Everything You Need to Know to Care for Horses in Autumn

Autumn is my favorite time of year! I live in an area with long, hot summers, and by the end of the season, I’m always welcoming Fall with open arms. Fall is also a season of preparation, as it always precedes winter. If you have horses or other livestock, fall is the perfect time to enjoy the outdoors while you tackle a few important maintenance tasks around the farm.

What do horses need in the Autumn? Fall is a time of maintenance and preparation. Horses have particular needs before the upcoming cold, such as deworming and farrier visits. Your property will also have additional needs during the Fall, such as shoring up fencing and shelters. Water will need to be protected from the upcoming frost, and nutrition will need to be monitored as the pasture naturally changes during this time.

Winter poses its own health risk to your horses. If you don’t take the time to prepare in the Autumn, you may find it more difficult to keep your horses at a healthy weight and avoid serious illnesses like colic. Keep reading to learn all you need to know about caring for horses in the Fall!

Fall Horse Care: Preparing Your Horse’s Water

Most horses are fed hay during the winter, which means they will be taking in less moisture than when they are on lush pasture. It’s especially important for your horse to be well-hydrated in the winter, which may require additional preparation. Research has shown that horses prefer to drink water when the water temperature is around 60 degrees Fahrenheit. Water temperature will begin to dip lower than this in the Fall, which is when you should consider insulation. 

Rubber troughs are better at insulating than plastic or metal. You can also put a smaller trough inside a larger one, filling the gaps with insulating straw or shavings. You may also decide that an electronically heated water receptacle is required. If this is the case, it would be best to purchase one now instead of scrambling for one in the winter. 

Many colic episodes in horses will happen in the Autumn and Winter. Changes in water intake, diet, and weather can disrupt the horse’s gut. The best way to avoid colic is to make sure your horses are consuming water. Besides having water available to drink, you can also soak their feed or include an electrolyte supplement in their feed to encourage water intake. To learn how to tell if your horse is colicking, visit my article Seven Signs Your Horse Has Colic.

Fall Horse Care: Assessing Your Horse’s Nutritional Needs

In most of the United States, pasture grass will start to die and lose much of its nutritional intake in the Autumn. You shouldn’t rely on pasture alone to keep your horses at a healthy weight or with proper nutritional consumption. The most common way to supplement a horse’s diet in the winter months is with hay. Hay is cut, dried, and baled in such a way that is reserves the nutritional value of the grass. You can buy hay from a local supplier or find chopped hay at feed stores. Important note: hay and straw are two different things. Do not buy straw to feed your horse.

If you’re feeding hay, the beginning of Fall is a good time to stock up. I purchase hay from a local grower. He has hay to sell from around mid-May until the end of August or the beginning of September. Around the end of the growing season, I stock up as much as I can to avoid paying the much higher feed store prices during the winter, when all hay needs to be trucked into the area. It’s always a good idea to stock up when prices are low if you have the storage space. 

You can also feed your horses grain or pelleted alfalfa starting in Autumn to get you through the Winter months. Alfalfa is high in protein and a great addition to a horse’s winter diet. What I’ve found with some horses is it’s hard to keep weight on them in the colder months, so it’s best to start preparing early. Being a healthy weight enables a horse to stay warm and have the energy needed to get through the Winter. To get a more in-depth look at keeping your horses well-fed in the winter, visit my article Why Your Horse Isn’t Gaining Weight and What to Do About It.

Fall Horse Care: Your Horse vs. Parasites

One of the greatest benefits of Autumn is the lack of flies. When you have horses, you have flies, and they irritate your horse even more than they irritate you! However, the annual fly exodus does not mean you no longer have to worry about pests. In many areas, Fall is the season that ushers in wet weather, and most parasites love moisture and mud. 

How you treat parasites will depend highly on your region. Instead of adhering to a set deworming schedule, I bring fecal samples to my vet twice yearly (this prevents unnecessary deworming, which extends the life and efficacy of the dewormers on the shelves now).

Because of the weather transitions that occur during Spring and Fall, these are the seasons in which I choose to have my animals’ stool tested. Testing and potentially treating in the Fall keeps your horse in top shape so the body can focus its energy on growing out a winter coat and staying warm in the colder weather.

Fall Care: Protecting Your Horse’s Hooves

Fall is also a great time to prepare your horse’s feet for the upcoming cold weather and to prevent potential issues. 

Fall and laminitis

Laminitis is a disease caused by a sugar intolerance in the horse that causes the tissues in the horse’s hoof to become inflamed, causing the horse discomfort when walking and standing. If not managed, laminitis can lead to founder, which is when the tissues in the hoof become so weak and inflamed that where they are no longer able to support the coffin bone in the hoof, and the coffin bone begins to rotate.

Laminitis increases in frequency in the Fall. Cool-season grasses generally have a higher sugar content after the first frost, which can lead to founder in horses pre-disposed to the condition. Another reason laminitis is more of a threat during autumn is hormones. The hormone ACTH naturally increases in horses in the fall, increasing cortisol and insulin. These changes can act as triggers for laminitis.

Keep a close eye on your horse’s hooves and gait during the fall. Signs of laminitis may include obvious discomfort, heat in the hoof, rings around the hoof, and a bulge in the hoof sole.

Pulling shoes 

Many horse owners choose to have their farrier pull shoes in the late Fall. Not only does riding typically decrease in frequency and duration, but shoes also cause snow to become heavily packed in the horse’s hooves, leading to discomfort. Leaving a horse barefoot can prevent snow and ice from becoming packed in the hooves.

If you do want to leave shoes on for the Winter, ask your farrier about snow pads; these pads are inserted between the horse’s shoe and their sole, keeping snow from getting packed into the hoof. Snow pads are usually a one-time cost, as the same pair can be used all Winter, even when the shoes are replaced.

Fall Horse Care: Property Maintenance

Everything around the farm needs to be shored up before winter arrives, and I’d much rather do the hard work of fencing and barn repairs in the cool Autumn than in the heat of summer…or the miserable cold of Winter. The following are areas you should address on your Fall calendar:

Fences – Fence repair is a never-ending task when you have horses, but horses are excellent at finding weak spots…And the neighbor’s grass always looks greener. Check your posts, rails, and mesh. I try to keep up with this throughout the year so that I don’t have such a large job in front of me in the Fall.

I frequently have posts that need to be replaced, boards that need to be secured, and wire that needs to be re-stapled. If you have a post that needs to be replaced but don’t have the time or resources to cement in a new one, a t-post will work in the interim. 

Culverts – This may not apply to everyone, but if it does, it will be the area where you likely spend most of your time during and after winter storms. In the Fall, I carefully check our culverts and ditches to clear debris and weeds and secure panels (and then cross my fingers hoping they won’t wash out at the first hard rain).

Shelters – A horse needs shelter, even if it’s in the form of a simple three-sided structure. Check your horse’s shelter for drafts that need to be blocked and for water protection. If you have a barn, you will also want to check for vulnerability to critters. My own barn has a resident skunk under the structure – she doesn’t bother me, and she doesn’t bother my animals. I must take measures to protect our grain and straw from hungry and nesting rats, squirrels, and raccoons. 

Speaking of shelters – you may also want to think about your bedding. I prefer to switch out our straw bedding for shavings before the rainy season, as straw can harbor mold. This may not concern everyone, but some people have chickens or other poultry in their pastures that live with their horses and livestock. Poultry have sensitive respiratory systems and like to kick as much straw as possible outside into the rain. 

Enjoying Your Horse in the Fall

I love spending time outside in the Fall – there is so much to do around the barn during this time of year! Chores aren’t the only outdoor activity I tend to increase in the Autumn – the cooler temperatures and the decrease in flies and mosquitoes make for more enjoyable riding time as well. So, while the Fall may bring a longer to-do list, there really is no better time to be out there doing it all. Plus, you get to exchange the sunscreen and bug spray for a sweatshirt! Speaking of which, if you are looking for warm, cute sweatshirts for riding, check out some of the options on my Etsy store! Click here to visit.

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