Canadian winters bring plenty of challenges for horse owners. From breaking ice out of water buckets to hauling pails by hand and pushing heavy wheelbarrows through deep drifts, the work is demanding. Yet these chores are part of ensuring horses stay healthy during a season that, along with snow, freezing rain, and bitter temperatures, also brings health risks such as thrush, mud fever, dehydration-related colic, and respiratory problems.

Among domestic animals, horses are some of the most naturally wide-ranging. They evolved as nomadic grazers, adapted to constant movement across varied landscapes and climates. Their instinctive response to any potential threat is still flight. Although domestication has shaped them to fit human needs, their fundamental nature remains largely unchanged.

Horses are commonly housed in individual boxes. While this may be convenient and prevent injuries from other horses, it may also be detrimental to the horse’s welfare, especially if access to pasture is limited. A paper by Alice Ruet and colleagues investigated the effect of various management practices on the display of behavioural indicators of compromised welfare in housed horses.

1. Consider having your horse tattooed, branded, or microchipped. Those with permanent identification will have a much better chance of reunion with the rightful owner, if found.