Ensuring the health and well-being of horses involves following some essential guidelines. Some of the key aspects of basic horse care are as follows:
Feed
- Quality Hay or Forage: Provide good quality hay or forage, amounting to 2% of the horse’s body weight per day.
- Pasture: Provide 3 – 5 acres of good pasture per horse during summer months.
- Additional Energy: Feed grain (such as oats or barley) or commercial feed if additional energy is required,
- Salt: Make salt available free-choice,
- Special Feeding Needs: If a horse is losing body condition or is less than two years old, segregate and feed separately.
- Body Condition: Feed to maintain a body condition score of 5 on a scale of 1 to 9. Keep in mind that in the winter, a thicker coat may conceal a horse’s true body condition. Ensure you are evaluating your hose with both your eyes and your hands. Ribs should not be visible but easily felt.
Water
- Daily Access: Provide access to fresh, clean water daily. In the cold months, snow is not sufficient. To prevent water from freezing, a heated water dispenser can be used. These devices must be checked daily to ensure they are working properly.
- Amounts: Consider individual factors such as the horse’s nutrition, age, shelter, and body condition when determining the amount needed. On average, horses require 5.5 litres (1.5 gallons) of water per 100 kg (220 lbs) of body weight. Individual demands vary depending on feed intake, activity and temperature. This means a 500 kg (1,100 lbs) horse needs between 18 litres (4 gal) to more than 36 litres (8 gal) per day.
Care
- Regular Inspections: Inspect horses frequently to ensure good physical health and to detect any problems early, including parasite control.
- Veterinary Care: Consult a veterinarian to develop a health care program.
- Hoof Care: Maintain a regular hoof care program, including in the winter months. Horses travelling on uneven frozen ground can crack and break hooves so it important to maintain hoof care. See Hoof Care for more information.
- Specialized Care: Provide horses with specialized care as needed (ex. Elderly horses or seasonal care).
- Humane Euthanasia: Euthanize sick or injured horses in a timely manner to prevent suffering.
Shelter, Pasture & Yards
- Adequate Shelter: Provide natural (trees) or constructed shelter to protect horses from adverse weather conditions, including snow, rain, and the hot sun. If you build a shelter, remember to allow for plenty of air circulation. All pastures, paddocks and feedlots used in the winter must have adequate windbreaks to reduce the effects of wind chill. If horses are kept in a stable, they should be provided with a clean, dry area for lying down comfortably.
- Blankets: In colder weather. blankets are required for stabled horses that are turned out during the day. However, for an outdoor horse, a blanket is not necessary as its own winter coat is sufficiently warm. If you do blanket your horse, you need to remove the blanket and brush your horse frequently. This will allow air in between the hairs of the horse which acts as insulation.
- Safe Confinement: Ensure horse paddocks are properly fenced to safely confine horses.
- Debris-Free Environment: Keep paddocks free of debris that may cause injury to horses.