The winter and the cold weather it brings is often a difficult challenge for both new and old horse owners like. Those feedings first thing in the morning now also include knocking ice out of water buckets and making a path in the snow just to get to the barn door. There is an easier way to handle your horses in the cold weather apart from moving south. All it takes is some extra time and effort.

The first and most important rule to keeping your horse healthy during the winter is give it plenty of water. All vets will agree. A typical horse won't be able to eat enough snow to meet its daily requirements of water intake, so you must make sure it has plenty of water everyday. Tank heaters are a great investment since your horse will drink cold water but obviously the water can't be frozen.

Obviously you’ll always want to pay attention to the weather forecasts. A healthy horse can usually endure very cold weather, as long as it is dry. Once they become wet from a snow or ice storm, however their thick winter coats lose its insulation feature. This means your horse will have a difficult time maintaining body temperature. Also in extreme cold weather, you’ll want to make sure it gets extra calories and equine supplements in to order to maintain its ideal body condition. Most horse owners feed their horses more hay when they are concerned about providing extra warmth through feed.

I cannot stress enough the important of paying attention to the body condition on all the horses throughout the winter. This is especially true for older ones since cold weather can be hard on them. The added stress can be demanding. When a horse has its thick winter coat, it is quite easy to miss the early signs of a declining body. So try and keep that in mind.

Ideally, you should be taking a body condition score monthly so that changes are easily apparent. Of course, excess body weight isn’t that great either; especially if you want to return to regular exercise and vigorous activities once it warms up. Obesity in a horse can be harmful to its health, making higher activity levels dangerous until the horse is back to ideal body weight.

Finally, try not to confuse a fat horse with one that has a hay belly. Its fat is primarily over the top line of a horse. A bigger hay belly is from drooping muscles on both the top line and under the belly.