WINTER TURNOUT – Pro’s & Con’s, What should you consider for your horse?

In the UK, where winters are often wet and mild rather than harshly cold, turning horses out during the winter presents a mix of advantages and challenges.

While turnout is beneficial for horses, the UK's climate, with its frequent rain, mud, and fluctuating temperatures, adds some unique considerations during winter.

Advantages of Winter Turnout

1. Natural Exercise and Physical Health: Horses benefit from regular movement, which turnout allows. In the UK, where rain is more common than snow, horses can still move about freely, helping to keep their joints flexible and maintain muscle tone. This movement also promotes better circulation and digestion, reducing the risk of health problems like colic and stiffness and lymphatic drainage.

2. Mental Well-Being: UK winters can be long and grey, and keeping horses confined to a stable for extended periods can lead to boredom and stress. Regular turnout gives them access to fresh air, visual stimulation, and the chance to interact with other horses, expressing normal behaviours.

3. Respiratory Health: Stabling horses throughout the winter can expose them to dust and ammonia from bedding, which can irritate their respiratory systems. Turnout, even in wet conditions, ensures horses have access to fresh, moist air, which is better for their lungs, reducing the risk of respiratory problems such as Equine Asthma.

4. Digestive and Metabolic Health: Access to grazing, even limited during the winter, can help keep a horse’s digestive system active, reducing the risk of colic. Horses that are turned out will usually need additional forage like hay or haylage, which is important for maintaining their body condition, warmth, and gut health.

Disadvantages of Winter Turnout

1. Mud-Related Risks: One of the biggest challenges of winter turnout is the abundance of mud, which is common due to the UK’s wet climate. Muddy conditions can lead to health issues, including:

Mud fever (pastern dermatitis), a bacterial skin infection caused by prolonged exposure to wet, muddy conditions. It can cause pain, swelling, and lameness.
Thrush, a bacterial infection that thrives in wet, muddy environments, can damage the horse's hooves, leading to discomfort and lameness.
Foot abscesses, which are more common when the ground alternates between wet and dry, can be painful and require veterinary treatment.

2. Slipping and Injuries: Wet ground increases the risk of horses slipping, especially when the surface alternates between soft mud and frozen patches. Horses running or playing in muddy fields are more likely to slip, leading to strains, ligament injuries, or even fractures. Additionally, muddy ground can be uneven, increasing the risk of trips and falls. Extreme cold, ice, and snow can also pose risks to horses. As well as slipping, concussion injuries can also be a problem. Icy or frozen ground can lead to hoof issues such as cracks or bruises.

3. Hoof and Leg Health: Extended periods standing in wet and muddy conditions can soften hooves, making them more prone to cracking and bruising. The constant wet-dry cycle common in the UK winter also weakens the hoof structure, increasing the risk of infections like thrush. Moreover, the damp conditions can aggravate joint conditions such as arthritis, especially in older horses.

4. Increased Nutritional Demands: Horses require more energy to stay warm during the winter, even in milder UK conditions. As pastures tend to be poor in the winter months, additional hay or haylage is needed to meet their nutritional needs. Ensuring horses have constant access to forage in wet, muddy paddocks can be logistically challenging, as wet hay can mould quickly, and muddy areas make feeding more difficult. Ensuring water doesn’t freeze over is another consideration.

5. Shelter and Protection: Turnout during winter in the UK often means horses will need some form of shelter to protect them from wind, rain, and cold. This could be a field shelter or a well-managed hedgerow. However, horses may also need to be rugged to help them stay warm and dry, especially if they have reduced thermoregulation due to being older, having thin coats, or simply lack natural shelter. Managing rugs in muddy conditions can be time-consuming, as they become wet, soiled or non-waterproof requiring regular checks and changes. Horses must be dry when rugs are put on, and kept dry underneath the rug to avoid bacterial problems such as rain scald.

6. Wet Ground and Field Management: Prolonged turnout in winter can damage fields. Horses churning up wet ground can also ruin grazing for the following spring and summer. Paddock rotation, installing drainage systems, or using designated sacrifice paddocks or time on concreate yards may help reduce damage, but these options can be costly or unavailable for some horse owners.

7. Monitoring and Care Challenges: Monitoring horses in wet and muddy conditions can be difficult, especially as daylight hours are shorter during winter. Be sure to check them regularly, long winter coats can hide signs of weight loss or injury, making it harder to assess the horse's condition. Additionally, it can be more challenging to regularly inspect hooves and legs when horses are covered in mud.

8. Poisonous plants: Beware of and remove seasonal poisonous plants. You should also be aware of trees nearby that could have leaf fall onto your pasture, for example sycamore and oak. Horses are more likely to forage and eat something that they shouldn’t during the winter months when grass is sparser.

WINTER TURNOUT – Pro’s & Con’s, What should you consider for your horse?

In the UK, where winters are often wet and mild rather than harshly cold, turning horses out during the winter presents a mix of advantages and challenges.

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