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The weather is slowly getting colder, the days are getting shorter, and your favorite equine pal is beginning to show signs of a thicker coat...yes, winter is upon us! It is up to you to make sure that your horse is well cared for in these harsh months, and winter feeding is probably one of the most important things.

A horse burns extra calories when the weather is colder, thus it is important that his diet reflects this extra calorie consumption. When it comes to a "stalled" horse, the winter weather change is a little easier to deal with, as it is easy to put on a nice, thick blanket to help with heat production, but with a "pasture" horse, you often find that blankets are not an option, and therefore daily supplements become even more important.

I have a 28 year old Arabian mare who is anything but an "easy keeper", and the winters are sometimes a struggle. The following mixture is what I feed to her in the winter in addition to her normal daily rations that include alfalfa and forage mix:

1 pound Senior Feed (I prefer Purina brand, but anything with a high beet pulp content is good)
1/2 pound rice bran (which helps with skin, coat and weight-it is important not to add water or any other liquid to a mixture that includes rice bran)
1/4 pound A&M (which is an alfalfa and molasses mix, mostly for palatability)

Though the winter is easier on my younger horses, who are all in a pasture situation, I still maintain a weekly feed regimen from about November through February in order to keep their weight stable and their coats in good condition (as the winter can be harsh on a horse's coat). I feed the following mixture to each of my younger horses four times per week:

1 pound A&M
1/2 pound rice bran

In addition to the above "recipes", I also find that feeding a weekly "bran mash" (1 pound WHEAT bran mixed with warm water) is not only good for "cleaning out" a horses system, it also aids in maintaining weight.

The above are only my own mixtures which I have used on my own horses for many years, and you can tailor a feeding program to your horse based upon whether he is kept in a stall or pasture and what his level of work is during the winter. The important thing to remember is that a horse needs extra calories and fat during the winter, and the more work he is getting the more that he will need.

Learn more about this author, Sarah Williams.
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