Cold Florida Holidays

It seems the cold has followed us from Colorado! The good news- we do NOT have to shovel it. A few pointers for the cold and hard freeze nights.

First and most important is to feed horse more than normal in cold weather,the digestion process itself will creat the warmth the horse needs to help keep it warm. Next is blanketing, while I do not generally blanket my horses in the cold unless they are elderly or in poor health condition. Choose a temperature in which you will blanket your horse consistantly so if its supposed to be below 15 degrees and this is the temp you choose do it consistantly. Most importantly is make certain you take the blanket off in the morning if it is supposed to warm up.

 If you do not normally stall your horse and it is going to be a dry cold I recommend leaving the horse out as pacing in the stall will cause loss of calories and in turn loss of weight. If conditions are wet and snoowy and you are able to stall I recommend it. Remember a shivering horse is burning fat and calories again resulting loss of weight.

The best advice again is food, food, food! Again digesting food creates warmth for the horse.

Warning: A horse that is cold will not always drink normal amounts of water, thus possibly creating a colic with the extra food, I generally wil add electrolites with flavor to encourage the horse to drink. Keep plenty of FRESH water available as a horse will more likely drink fresh water when its cold than water thats been sitting out. Example: put a glass of water next to your bed and then the next morning notice all of the little bubbles on the glass, and you will not drink it. A horse will sniff water to determine freshness.

Just a a few helpful hints from your friends at Wild West Horse Tours!!

MARRY CHRISTMASS FROM ALL OF US AT WILD WEST HORSE TOURS.

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