Does the Winter Routine change Nutritional Requirements?

Does the Winter Routine change Nutritional Requirements?

As temperatures drop and fields get wetter, horses often spend more time stabled and less time grazing.  Changes to exercise, forage and stable conditions can all affect their winter routine, from needing a longer warm-up to maintaining digestive health and managing exposure to stable dust.

A few simple management changes, alongside targeted nutritional support where appropriate, can help keep your horse happy and healthy throughout the winter months.

Here are four key areas to consider.

1. Keep Joints Moving: The Importance of a Winter Warm-Up

Colder mornings, longer periods standing in the stable and reduced turnout can mean horses need more time to loosen up before work, particularly if they have been moving less than during the summer months.

Healthy joints rely on smooth cartilage at the ends of the bones and synovial fluid to lubricate the joint and support movement.  Muscles generate movement, tendons transfer force to the bones, and ligaments help stabilise the joints.  Providing the right nutritional building blocks helps support the maintenance of these structures and normal joint function especially throughout the cooler weather.

Nutritional support for healthy joints

Alongside appropriate exercise and good management, nutrition plays an important role in maintaining healthy joints.  Cartilage, synovial fluid and connective tissues all rely on specific nutrients to support their structure and normal function, making a balanced diet particularly important for horses in work and those getting older.

Trusted by horse owners over 2 million times, CORTAFLEX® has been developed to provide targeted nutritional support for healthy joints, mobility and soundness.

CORTAFLEX takes a targeted approach to joint nutrition, offering a range of formulations that combine key nutritional building blocks and complementary ingredients to support normal joint function, healthy cartilage and connective tissue maintenance, tailored to the needs of individual horses.

Taking a look at some of the key ingredients:

• Collagen: A major structural protein in cartilage and connective tissues, helping provide the framework needed for strength and resilience.
• Hyaluronic acid (HA): An important component of synovial fluid, helping maintain its viscosity and lubricating properties to support smooth joint movement.
• Amino acids: The building blocks of proteins, essential for maintaining body tissues, including the cartilage, muscles and connective tissues involved in movement.
• MSM (methylsulphonylmethane): A source of organic sulphur, a component of compounds found in connective tissues and cartilage.
• Copper and manganese: Essential trace minerals involved in the formation and maintenance of connective tissue, including the collagen rich structures that help support joints.
• Silicon: A trace element associated with connective tissue and skeletal development and maintenance.

So which one do I choose?

Every horse is different, so the right choice depends on their workload and individual nutritional needs.

• CORTAFLEX® HA Regular: Ideal for horses and ponies in light to moderate work, as well as older horses needing nutritional support to maintain healthy joints and mobility.  It provides key building blocks, including collagen, amino acids, hyaluronic acid, MSM and trace minerals.
• CORTAFLEX® HA Super Fenn: Designed for performance and competition horses, or older horses experiencing greater levels of wear and tear.  Alongside key joint building nutrients, it contains Boswellia and MSM to support the horse’s normal inflammatory processes and joint and muscle comfort.
• CORTAFLEX® Recovery: Formulated for horses undertaking intense exercise and demanding training or competition schedules.  It combines joint and connective tissue nutrients with Boswellia, curcumin, omega 3 fatty acids and antioxidants, including vitamins C and E, to support musculoskeletal health and recovery following exertion.

Whichever formulation you choose, CORTAFLEX provides targeted nutritional support to help maintain healthy joints and keep your horse moving comfortably throughout the winter and beyond.

Explore the CORTAFLEX® range to find the right nutritional support for your horse.

 

2. Support the Hindgut: Winter Forage and Digestive Health

In winter, fresh grass is often less available, making hay and haylage increasingly important sources of forage.  However, preserved forage can differ from pasture in its fibre, moisture and nutritional content, and changes in forage type or quality can influence digestive health.

Horses rely on a fibre rich diet and a diverse community of gut microorganisms to digest forage efficiently and support normal digestive function.

Why the hindgut matters

The horse’s hindgut, which includes the caecum and large colon, is home to a diverse community of bacteria, fungi, protozoa and other microorganisms.  Together, these organisms help break down structural carbohydrates in forage that the horse cannot digest efficiently using its own enzymes.

This fermentation process produces volatile fatty acids, which provide a significant source of the horse’s energy.  The gut microbiota also contributes to the production of certain vitamins, including B vitamins and vitamin K.

Two terms are useful to understand:

Microbiota refers to the community of microorganisms living in the gut.

Microbiome is a broader term that includes those microorganisms and their collective genetic material, together with the wider environment and functions associated with them.

A balanced gut microbial community helps the horse digest fibre efficiently and maintain a healthy digestive environment.  However, abrupt dietary changes, illness, travel, changes in routine and other very often seasonal stressors can disrupt this delicate balance.

Nutritional support for a healthy microbiome

PRO GUT BALANCER: Support for the gut microbiota

PRO GUT BALANCER combines prebiotics, a live yeast probiotic and mannan-oligosaccharides (MOS) to help maintain a healthy gut microbiome, particularly during periods of digestive challenge.

Its triple action formulation includes several ingredients with complementary roles:

• Live yeast (Saccharomyces cerevisiae): helps support fibre digestion and a favourable environment for beneficial gut microorganisms.
• Fructo-oligosaccharides (FOS): prebiotics that provide a food source (think of them as the lunchbox!) for selected microorganisms in the hindgut, helping to support their growth and activity.
• Mannan-oligosaccharides (MOS): yeast derived compounds that provide additional prebiotic support.
• Omega-3 fatty acids: these essential fatty acids contribute to a balanced diet and help support normal cell function and healthy skin and coat.

As your horse relies more on hay or haylage during winter, PRO GUT BALANCER provides targeted nutritional support to help maintain healthy hindgut function and efficient fibre digestion.

Discover PRO GUT BALANCER.

3. Winter respiratory health, manage stable dust and air quality

Horses can spend many hours with their heads close to bedding and forage, where they may be exposed to dust, fungal spores and other airborne particles.  These can come from hay, haylage, bedding and accumulated material within the stable.

Poor ventilation allows airborne particles to build up, while dry, dusty forage can increase exposure even in a well ventilated building.

Over time, exposure to airborne irritants can affect respiratory health, so keeping the stable environment as clean and well ventilated as practical is an important part of winter management.

The Respiratory Tract

·       Upper airways (nose and nasal passages): Filter, warm and humidify inhaled air.  Clear, healthy nasal passages help air flow efficiently into the respiratory tract.

·       Trachea and bronchi: Carry air towards the lungs.  Their mucus covered lining and tiny hair like cilia help trap and clear inhaled dust and particles.

·       Lungs and alveoli: Tiny air sacs where gas exchange takes place, allowing oxygen to enter the bloodstream and carbon dioxide to be removed.

Nutritional support for respiratory health

During winter, horses may spend longer periods stabled, increasing their exposure to dust and fungal spores from hay, bedding and the stable environment.  Good ventilation, clean bedding and suitable quality, low dust forage remain the foundations of respiratory health.  Nutritional support can complement these management measures as part of your horse’s everyday routine.

Equine America offers different approaches to respiratory nutrition, from a focused blend of aromatic oils to broader botanical formulations.  The best fit depends on your horse’s environment, workload and nutritional needs.

AIRWAYS Xtra Strength Powder and Liquid Solution

AIRWAYS takes a straightforward approach, combining eucalyptus, peppermint oil and menthol.  These aromatic ingredients are traditionally associated with respiratory comfort and the sensation of clearer breathing, making AIRWAYS a focused option for horses exposed to dust and airborne particles.

Available as a powder or liquid, it offers flexibility to suit different feeding routines.

Key ingredients

• Eucalyptus oil: Provides aromatic compounds traditionally associated with respiratory comfort.
• Peppermint oil: Contributes a fresh, distinctive aroma to the formulation.
• Menthol: Creates a characteristic cooling sensation associated with a feeling of easier breathing.

VENTILATOR Powder

VENTILATOR builds on the aromatic approach of AIRWAYS with a more extensive combination.  Alongside eucalyptus oil, it contains nettle, astragalus, echinacea, garlic, seaweed and MSM, creating a broader formulation for horses whose everyday routine calls for more than essential oils alone.

It can be considered as part of a nutritional programme for horses spending more time indoors during winter, particularly when combined with careful attention to forage quality and stable ventilation.

Key ingredients include:

·       Nettle: Supplies polyphenols, which have antioxidant properties helping support the body’s normal defences against oxidative stress.

·       Fenugreek and Astragalus: Provides naturally occurring compounds to support respiratory immune function.

·       MSM: Helps contribute to the process of maintaining healthy respiratory tissue.

·       Echinacea and Garlic: Provide plant compounds traditionally associated with immune support.

·       Seaweed: Provide essential minerals and trace elements that support normal physiological function.

·       Glycerine: Support for respiratory comfort and tract lining health and elasticity.

COFF-LESS

Contains the benefits of Ventilator with the additions of marshmallow and aloe vera.  

For horses spending more time in the stable or exposed to changing environmental conditions, COFF-LESS can form part of a considered winter nutrition routine alongside appropriate stable management.

The key additions include:

·       Marshmallow: Contains naturally occurring mucilage, traditionally valued for its comforting properties.

·       Aloe Vera: Adds plant derived compounds to complement the broader botanical blend with supporting natural lubricating benefits.

AIRWAYS: For upper airways and the sensation of clear breathing.  With a focused blend of eucalyptus oil, peppermint oil and menthol.

VENTILATOR: For those needing a broader nutritional formulation for respiratory health, featuring MSM, nettle, astragalus, echinacea, garlic and seaweed.

COFF-LESS: For those exposed to dust, and environmental conditions.  A broad herbal blend with additional marshmallow and aloe vera.

Explore the Equine America respiratory supplement range.

 

4. Bring Your Winter Routine Together

Winter brings changes to your horse’s daily routine, from reduced turnout and increased time stabled to greater reliance on preserved forage.  Adapting your management to these seasonal changes can help maintain your horse’s health, comfort and wellbeing throughout the colder months.

Prioritise regular movement and a progressive warm-up, maintain consistent feeding routines and ensure your horse has access to good quality forage and fresh water.  In the stable, good ventilation, clean bedding and minimising dust from hay and bedding are particularly important when horses spend more time indoors.

Every horse has different nutritional needs, depending on their environment, workload and individual circumstances.  If you’re unsure which nutritional support is most appropriate for your horse this winter, contact the Equine America nutrition team for advice on choosing the right products to complement your horse’s daily routine.