The winter is a hard time for owning any outdoor animals–the weather, the snow, the slick grounds. It is very hard to own horses in the winter, too.
Horses require so much work, and as someone that has been doing this work for countless years, I understand. I don’t think many people enjoy being out in negative degrees or super snowy weather, but when you have horses, you have to do it.
Horses need to be fed multiple times a day, even at times you do not want to be awake. Horses need water, blankets, to be groomed, and even ridden if you ride. They also need to be turned out to paddocks if the weather allows.
As someone that hates winter weather, this stuff is hard and it is not easy to be freezing but have to dump frozen solid water buckets out and then refill them on top of that.
Grooming horses also takes a while because of all the steps you must take to do it properly. Horses also have winter coats that they grow during the season and these coats being too thick can result in them getting sick. If a horse is over-worked and gets sweaty in the cold seasons, you must walk them out and let them cool before putting them away.
Horses have very sensitive stomachs and can colic very easily. Colic is a very serious type of sickness horses can get. This sickness doesn’t just occur in the winter but is definitely most common around the freezing temperatures. What happens is your horse will get sweaty from either being ridden or running, and since it is freezing, them being sweating and hot will not be normal.
Horses cannot throw up so instead they roll and curl their stomachs up in knots. The outlook is normally good if you act fast. When horses refuse their food this is also a large sign that they could be experiencing colic.
Now this isn’t just a winter issue and can even be caused by stress but it is common with the cold. Another downfall of having horses in the winter is the lack of time they have to go out.
Horses normally have a stall (indoor) and a paddock (outdoor fenced in area), and when it’s freezing, it is much less safe to let them outside, or they have to go out for short periods of time. This causes pacing in stall, and just getting them much more dirty.
A stall that becomes dirty fast means you have to clean it much more often, this means you have to stock up on materials in the winter as well.
Horses are wonderful creatures, but taking care of them is not easy, especially during the winter.
