Liam Gamble is a veterinary surgeon and part of the technical team at Protexin Equine Premium<\/a>. He graduated from Cambridge University before working in equine practice in North Yorkshire. Having spent years owning, competing and working with horses, he joined the ADM Protexin team keen to advance veterinary and owner education in the fields of equine nutrition and probiotics. Here’s what Liam says…<\/p>\n\n\n\n “Whilst some look forward to the winter coming, for most horse owners cold wet weather and short days bring additional challenges. As always, preventative healthcare is very important. Use a qualified equine dental technician or veterinary surgeon to check and float your horse\u2019s teeth which will have a lot of work to do over the winter, chewing fibrous hay<\/a> or haylage<\/a>. A healthy mouth ensures proper chewing, saliva production and calorie intake. Secondly we must consider worming<\/a> status after a summer in the field. Most worming control programmes will include a deworming treatment in the autumn to cover tape worm. Check for redworm with a faecal egg count<\/a>, or treat before winter to prevent the worms becoming dormant in the gut wall, which can result in serious health problems in the spring. All worming control programmes are different, your vet will be able to advise you on the best plan for your horse.<\/p>\n\n\n\n As winter approaches most horses will have reduced turnout or be stabled entirely. It is vital to make this change gradually and take sensible steps to prevent gastrointestinal and musculoskeletal disease. When turnout is reduced:<\/p>\n\n\n\n These changes can lead to health problems in our horses. One particular concern is impaction colic, where a bolus of poorly digested fibrous food causes a blockage in the gut. This most often occurs at the pelvic flexure \u2013 where the large colon narrows and turns through 180\u00b0 – and is by far most commonly seen as horses are brought in for the winter. Fortunately following some simple rules can reduce the likelihood of an impaction and promote good health generally:<\/p>\n\n\n\n You might also consider the use of a joint supplement<\/a> to promote joint health, and a probiotic<\/a> to support fibre digestion in the hind gut, during this transition and over winter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n There are other issues associated with stabling which owners should bare in mind. Either by poor design or in an effort to keep the elements out, many stables suffer from poor ventilation. Appropriate air flow through a stable\/yard reduces dust in the atmosphere, which can otherwise cause chronic coughs, allergies and COPD. If your box has a build-up of dust and cobwebs in the rafters the ventilation may not be appropriate. To reduce dust in your stable switch to dust free bedding<\/a>, rinse forage before feeding, and choose outward facing boxes or well-designed barns with good air flow.<\/p>\n\n\n\n As always proper nutrition and feeding practices are required for good general health through the winter, but also to prepare for the rich grass in the spring.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Especially if stabled 24 hours per day, try to split your horse\u2019s food into as many small portions as possible. Trickle feeding ensures a constant supply of food and saliva into the stomach which defends against stomach ulcers, and reduces boredom. Horses without forage for over 6 hours are 4 times more likely to develop glandular ulcers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Many owners will turn to high energy hard feeds<\/a> to keep condition on their horses during the colder months. Once again it is important to stress the importance of forage and fibre<\/a>. The equine hind gut acts as a giant radiator in the horse\u2019s abdomen \u2013 powered by fibre, the microbiota produce heat during fermentation which is vital for keeping the horse\u2019s body temperature up. Forage keeps them warm! Most horses, even at high level competition, can gain enough energy from forage alone; low starch hard feed and oil can provide safe additional calories if required.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Remember that it\u2019s perfectly natural for your horse to lose some weight over the winter. It can be beneficial to reduce their body condition before the spring grass arrives. Especially those that are prone to laminitis or equine metabolic syndrome \u2013 plan ahead to avoid problems in the spring.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Some horses take well to stabling, but we all know horses that find being isolated and confined very stressful. Crib biting, wind sucking, weaving and other vices are all too common in stabled horses, and can predispose to stomach ulcers, weight loss and other stress induced conditions. These horses may do better in the field over winter. Failing that it is important to provide companionship and enrichment (with treat balls<\/a>, salt licks<\/a> etc.). Nutrition can make a difference here too. It has been shown that horses that crib bite may have structural changes in their brain associated with stress, pleasure, motivation and reward. Starch\/sugar rich feeds activate these brain areas and drive the horse to crib bite. Feeding forage may reduce this urge and keeps the horse busy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n If your horse gets turn out over winter, or fully ‘winters out’ you\u2019ll almost certainly need to supplement<\/a> the remaining grass with forage. Even if there is sufficient grazing, beware cold weather which can increase the starch content of the grass and trigger laminitis (yes, even in the winter). When turned out, the wet conditions can cause nasty skin infections like rain scald and mud fever. Always ensure your horse has shelter from the elements, and is appropriately rugged<\/a> (not all will need rugging though). To prevent mud fever dry the limbs and brush<\/a> off mud; try to avoid wetting the legs further.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Good planning and proper attention to feeding and management practices will keep your horse healthy this winter.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n Protexin products use beneficial live bacteria called probiotics to help balance microflora in the gut. These are paired with prebiotics which serve as food for the probiotics and promote their growth. When added to the horse’s diet, they help support strong immune and digestive systems, and promote general wellbeing all year round.<\/p>\n\n\n\n A few easy to remember tips can help keep your horse healthy and your winter stress free.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":716,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_price":"","_stock":"","_tribe_ticket_header":"","_tribe_default_ticket_provider":"","_tribe_ticket_capacity":"0","_ticket_start_date":"","_ticket_end_date":"","_tribe_ticket_show_description":"","_tribe_ticket_show_not_going":false,"_tribe_ticket_use_global_stock":"","_tribe_ticket_global_stock_level":"","_global_stock_mode":"","_global_stock_cap":"","_tribe_rsvp_for_event":"","_tribe_ticket_going_count":"","_tribe_ticket_not_going_count":"","_tribe_tickets_list":"[]","_tribe_ticket_has_attendee_info_fields":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-715","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-horse"},"featured_image_src":"https:\/\/blog.citrus-lime.com\/spee\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2022\/01\/AARA16-JCSK-RGB-2.jpg","author_info":{"display_name":"speedgateadmin","author_link":"https:\/\/blog.citrus-lime.com\/spee\/author\/speedgateadmin\/"},"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.citrus-lime.com\/spee\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/715","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.citrus-lime.com\/spee\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.citrus-lime.com\/spee\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.citrus-lime.com\/spee\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/14"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.citrus-lime.com\/spee\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=715"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blog.citrus-lime.com\/spee\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/715\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":717,"href":"https:\/\/blog.citrus-lime.com\/spee\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/715\/revisions\/717"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.citrus-lime.com\/spee\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/716"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.citrus-lime.com\/spee\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=715"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.citrus-lime.com\/spee\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=715"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.citrus-lime.com\/spee\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=715"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Shop All Protexin<\/a><\/h2>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"