Ep. 105: 5 Nutrition Mistakes Horse Owners Make in Winter

Episode Notes

We’re introducing a new series – on this episode of Feeding Fumbles & Fixes, host Katy Starr chats with equine nutritionist Dr. Kelly Vineyard, to break down the five most common winter feeding mistakes horse owners make and how to fix them, including:

• Cold weather factors that increase the risk of colic and dehydration
• The nutrient that drops significantly in horse diets from summer to winter feeding and how to meet their requirements
• What horse owners feed to try to keep their horses warm and what actually works

Winter horse care can be challenging, but this episode will help you feel prepared to keep your horse healthy this winter. ❄️

🎧 Listen now on the Beyond the Barn podcast

Have a topic idea or feedback to share? We want to connect with you! Email podcast@standlee.com

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Episode Resources to Learn More – 

More about vitamin E: 

• Podcast - Ep. 087: Is Your Horse Deficient? The Critical Role of Vitamin A and E in Their Diet
• Podcast - Ep. 069: The Consequences of Ignoring Vitamins & Minerals for Horses

More about winter feeding: 

• Podcast - Ep. 024: Why Horses Need to Be Fed Differently During Winter
• Blog Post – Winter Feeding Easy Keeper and Hard Keeper Horses
• Webinar - Winter Feeding – Can I Feed My Easy Keeper and Hard Keeper Horses the Same?

More about preventing dehydration:

• Podcast - Ep. 065: What Can Happen If Horses Don’t Drink Enough Water
• Blog Post - 5 Tips to Get Your Horse to Drink More Water During Winter

More about salt requirements:

• Podcast – Ep. 081: What Type of Salt Does My Horse Need

Product Solutions Recommended by Dr. Kelly Vineyard – 

• Standlee Timothy Grass Mini Cubes
• Standlee Alfalfa Cubes
• Standlee Alfalfa Pellets

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*Views and opinions expressed by guests are their own and do not necessarily reflect the view of Standlee Premium Products, LLC.*

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Read full episode transcript

Katy Starr (00:01):

Hi, I'm Katy Starr and you're listening to Beyond the Barn. Join me on this journey as we bust equine and livestock nutrition myths and sit down with some of the most intriguing experts from across the country. We'll also take you behind the scenes of how premium western quality forage is grown and brought to your favorite farm and ranch retail store. I'm so glad you're here.

 

Katy Starr (00:28):

Welcome back to the Beyond the Barn podcast. Today we're kicking off a new series. We'll add it to our regular episodes. It's called Feeding Fumbles and Fixes. It's all about learning from real life feeding mistakes and experiences and finding simple practical ways to make improvements for your horse. In this first episode of the series, we're tackling common feeding mistakes horse owners make, and most importantly, how to fix them to keep our horses healthy through winter when our feeding isn't just about feeding our horses a little extra and calling it good. When the temperature drops or the winter storms roll in your horse's metabolism, hydration and nutrient needs all start to shift sometimes in ways you can't even see right away. Did you know horses can burn up to 25% more calories just to stay warm and maintain body weight when the temperature dips below freezing? When the temperature drops below a horse's lower critical temperature, their energy needs rise roughly 2-2.5% for every 1-degree Fahrenheit drop below that threshold. So, if it's 20 degrees Fahrenheit outside and you have a mature horse with a thin coat, they might need about 25% more calories or about four pounds of additional hay per day to maintain their body weight. Today on Feeding Fumbles and Fixes, Dr. Vineyard and I discuss how winter changes your horse's needs and the small everyday habits that can make a big difference for your horse this winter. So, we are talking about five nutrition mistakes horse owners make in the winter. Dr. Vineyard, thanks for being on to talk about this today.

 

Dr. Kelly Vineyard (02:03):

Thanks for having me.

 

Katy Starr (02:05):

So, we're going to go through some of these top mistakes that we've kind of worked out and you've kind of helped work with us on to kind of help horse owners understand how to make good feeding decisions, particularly in the wintertime. And so, let's start with mistake number five and then we'll work our way up the list. So, Dr. Vineyard, mistake number five, neglecting vitamin E intake for our horses.

 

Dr. Kelly Vineyard (02:28):

So, yeah, I think this is a mistake because it's not a year round problem all the time because in the winter is when the pasture growth slows or you know, it just goes completely dormant. And so, because fresh pasture is the number one source of vitamin E in the diet, when there's less pasture, vitamin E has to come from somewhere else.

 

Katy Starr (02:50):

Right. Perfect. And so, what can happen if we don't pay attention to that, right? Like it's not something that is as big of a concern in the summertime, but in the winter, if we don't pay attention to that, what's going to happen to our horses?

 

Dr. Kelly Vineyard (03:03):

So, vitamin E is such an important antioxidant, you know, in the diet. And so, inadequate vitamin E or you know, not getting enough can have a lot of different effects in the body, but it's really related to increased oxidative stress. So, what that might look like in a horse is maybe just generalized poor performance or you know, muscle stiffness, or muscle fatigue. So, there's some kind of muscle effects there, loss of muscle, but also you can see effects in immune function. So, like a decline in immune function, maybe the horse gets sick more often or has delayed wound healing even. And then if you've got a mare that you're trying to get pregnant, a vitamin E deficiency can lead to decreased conception rates. So, not enough vitamin E is a big concern.

 

Katy Starr (03:44):

Right. And so, obviously the fix or solution here is going to be supplementing the vitamin E. So, what are your recommendations for doing that?

 

Dr. Kelly Vineyard (03:54):

So, what I would first recommend doing is kind of take a look at the rest of your diet. So, look at your supplements, look at your concentrate or ration balance or feeds. And there's potential that your horse is getting enough vitamin E, even if there is no fresh pasture in the diet through other means. The daily requirement for a maintenance horse, a thousand pound horse is about 500 IUs. So, you're going to get some vitamin E from hay. It can vary greatly. The greener the hay is the more vitamin E it contains. But you know, let's say for example, a four-pound flake of leafy green alfalfa, you'll be getting, you know, 80-100 IUs per pound in that you also can look at your feed. If you're feeding like a, a ration balancer, a lot of ration balancers contain 500 IUs per pound. So, your needs may be covered there. If you kind of look at your diet and say, huh, it looks like I'm not getting, you know, 500 to a thousand IUs per day, then you go look at a supplement, you can supplement an extra 500 to a thousand IUs per day and have all of your vitamin E bases covered.

 

Katy Starr (05:02):

Excellent. All right. On to mistake number four, feeding an occasional brand mash to your horse. Talk to us about that.

 

Dr. Kelly Vineyard (05:11):

Yeah, I mean, in the winter, you know, there's a cold snap so you're like, oh, I'm going to go out and buy some bran at the feed store, make my horse a nice warm brand mesh tonight for the evening. Sounds lovely, right? I want to drink some hot cocoa or hot soup when I have a cold snap. And I think this, it's an age old practice, it's been around for ages, it's been passed down by horsemen and I just think we like the idea of it. We like warm comfort foods for us, so we think our horses need them too.

 

Katy Starr (05:38):

Right. And so, if we do that, if we just occasionally decide to throw a bran mash into our horse's diet, what can happen?

 

Dr. Kelly Vineyard (05:47):

So, the problem is that the hindgut microbes in the horse's body, they don't like change. And so, they thrive on consistency. So, anytime you abruptly introduce something new into the diet, that can trigger a ton of changes and the behavior of those microbes. So, it can set off this cascade of events where the microbes, they produce excess gas from fermentation or you know, that's kind of the best case scenario. Worst case scenario, there's some other things that can happen that lead to colic or even laminitis. But it all really does come down to, I always like to tell people it's those microbes in the hindgut start to have a party when they, they get this like rapid introduction of bran that they're not used to.

 

Katy Starr (06:30):

Right. And so, if somebody feels like they want to do something like this for whatever purpose, right, maybe it's a feel good, maybe it's to warm them up or whatever it is, what in your mind would be maybe the best thing for them to do for their horse to help them?

 

Dr. Kelly Vineyard (06:46):

Yeah, I mean this is a really actually pretty simple fix. A good watery mash on a cold night is a great thing to do. Just add water to their regular meal. So, whatever their regular meal concentrate is, add some warm water, that's totally fine. If it's, if they're not really getting a larger meal, maybe you feed some grass hay, maybe get some grass hay cubes. So, buy some bagged forage products. You've got alfalfa cubes, you've got timothy hay cubes, you know, Standlee makes both. You've got alfalfa pellets, a pound of that, add a bunch of hot water to it. They're already used to that type of hay, right? So, it's not like you're introducing something new and as much water as they can tolerate. Sometimes I like to toss in a tablespoon of salt that actually will drive the thirst mechanism and keep them drinking even more. But you know, having something they're normally used to eating and just adding water to it is really the best way to go. Now a quarter cup or a cup of bran is not going to be problematic or a cup of say, beet pulp or something to maybe soak up water. But if you're looking to add a pound or two pounds or three pounds of bran that they're not used to, that is what we're saying can be problematic for sure.

 

Katy Starr (08:00):

We're looking for consistency here in what the horse's gut is used to consuming. So, good. Mistake number three. Not monitoring water temperature or intake.

 

Dr. Kelly Vineyard (08:14):

Yeah, I mean horses we know prefer lukewarm water . So, horses like water that's not too cold and water that's not too hot. So, somewhere between 45 and 65 degrees Fahrenheit is sort of that ideal temperature range. We know from some studies that have been done when water is less than 40 degrees Fahrenheit, the voluntary intake is definitely reduced in cold weather.

 

Katy Starr (08:39):

Right. And we don't always think about it. And sometimes horses can get dehydrated in the winter when they're not drinking enough. And so, that's why it's important for us to kind of take a look at that. Right?

 

Dr. Kelly Vineyard (08:48):

Yeah. And then you know what, dehydration leads to impaction colic. And that's really scary and we really want to avoid that.

 

Katy Starr (08:56):

Excellent. So, in your mind, what is the best solution for this? Making sure that they have a good water intake.

 

Dr. Kelly Vineyard (09:06):

Well, I will say I don't have a whole lot of personal experience with this. Because I live in the state of Florida and we only get a few nights a year that's lower than 40 where I live. However, it happens. And so, obviously the first thing you're going to want to do is break any ice that forms on ice troughs or on your water troughs or water buckets. If you can do it at least twice a day, that's best. And then your next option is to use either bucket heaters or these warmers that wrap around the out, or insulators that wrap around the outside of your water buckets that help keep the water temperature high enough to where it doesn't freeze. Yeah. I think when you start to use some of these bucket heaters just to make sure they're good quality ones, you know, you're using a grounded outlet in the barn, you want to be pay really close attention to fire safety and also to prevent electric shock.

 

Katy Starr (09:53):

Yeah. Because they won't drink water if they're, you may not know it, but the horse may not be drinking water. That's a good point to bring up the shock. Because sometimes that's why they won't drink.

 

Dr. Kelly Vineyard (10:01):

Well and maybe touch it every once in a while. Yeah. Make sure it doesn't shock you. . I think that probably would be a good thing to do every once in a while if you're using those. And then if, if that's not an option, even at feeding time, if you could bring some water in from the house and just add a gallon or two to their feed or, or separately just at least a couple times a day. You know, if you're in a super cold snap and it's hard to keep those buckets from freezing, even bringing in outside water might help. You know, a horse needs to drink five to 10 gallons a day, just in general a maintenance requirement. And then one other way you can kind of keep track of dehydration. You always heard the old tent test when you pitch their skin on the mm-hmm . Neck and it needs to snap back quickly and not create a tent for more than a few seconds. That's a signal of dehydration. Another signal is just to watch their manure. Yeah. And if it gets really dry and kind of hard and firm, that's another signal for dehydration.

 

Katy Starr (10:57):

Right? Yep. Okay. So, mistake number two that horse owners make in the winter ignoring salt and electrolyte needs for your horse.

 

Dr. Kelly Vineyard (11:07):

So, this sort of ties into drinking. One of the reasons it's well, why it happens, basically, you know, a horse does have a daily maintenance requirement for salt and it's about 10 grams per day. And it's really hard for them to get that much through forage and even their feed, they do need an external source of salt. Most of us are really good about feeding salt in the summer when horses sweat a lot. But we may mistakenly think, oh, I don't need to feed electrolytes in winter. I'm not exercising. So, they're not sweating. But you know what, they still need their electrolytes, which are sodium chloride and potassium primarily.

 

Katy Starr (11:43):

And so, what can happen if we don't pay attention to that in the winter?

 

Dr. Kelly Vineyard (11:48):

Well, salt is one of those. It actually does regulate thirst. So, the horse's thirst mechanism is tied in with sodium concentration in their blood. So, if they're sodium deficient, their sodium levels drop in their blood, they actually may drink less. And we just talked about the problems with drinking less. Other things that can happen with an electrolyte deficiency, some muscle dysfunction, electrolytes are really important for like muscle contraction. It can even lead to tying up in severe cases of deficiency. Or you can see like behaviorally, horses that are sodium deficient will lick the walls, they'll lick their horse friends in the pasture. Yeah. They'll eat dirt that's called pica. So, kind of eating or licking abnormal things is another behavioral sign of a sodium deficiency because they're basically in search of salt.

 

Katy Starr (12:36):

Right. And so, what is your recommendation as a solution for making sure that our horses get the right amount of salt and electrolytes needed in the winter?

 

Dr. Kelly Vineyard (12:45):

I mean feed salt year round, not just in the summer. And that's about, you know, if you feed one to two ounces of salt a day, that covers most horses bases that can come from either a salt block if your horse will lick it. Okay. Some horses don't like licking salt blocks, so keep monitoring that. I also only recommend that if, if they're not really sweating profusely. If you have a horse that's working a lot and sweating, you definitely need to top dress salt. One ounce of salt is about one and a half tablespoons of like plain white salt, but that's just maintenance requirement. If they're sweating a lot, they're going to need more than that. And if you use an electrolyte product, because plain white salt is not the tastiest thing that horses eat. So, yeah, some may be turned off of that. And if they are, I like the electrolyte products that have flavoring. Just make sure salt is the first ingredient. That's my tip.

 

Katy Starr (13:41):

Good one. Very, very good. Yeah. Okay. And now to mistake number one, that horse owners make in the winter, feeding more grain to keep your horse warm in the winter.

 

Dr. Kelly Vineyard (13:55):

Well, you know, this is another kind of thought or practice that's been passed down I think from horsemen, you know, over time. And so, there's this kind of belief that, I know you've probably heard it before, corn is a heating feed and some people think of heating, like temperature heating, but also think of behavioral heating too. Energy heating. But that leads to people thinking mistakenly that feeding corn will help them horse stay warm in the cold. But that actually couldn't be further from the truth, really.

 

Katy Starr (14:25):

Excellent. And so, if a horse owner is opting, like let's say we have a big winter storm coming in and they're like, oh, I'm going to up their grain a little bit, I want to make sure that they stay warm through this. What's that going to do?

 

Dr. Kelly Vineyard (14:37):

Yeah, so feeding more corn or grain instead of more forage is actually going to make them less warm. Because what creates internal heat is the fermentation of fiber, not the fermentation or digestion of starch and carbs, which is primarily what you get from your grains. You want to actually feed more hay that provides more fiber, that provides more fermentation. So, heat is a byproduct of microbial fermentation much more so than starch or fat. I like to think those, the microbes are like little mini microbial fire pits in the gut. And we have to keep throwing some logs in that fire pit, right? So, the fire keeps going all night long,

 

Katy Starr (15:18):

You have to be the right kind of log, right?

 

Dr. Kelly Vineyard (15:20):

From the hay and from the fiber.

 

Katy Starr (15:23):

Yeah. Excellent. Okay. So, solution there is making sure, instead of opting to feed more grain, you want to focus more on the forage component of it. And I'd say particularly if temperatures drop significantly or if we have rain or wind coming in, right, we got to pay attention to the mega cals, right?

 

Dr. Kelly Vineyard (15:43):

Yeah. I mean, absolutely. When the temperatures drop, you know, a horse has to create more body heat, which whatever way he can, and that's going to require more calories. Simplest thing to do. Ensure they have free choice access if they're standing around and have nothing to eat, that's not free choice access. So, make sure they're eating it. Throw a few extra flakes on a cold snap. You know, if that's not an option, you've got your bag forages again, you can soak some extra timothy cubes, you know, a couple pounds during a cold snap that also brings in extra water. So, hey, you kill two birds with one stone, more hydration and more fiber for more heat. So, definitely prioritize fiber to help keep horses, help themselves, keep themselves warm over grain, for sure.

 

Katy Starr (16:26):

Excellent. Well, there are five mistakes, Dr. Vineyard. Thank you so much for being here and walking us through those. We appreciate you being here.

 

Dr. Kelly Vineyard (16:35):

All right, thank you.

 

Katy Starr (16:36):

Today we've covered five nutrition mistakes horse owners make in the winter and how to fix them. Here are some key takeaways from Dr. Vineyard. 

Ensure your horse has adequate vitamin E intake during winter. This may mean looking for additional supplementation through ration, balancers, concentrates, or supplements.

Avoid introducing bran mashes sporadically to your horse's diet. Instead, add warm water to regular feed.

Monitor water temperature to encourage your horse to drink and prevent dehydration and impaction colic. 

Provide salt and electrolytes year-round. 

And finally, focus on forage to keep your horse warm, not grain.

If you want to dig a little deeper into feeding horses in the winter, we've linked some additional resources in our show notes, and we'd love to hear your feedback on this new Feeding Fumbles and Fixes series or ideas for future episodes. So, reach out to us anytime at podcast@standlee.com. 

 

Thanks for listening to The Beyond the Barn podcast by Standlee Forage. We'd love for you to share our podcast with your favorite people and subscribe on Apple, Spotify, or your favorite listening platform. Until next time, keep your cinch tight and don't forget to turn off the water.