Winter changes

[RedHorses]

Mine is just uncomfortable when he gets cold the night before. He’s not cold to the point of shivering or being miserable but if I keep him blanketed a little warmer than the other horses he’s his usual self. I can see it in his movement on the longe if he got cold.

A little warmer means rainsheet at 15C with rain instead of 10C with rain. It means a 100-150g quilt at 0C with an uninsulated neck rug when my other horse is just in a rainsheet. I’ve found the full neck cover makes a big difference and I don’t have to go crazy on the blanket weight. I do put a heavier blanket on at a higher temperature than for my other horse, but it isn’t a full step heavier. Once I figured that out I spent a winter learning his needs and I rarely get it wrong now.

[punchy]

I think it’s just the season change and reaction to critters. The deer are rutting. In the summer it’s not unusual to see deer grazing near my horse, who doesn’t bat an eye. When riding we’ve come across baby deer practicing running, they’re running in circles about 20 feet away from us and he stands there calmly watching with his hip cocked like a benevolent uncle. But the other day he sensed a deer nearby and was poised for flight, heart pounding out of his chest, and it was all I could do to get him back to the barn (I was out hand grazing). Yesterday he threw a fit at what sounded like a herd of elephants running through the woods; it turned out to be squirrels, magnified by the foot of dried leaves on the ground. He stopped mid dinner to race to look out his window, quivering and tail up, because it sounded like people walking. I was spooked too, and went to check it out (it was dark) but halfway there the deer ran off and my horse had forgotten about it by the time I got back to his stall. Also, when it’s cold, noise travels farther and without leaves on trees and shrubs to buffer it, the horses are hearing sounds from farther away before they can smell or see what it is.

[Alpha_Mare]

A suggestion to consider Quiessence? It’s essentially a B vitamin that can help those very very alert horses. For your big guy you’d likely feed several scoops a day, but it is a mild supplement

[JB]

@Alpha_Mare

A suggestion to consider Quiessence? It’s essentially a B vitamin that can help those very very alert horses. For your big guy you’d likely feed several scoops a day, but it is a mild supplement

Quiessence is 2 forms of magnesium, and chromium. No B vitamin of any kind

Either way, neither Mg nor B1 help quiet a horse unless the reason they’re not quiet is a deficiency

A 2-scoop serving is 8gm Mg and 1.25mg chromium propionate. You could easily double that if you needed.

Most horses aren’t deficient in magnesium. EMS horses may easily be “deficient” relative to their metabolic issue with glucose

[FjordBCRF]

This is 100% what get us and thankfully he keeps a level head. We were going down a very regular trail for us this weekend and he stopped dead in his tracks to listen to something down in the ravine. I could hear it too but I’m sure it was pretty far away whatever it was. There also was a deer that he spun to face that startled us both; big buck that was camouflaged right off the trail that we didn’t notice until it bounded away. We have 900 acres that the trails go through so we most certainly have a critter factor. The coyotes have also been super vocal at dusk which prob bothers me more than him. Summer time…no big deal! I think the cold is much less of an issue for a Fjord; I get normal horse energy this time of the year

[wellington1990]

thank you this is helpful! the first year i purchased the mesh sheet and had him wearing it under his blanket for 12 hours a day. But he remained electric on the ground and under saddle.But nothing wrong with trying it again! I appreciate the suggestion!

[wellington1990]

this is a very good point. It was our initial thought especially because he was in Texas and Mexico most of his life racing. I have been going by the ear test (if his ears feel cold) but maybe this isnt a good barometer! thank you!

[wellington1990]

this is very helpful. We are close to these temperatures, i put a sheet with a neck cover on if it is raining in the fall under 60 F, 100g with 0g neck cover when 32F-20F, medium 250 20F to 10F, then heavy. but he historically gets sweaty the barn manager says in the heavy.but i think you are right that playing with this some more is worth it because it seems directly tied to the cold.

[wellington1990]

what means to you use to see if more blankets are needed he always feels warm but i have been going off his ear temp which sometimes will be cool despite him feeling warm under his blanket creates a lot of heeing and hawing!

[wellington1990]

this describes his behavior to a tee except it continues through the entire winter nonstop. he will often freeze and like you said i can see his chest pounding, he will randomly spook, bolt, he checks his windows compulsively even when eating his grain. at the previous barn it became challenge for them to just move him in from the paddock because he was so spirited but all of this is not present during the summer or spring when it is warm. But you are right it is spooky to see!

[wellington1990]

very helpful! we did try magrestore last winter and it made no change. i suspect you are right that he was not deficient. He was tested for EMS and Cushings this spring ( think not an ideal time)because he was not shedding out very well but both were negative. He doesnt grow much of a winter coat but he really hangs on to it for a while. ( he does get stool checked and dewormed) I did some more research have you had any experience with a horse with an iodine deficiency? or fairly rare? I am going to have my vet out and run PSSM 2, iodine deficiency, and i was also wondering about a thyroid issue? Thank you!

[punchy]

Oh ya my horse acts as described all winter. He doesn’t straighten up until about April. Every horse I’ve owned, every horse I’ve worked with at farms in the winter, it’s always the same. It’s just…winter horses. That’s why there’s so many jokes/complaints about them. It’s worth making sure your not feeding too many calories, but even if you are, it will not make the behavior disappear, it will just be less so.

[Jealoushe]

@wellington1990

You are right he is not a performance horse but is a hard keeper and large (18 hh) so needs a lot of calories to maintain weight. the hard thing to decipher is that he eats this during the warmer months and is not reactive. But i do wonder if a mineral or vitamin seasonally becomes deficient that causes this? it is strange. I appreciate your help with this!

Something like a basic roughage chunk/pellet is great for a hard keeper, without adding that extra energy. I have all large, off track Thoroughbreds who thrive on this with free choice hay and they are in what I would consider a very high work load. Often people think they need more of this and that when really the horse just needs more quantities of the very basic forage.

A lot of talk about supplements but calming supplements won’t do any good for a horse who is getting a lot of high energy feed.
I really think re evaluating your feed will help. You can easily switch back in the summers when the horses temperament returns to a more mellow state.

[RedHorses]

I discovered it by accident. I had him in a 180g high neck (Wug style high neck) turnout, unclipped and bought a 280g quilt as I wanted to change him to quilts under rainsheet instead of weighted turnouts. And quite abruptly I had my happy, willing horse back. He had never been cold by any method I knew for checking comfort, but evidently he was being affected. My theory is that the work his muscles did to keep warm made him uncomfortable and thus obnoxious to work with when I was asking him to do things.

He tends to get tight in his shoulders - I can see the difference in his movement, how he puts his front feet down, how much he’s willing to reach forward when I longe. It’s blindingly obvious from the saddle, but he was so unhappy under saddle that I longed first to see if he got cold the night before. He was easier to warm up out of the discomfort on the longe too.

Much of the first full winter was guesswork. I used the neck rug and rainsheet over various quilts - 150g, 280g or 340g. The neck rug was uninsulated. I got it wrong often because my other horses needed less, and as he lived out full time I would have to balance warm enough at night with not overheating during the day.

I now use an insulated neck and can use lighter quilts (a 200g quilt with his 200g neck rug is as good as the 280g quilt with 0g neck). I have also had him on magnesium for the last couple of winters (magnesium can help with muscle function) which may be helping too. I do a low modified trace clip (belly left unclipped below a straight elbow to stifle line) and he’s still good. I blanket him for the low temperature and my other horse for the high.

My rough mental temperature guide is:
15C and rain - rainsheet, no neck
10C or less - rainsheet (neck if raining lots)
0C - rainsheet, neck, and 100g quilt
-10C - rainsheet, neck and 200g quilt
-15C - rainsheet, 200g neck, and 200g quilt
Heavier quilts will depend on the weather, not just temperature. Wind, snow, how long the colder temperature is going to last (like one night at -20C I’ll leave the 200g quilt on, but 3+ days and I’ll go heavier). It’s practice and judgement and recognizing that if I get it wrong he will be okay and I will just have to longe a bit more to warm him up (and I can add that miscalculation to my mental blanketing chart).

It really was trial and error to figure out what worked.

[LuvEquines]

Is it possible you got a batch of hay that is high in sugars? We switched to Triple Crown Safe Starch hay and it goes 3-4 times as far as a bale of hay + horses LOVE IT!, Kentucky Equine Research E)-3 to balance omegas and Smart Pacs Naked Leaf CDB. I was very skeptical about CDB, as a human doctor I hate that it’s the “cure” for everything, but it truly helped two horses I pulled from kill pens that were freaked out and acting out. Then grooming twice a day seemed to really calm them.