It’s that time of year!... when it’s freezing outside and no one is quite sure how to take care of their horse without them turning into an icicle. There’s no need to worry—we have all the best tips here to keep your horse in great condition without them getting sick during the winter season!
#1 Keep Those Stalls Clean
First things first, it’s important for your horse to have a clean environment if you want to keep them clean. If their environment is dirty they’re more likely going to roll around and get dirty, so it’ll be easier overall to keep the pen clean. Maintaining their stall will help keep the process of cleaning minimal. If it’s being picked in the morning and even at night, it won’t take as much time. Here at BioMane we’ve got 20x20 pens that we clean once a day and it takes around 5-8 minutes per pen if we move quick.
#2 Brush, Braid, Repeat — Every 7-10 Days
The second thing we recommend is brushing and braiding those manes and tails. If their hair isn’t being taken care of and they’re rolling around or rubbing, it’s going to impossible to keep the hair from falling out when you’re working through a matted mess! It’s important to stay on top of this as well because washing and drying your horse’s hair in 15 degree weather can get really tricky.
That’s why we recommend every 7-10 days washing, conditioning and brushing your horse’s hair, but if that’s not possible with colder weather, conditioning is always a good idea. It will help add moisture and work through tangles. Also be sure to check out our tips on how to brush to keep your horse’s mane and tail from pulling out. The hair is going to be a lot more important than the coat to maintain because they’ll be shedding all that extra hair come the warmer months, where as the hair is going to take a lot more effort if it’s torn out through rubbing and knotting.
#3 Try to Keep Temp as Consistent as Possible
Last, but definitely not least, is keeping your horse at a consistent temperature. We all know a heated barn is ideal, but if that’s not something you have access to there are other ideas to try out. Blanketing your horse in order to climatize them to the outside is helpful, even if you don’t love blanketing horses, just for a few hours can help their bodies get used to the colder temperature.
Keeping their pens from getting too wet and freezing can be really helpful for this. At BioMane we use sand, so if it gets too wet from the urine and muck, we’ll replace the sand with fresh dry sand and let the other dry out to reuse later. This helps keep their pens from getting to saturated over time and getting them messy.
In summary, remember to keep your horse in a clean environment if you want to keep your horse clean. Maintain the mane and tail in order to continue growing and strengthening it! And then keep your horse at a consistent temperature so it stay’s healthy and strong. If you’re willing to stick with these simple tips you’ll see the growth of your horse’s hair continue as well as keep your horse healthy throughout the colder months of the season!
For more tips, check out this article here.