Winter Horse Care

Fall represents a season of change, and that can affect your horse's health in big ways. This is why it's important to stay on top of his health during this critical time. Have you had your veterinarian perform a fall health check-up?

Anyone who has ever had horses in winter will tell you it's no picnic, but we endure it yearly because we love our horses and would do anything for them. While there's no way to take away all the headaches, there are ways to make ourselves and our horses a little more comfortable until spring rolls around. Read on for a few tips on how I keep our horses, Olivia and Sierra, comfy and healthy during the winter months.

If you don’t have access to an indoor arena, winter riding may feel limited based on your location. However, with a well-thought-out plan and patience for gradual progress, you can turn this season into a productive training period. By focusing on incremental improvements and adapting to weather conditions, your winter riding routine can still contribute to meaningful development for both you and your horse.

Coming up with the perfect winter riding attire will be trial and error until you find what works best for you—these are only tips in hopes of steering you in the right direction. Just remember KISS: Keep It Simple and Safe. Maddie has accumulated a few tricks to help you survive and maybe even conquer the cold weather. This first blog post will focus on how she dresses to keep warm while riding and working in the barn.

Your horse’s blanket is a big investment, and you want to make sure you get the most out of your money to keep your horse comfortable and warm. But you also want him to be safe. Here are some tips to help protect and keep your horse warm.

The million-dollar question is … to blanket or not to blanket?

Unfortunately, there are no quick answers to this question. And, most times, there are no wrong answers. There are several factors when choosing whether to blanket or not to blanket your horse. 

Caring for horses in the winter can have a more complicated nature, thanks to the lack of green grass, the cold temperatures and shortened periods of daylight. You’ve read the important facts that horses need access to forage to help with their internal heat as well as to keep their gastrointestinal system healthy. But leaving large amounts of hay out in the fields for your horse to graze throughout the day can lead to a lot more hay waste, unless you use a bulk slow feeder.

Winter is one of those seasons that can be so pretty to look at, but not very fun to have to work in. It seems like it takes longer to do your chores, plus there’s the factor of less daylight. But doing your best to be prepared for colder temperatures and unpredictable weather in the weeks leading up to Winter can help ease the pain a little. Here are 21 things you should do to get your barn ready for winter.

When it comes to blanketing your horse, you will find many different opinions on if you should blanket your horse, when you should blanket your horse and even how to blanket your horse. It can be confusing for any horse owner—whether you're new to horse ownership or an old pro.

It’s time to start getting everything ready for the colder temperatures, and for most of the country, that means blankets are being pulled out of storage. Hopefully your blankets are coming out of storage clean, if not, you have a lot more preparation work on your hands… Whether you did an overall blanket “health” check in the spring, or you didn’t, it’s best to still perform a fall pre-season blanket check. Run through this quick checklist from Tough1 to see if your blanket is ready for winter. (Or, if you need to add one to your next shopping list.)