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Home » Welfare » Caring for your equine in Autumn

Caring for your equine in Autumn

Posted by on Oct 14, 2008 in Welfare | 1 comment

You have probably noticed the nights drawing in and a marked drop in temperature at night now. Some parts of France have already experienced some frosty mornings, meaning winter will soon be upon us. It’s important to recognise that most equines will need slightly different levels of care at this time of year depending on age, breed and use. You may have noticed your equine has started to grow a hairy coat, if you are doing very rigorous work you may want to think about having him partly clipped out so that he doesn’t sweat quite so much. If you aren’t going to be working them hard then it’s best to let nature take its course and allow them to grow a thicker coat to keep warm naturally. Some horses just don’t grow a thick enough coat to keep them adequately warm, in these cases it might be necessary to start rugging them up with a light weight outdoor rug at night time and removing it before it gets too warm in the mornings.

Have you seen yellow eggs on your horses legs and stomach? These are insect larvae produced by adult bot flies – you may have seen the bee like insects lingering around your horse in the field. If licked off the larvae can get into the horse’s mouth, later attaching themselves to the stomach lining where they develop into full-grown bots. This can lead to ulcers in the stomach and be fatal.Hard frosts will eventually kill off the adult flies but until then it’s important to try and remove the bots with a tool such a bot knife seen here or a grooming block.

Autumn worming needs to address bots and tapeworms, Equimax is an example of a wormer you could use for these. There is some easy to understand advice on worms that horses can carry and the different categories of wormers here.

A common misconception is that laminitis will not strike at this time of year – WRONG. The sudden flush of rich grass at this time of year is high in soluble carbohydrate, which can contribute towards laminitis. There is some more information on laminitis on our welfare page or take a look here.

If you have oak trees in your equines field now is the time when the acorns will be starting to drop. Acorns contain tannic acid which is poisonous to horses and though eating a small number of leaves or acorns is almost certainly harmless, they can also be addictive, and once a horse has acquired a taste for them they can actively search them out. In general it is best to restrict the access to acorns, particularly if other food is scarce, even if you have to use some temporary electric fencing.                                                                                                                                                                                      
Autumn also brings with it an increased risk of colic in equines. Lush wet grass can cause a gassy type of colic involving the large intestine that may result in the animal having diarrhoea. Another risk is when they eat frosty grass – more so for horses that are stabled at night and then turned out suddenly onto the frosty grass where fructan levels are high. If you do have to turn out onto frosty grass ensure that you put out plenty of hay for him to eat instead.                                                            
Finally, if this is your first winter of horse or donkey ownership and you have some questions to ask on the care you should be giving them you can always contact us for advice.



1 Comment

  1. Amanda Catley
    October 16, 2008

    And to add to that superb advice above dont forget that also:

    Walnuts pose a danger to equines, they love these tasty high-oil nuts and they can add to the danger of laminitis. Walnut trees are definately best fenced off at this time of year (also you wont get any walnuts!)

    The other tree that poses a danger in autumn is the sweet chestnut tree. Again both the nut and the outer is very palatable and can not only add to the laminitis risk but can contribute to impactations and colic. The outer husks will ball up in the throat or intestine, leading to potentially fatal colic.

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