreds of paper cuts and it was agony. started using this stuff 10 yrs ago and no problems since. if really bad get some hydrocortisone cream to heal them 1st then just use the other creams
love and laughter
LL
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good old E45 i swear by it. and if you can get hold of it, fullers earth cream. you'll find it in little chemists. my hands used to split like hundreds of paper cuts and it was agony. started using this stuff 10 yrs ago and no problems since. if really bad get some hydrocortisone cream to heal them 1st then just use the other creams
love and laughter
hope this helps
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I also don't like working in gloves.
A good hand wash liquid and Vaseline intensive care hand lotion.
But even that's just about passable - at the least they're not rough enough to snag on things at the moment.
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Have that exact same problem!! What I do is exfoliate and then moisturise nightly…That seems to work well for me:)
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I deny that they are my hands and promise my husband that I'm sure that whoever took my real hands will bring them back in the Spring. I also have a bad habit of running outside to feed grain, as I have the feed troughs next to the fence…so…the same person who took my pretty hands, must have my pretty feet too…Hope I get them all back before sandal weather comes around.
Actually, I use cocoa butter, but they still look like someone else's hands.
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I get the same thing, but I wear gloves on cold winter mornings. What I do is Put Lanolin on my hands at night when I go to bed, I put cotton gloves on over it so it doesn't get on the bed, but when you put it on don't rub it in just lather a thick layer on your skin. You should be able to buy tubes of Lanolin at a chemist. Hope this helps! (and put lots of lip balm on too so your lips don't get wind burn!) I have 3rd digree burns on my right hand, so I know a lot about this stuff!
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I used to get terribly chapped and cracked hands in the winter too as I also can't work in gloves, then my Mum bought me a tub of Stable Hands which is made by NAF and contains MSM, Aloe Vera, Vitamin E and Lemon Oil - It's BRILLIANT! and is the only thing that has worked for me.
I have a stockpile of Stable hands now and have tubs of it at every sink, by the hose pipe on the yard and in the car and haven't had sore & bleeding hands for years.
E45 is ok short term but the major problem is that it has steroidal properties which thin the skin quite alarmingly and will evenyually compound the problem even more, so try and steer clear of it if you can.
For Stable Hands go to http://WWW.naf-uk.com for suppliers if your local tack shop doesn't sell it =0)
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BHS II, 30 years of winter misery ;0)
I hear ya! - I think my hands look 15 years older than my face thanks to winter!
I slap some barrier cream on before I go out, which helps keep some of the dirt off. I usually wear gloves, but for some fiddly jobs I take them off. I wash with Fairy liquid and a nail brush which does fine for the dirt, and use Dove handcream about 4 times a day.
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Burt's Bees Banana and Beeswax hand cream. Comes in a little glass pot and it's fantastic (smells yummy, too). I have such dry skin and my cuticles/nails are a mess in the winter. But this stuff is super-moisturizing and works wonders.
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I use Neutrogena Norwegian Formula Hand Cream EVERY night before I go to bed… no red split skin this year!!!
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Use pure glycerine at night - you can get it from any chemist and its cheap. Wear thin gloves if you dont like the sticky feeling - but it really works and your hands will stay soft and unchapped
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personal experience
I don't bother but Aquaphor is really good. My son has eczema and in the winter, his face gets so sore and dry and that will turn it around overnight.
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i always use cooking oil & sugar, rub well into hands & rince with warm water, the sugar gets into the cracks!! and really cleans them
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The one and only "Neutrogena Norwegian formula" REALLY works. Its what the Norweigian fishermen use in the North sea.
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i use e45 for my excema which is particularly bad in winter as well as on my hands. i tend to get it word around my mouth though, so i use timodine and trimovate. my dad uses products that you can get from the underground and the person said that they were from the "dead sea" but i don't know anything more about it, apart from that since i used it i have not itched once!
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Hemp has a hand lotion is good. Lubadurm(sp?) has a really good hand cream! & Burts Bees has a good hand cream, too. I use these 3. Hope this helps!!!
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i use a vasaline moisturiser for hands and nails, its in a pink bottle and it makes my hands sooooo soft. its making my nails stronger too.
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Yes there is a magical remedy:
Coconut oil, Vitamin E, Lavender Oil, Aloe Vera concentrate, and soybean oil all mixed together. It makes your hands sooo soft. It also helps condition your hands to prevent more severe chapping. I don't work in gloves either, and this has really helped my hands!
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Aveeno hand cream. Not cheap, but it works. get it from Boots
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do not worry about you hands in winter make sure your horse is ok
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