If you’re the lucky owner of a winter-weight champion, the nose-to-tail weight evaluation in Part 2 (evaluating your horse’s body condition) of our series may have yielded little more than bonus time with your horse and a snapshot of your horse during every month of the year.

But if your measurements indicate a horse that’s losing weight during the winter months — or barely maintaining it — then stay tuned. There’s no magic weight-gain formula that works for every horse, but here’s what you can do to help your horse gain winter weight.

Schedule a Visit With Your Equine Dentist

As we discussed in Part 2 of this series, healthy teeth play a big role in proper digestion, absorption of nutrients, and weight maintenance. Horses’ teeth continue to grow throughout their lives, so while horses between ages 10 and 20 may only need annual dental work, book bi-annual teeth floating for youngsters, seniors, and horses in heavy work.

Worm Your Horse and Schedule a Fecal Exam

This is a no-brainer, but be sure you stay on top of de-worming your horses, and schedule a fecal exam every six months. Halloween and Easter are good dates for seasonal evaluations.

Rethink Your Grain Schedule

We’ve said it before, but the key to healthy digestion is small meals fed at regular intervals throughout the day. Horses need to eat constantly to maintain a healthy digestive system. Aim to feed three or four small meals per day instead of just one or two.

Provide Constant Access to Hay

Horses are hardwired to munch on small amounts of feed almost constantly. On average, a horse should ingest 1.5- to 2.5-percent of its body weight daily in forage. Not only is fiber-rich hay easily digested, it also provides additional heat during cold-weather months (and it keeps him happier in between meals).

Keep Your Horse Hydrated

Dehydration is a common cause of winter weight loss, so use a safe and effective water heater in your horse’s bucket or water trough. A cheap alternative for milder climates is to float a soccer ball or basketball in a trough to prevent icing over — but we prefer the heater. Remember that hay doesn’t have the same water content as green grass, so be sure to provide clean, ice-free water to make up for that change.

Slow Your Horse Down and Eliminate Stress at Feed Time

An empty belly will often provoke a horse to bolt its feed, but a stressful or intimidating environment will do the same. Eating too quickly gives starchy grains less time to be absorbed in the stomach and small intestine leading to poor nutrient absorption and problems in the hindgut. Avoid bolting by making sure your horse never gets too hungry, is fed in a safe environment without danger of barn mates stealing his food or causing him anxiety, and has ample time to eat. If he’s a habitual bolter, slow him down by adding chaff to his grain — the extra fiber won’t go amiss either!

Evaluate Your Horse’s Vital Stats

Is your horse older than 15? Switch to high-protein senior feed, which is more easily digested and will help him get the most nutritional benefit out of his feed.

Is your horse competing? If so, he needs many more calories than a horse that is exercised primarily during warmer months.

Is your horse outside during cold weather? Additional calories are needed to keep your horse warm — don’t let cold weather steal vital nutrients from his diet because he’s trying to stay warm.

Evaluate Your Horse’s Hay and Grain

Evaluating hay quality is as simple as requesting an analysis from your hay dealer. High-protein hay such as alfalfa or a mix of grass/timothy hay and alfalfa will provide additional calories. Each horse requires a different grain mixture, but a high-fat grain will add surplus calories, and can be supplemented with an add-in like vegetable oil, stabilized rice bran or ground flaxseed products.

Feed SUCCEED

Whether it’s a caused by bad teeth, stressful eating situations, less than ideal feeding schedules or dehydration, poor digestion is a major source of winter weight loss. When natural digestive processes are thrown out of balance by bad habits, stress or other physical factors, it’s impossible for a horse to absorb the nutrients he needs. Feeding SUCCEED® helps alleviate common issues that prevent healthy digestion, as well as helps the GI tract to effectively process what you’re feeding him.

Next Up: Start Preparing Now for Next Winter

If you’re utilizing these weight-gain tips for this winter, be sure to check out the final installment of the series to learn what you can do now to avoid playing catch up next winter.

Be sure to subscribe to the SUCCEED® blog or sign up for email notifications in the sidebar so you don’t miss Part 4: Start Preparing Now for Next Winter.

In Part 1: Why Horses Lose Weight During the Winter, we looked at some common reasons for wintertime weight loss in horses. But how do you know if your horse is dropping weight? And what is a healthy weight range for your horse?

These are both good questions.

There isn’t a single weight range that’s ideal for all horses, because it varies greatly between breeds and disciplines. And very few people are lucky enough to have an equine scale on hand. But it is possible to determine what’s normal for your horse so that you know when something changes. Here are a few tactics for keeping tabs:

Do a Monthly Photo Shoot

If you’ve taken the SUCCEED Challenge, you already know how valuable photos can be in tracking your horse’s condition. Make a goal to snap a few pics of your horse from several angles each month, and then compare the photos.

Manually Feel for Changes

Of course, all of the beauty shots in the world won’t help you assess your horse’s condition if he’s covered in his winter woolies. Make sure to remove winter blankets and run a hand over your horse from ears to hoof to monitor his weight manually. Pay close attention to his back, ribs and croup (in that order), as these are the first three areas to lose weight.

Use a Weight Tape

For less than $5, you can purchase an equine weight tape at your local feed store that can help measure how much your horse weighs. (You can also use a standard tape measure to capture your horse’s heart girth and length, and then calculate heart girth X heart girth X length, divided by 300, + 50 = weight … we prefer the weight tape.) Again, a horse’s exact weight is less helpful than knowing when he fluctuates, so keep that in mind.

Determine Your Horse’s Body Condition Score

Vets use a standard body condition scoring system called the Henneke Body Condition Scoring system to tell whether or not a horse is at an appropriate weight. You can’t really determine an “average” weight, because a thoroughbred is going to look very different than a Quarter Horse broodmare — and both might be in tip-top shape. But horses usually gain (and lose!) weight in a specific order. Here’s what you should look for:

• Loin: A thin horse’s spine will stick up and he’ll have a ridge down his back. This is the first place you’ll notice weight gain or loss.
• Ribs: You should be able to feel — but not see — a healthy horse’s ribs.
• Tailhead/Croup: In a too-thin horse, the tailhead is prominent is easily seen.
• Withers: This varies between breeds, but if your horse is too thin, the shape of the withers will be very visible.
• Neck: you shouldn’t be able to see the bone structure of the neck; be sure your horse’s poll isn’t hollowed out.
• Shoulder: As a horse loses weight, you’ll see more and more definition between the shoulder and the elbow.

Check out a hands-on application of the Henneke BCS system by Holly Werner, senior associate editor of Horse Illustrated magazine with overweight, underweight, and ideal horse models:

Behavior and Performance

We talk a lot about how poor health can equal a bad attitude, and the same is true when a horse is underweight. If your horse seems lethargic, unwilling to work, or unusually grouchy when you show up, evaluate his general condition. If he’s not getting the nutrients and calories he needs to stay fit and healthy, he’s not going to be happy — and you’re not going to be happy with his performance.

Up Next: Strategies for Winter Weight Gain (or Maintenance)

Now that you know what to look for and how to identify a horse that is losing weight, we’ll talk about how to deal with wintertime weight loss in Part 3: Strategies for Winter Weight Gain (or Maintenance). Also be sure to check out Part 1: Why Horses Lose Weight in Winter for common culprits of fluctuating weight.

Be sure to subscribe to the SUCCEED blog or sign up for email notifications in the sidebar so you don’t miss Part 3: Strategies for Winter Weight Gain (or Maintenance).

Ah, winter. Hitting the gym and losing weight to get in shape before summer are top on many people’s to-do lists, but you might notice your horse slimming down this time of year, too. Sympathy weight loss? Unlikely, but cold weather, different feeding habits and increased stall time can have a big impact on your horse’s health.

There are several factors that contribute to your horse’s winter weight loss, and most can’t be fixed simply by throwing grain or hay at the problem.

In Combating Your Horse’s Winter Weight Loss Pt. 1, we’ll look at some of the common causes of wintertime weight loss. In Parts 2-4, we’ll move on to assessing your horse’s condition, strategies for weight gain or maintenance, and advice on preparing now for next winter. Be sure to subscribe to the SUCCEED blog or sign up for email notifications in the sidebar.

To get the scoop on the best practice for winter horse care, we turned to our own Frank Pellegrini DVM and trainer Bill Rodgers, as well as Scott Leibsle, deputy state veterinarian in Idaho.

Causes For Winter Weight Loss in Horses

Many things can be blamed for a shaggy, underweight equine during the wintertime months, but several of the most common include the following:

• Poor Feeding Regimen
• Not taking into account increased caloric needs
• Feeding the wrong quantity or quality of grain and hay
• Dehydration
• Parasites
• Dental issues
• Age

Of course, some of these factors are out of your control; you can’t turn back the clock for your retired eventer, but being aware of the causes can help you tweak those things you can control.

Poor Feeding Regimen

Horses need constant access to quality grass or hay, rather than one or two big hay and grain dumps morning and night. Horses are foragers that munch up to 18 hours a day, which is why you’ll notice happy, healthy horses during the summer months if they’re turned out on good pasture to graze.

Inattention to Increased Caloric Need During Winter Months

Like people, horses need to burn more calories to stay warm during winter months. Humans often use that as an excuse to indulge in a second slice of cake on a long winter’s evening, but horses legitimately need those calories in the form of forage. A healthy digestive system is an active digestive system — and digestion helps create heat, too.

Feeding the Wrong Quantity or Quality of Hay

All hay is not created equal. You probably already know that hay varies in quality, ranging from low-protein oat hay to mid-protein grass/timothy hay, to protein-heavy alfalfa. If you have any doubts about hay quality, request a professional hay analysis from your hay dealer.

Feeding the Wrong Quantity or Quality of Grain

As any owner of a hard-keeping horse will tell you, giving your horse more to eat doesn’t necessarily mean he’ll put on weight. Feeding more grain morning and night can actually cause your horse to lose weight, since processed feeds are harder for horses to digest (especially in large quantities). Undigested starch in the hindgut can cause diarrhea, ulcers, colic and plenty of other problems that cause weight loss.

Dehydration

Just as you probably don’t feel like guzzling ice-cold water when it’s snowing outside, horses are also more prone to dehydration in the wintertime — and care givers who forget to break the ice on water buckets don’t help things! Since horses need water to process their food, dehydration can lead to all sorts of problems in the hindgut, including increased acidity and toxins that can make your horse uncomfortable or lead to more serious issues like hindgut acidosis, colonic ulcers, and colic.

Parasites

Your horse is probably already on some type of worming schedule, but remember that while worms go dormant in the winter, they don’t die off completely. Be sure to stay up-to-date on fecal exams (Halloween and Easter are good target dates).

Dental Issues

Poorly tended teeth are a common cause of winter (and summer!) weight loss. If a horse can’t chew, he can’t eat. Chewing also produces saliva, which buffers the continual production of acids in the horse’s stomach – offering a natural protection against gastric ulcers. Also, these starches and sugars can reach the hindgut when the horse is unable to chew properly and consumes grain meals too quickly. Undigested starch in the hindgut creates lactic acid which causes the horse discomfort, and can also lead to colic and laminitis.

Age

A horse’s age plays a major role in his ability to maintain winter weight, as the fingerlike projections that absorb nutrients in a horse’s digestive tract don’t work as well as the horse ages. Like humans, older horses’ teeth as well as kidneys and liver, also deteriorate over time, which is why it’s imperative to keep your horse’s digestive system as healthy as possible through good feeding habits and attention to overall health.

Next Up: How To Assess Your Horse’s Body Condition

Common problems identified, we’ll talk about how to evaluate your horse’s weight and condition in the next post so you can target winter weight loss problems early on — or before they begin.

Be sure to subscribe to the SUCCEED blog or sign up for email notifications in the sidebar so you don’t miss Part 2: Assessing your horse’s condition.

Congratulations to Rachel Larman and her horse Mystic Kid, the drawing winners in the New Year, New Horse contest.

Their grand prize is a 60-day supply of SUCCEED®, 10-pack starter kit, and access to the Challenge’s online diary to track their progress.

Rachel and Mystic are officially competing in their first 25-mile endurance race in May and are looking forward to letting SUCCEED® help get Mystic in tip-top shape. Here is the New Year’s resolution Rachel and Mystic submitted for the contest:

Get my horse as comfortable as possible inside and out…then do our first 25 mile endurace ride! We have the tack…and almost have the inside worked out. He’s a very sensitive guy and is also stoic. It’s sometimes really hard to tell what’s going on with him. He have a huge heart and would do anything for me. Can’t ask for a better horse.

We wish both Rachel and Mystic and all the contest participants our very best for a healthy and successful 2012!

Take the Challenge

Didn’t win the contest but still interested in trying SUCCEED®? You can sign-up for the SUCCEED Challenge right now and try it for your horse’s healthier 2012. With the purchase of a 60-day supply, you will receive a FREE 10-pack starter kit, FREE shipping, and a money-back guarantee if you aren’t satisfied with the results.

**The New Year, New Horse Contest is now closed for submissions. Thanks to all who participated! We will be compiling the entries, drawing the winner randomly, and announcing it here within the next few days. Be sure to subscribe to the blog so you don’t miss the big announcement!**

Your horse wants to be healthier in 2012. Resolve to make it happen. And you could win a free registration to the SUCCEED® Challenge.

If your horse had to make a New Year’s Resolution, what would it be?

Something tells us your horse’s goals for 2012 probably wouldn’t include mastering a flying change or improving a competition score. Maybe your mare has always been jealous of her stall mate’s muscled topline and dappled coat – and wants this to be the year she gets one of her own. Or perhaps your gelding is tired of feeling slightly under the weather and wants to commit to a healthier 2012.

Whether it’s getting that bit of extra bloom, finally kicking a health issue once and for all, or taking it to the next level under saddle – your horse’s healthy 2012 begins inside where wellness finds its roots in the equine digestive tract.

This month, your horse could win a free 60-day supply of SUCCEED® Digestive Conditioning Program® to jumpstart him on the path to a healthier, more successful 2012.

Win a FREE SUCCEED Challenge Registration with 60-Day Supply

By entering your horse in the New Year, New Horse Contest, you are eligible to win a free registration to the SUCCEED® Challenge – a $179.95 value. You will receive:

• 60-day supply of SUCCEED® Digestive Conditioning Program®
• Free 10-pack starter kit of SUCCEED® oral paste (for the initial loading dose)
• Free shipping
• Access to a simple online diary for tracking your horse’s progress

No strings attached.

How To Enter the New Year, New Horse Contest

Visit the New Year, New Horse Contest entry page to submit your official entry by January 31, 2012.

You must include:

• a photo of your horse
• a short (100 words or less) paragraph written from your horse’s perspective telling us about his/her 2012 New Year’s Resolution

And that’s it!

A winner will be drawn randomly and announced in early February.

One submission per person. However, you CAN earn two additional drawing entries by sharing the contest with your friends on Twitter or Facebook. (Total of three entries for the drawing.) Facebook and Twitter entries are not valid without an official contest entry.

• Facebook entry, “Like” our page, and tag SUCCEED Digestive Conditioning Program in your wall post.
• Twitter entry, “Follow” SUCCEEDEquine and be sure to tag @SUCCEEDEquine in your Tweet.

Read the complete New Year, New Horse Contest terms here. Open to US residents only.

About SUCCEED Digestive Conditioning Program

SUCCEED® is an all-natural feed supplement designed to improve the overall health and function of the equine digestive tract – all the way from mouth to tail. Its specially-processed ingredients work holistically to improve nutrient absorption, remove harmful pathogens, and strengthen the structure and function of the equine digestive tract – promoting general wellness and helping avoid serious health issues.

Learn more about SUCCEED®:

• Ingredients
• Horses who need SUCCEED®
• Health benefits
• Performance benefits