Ribbon Creek Farm

01/02/2026

12/04/2025

12/04/2025

Hanging In! Hats Off!

12/04/2025

😅😅

12/04/2025

🙂

12/04/2025

❤️

11/29/2025

:)

11/18/2025

Mags

11/01/2025

10/30/2025

01/16/2025

Thanks to the AAEP

01/15/2025

🥶 Why should you feed more hay in the winter?

We see it every year. On the first warm day of spring, the owner pulls the horse’s blanket, and to their surprise, ribs are showing. We understand that when the vet says to feed more hay, many people see dollar signs dancing in their heads. 💸Some people will choose to feed an extra cup of a fat supplement rather than add an extra two flakes of hay. To make things worse, horses can be great at wasting hay; they walk, trample, p*e and p**p in it. They may waste 10-25% of what is offered, resulting in needing to feed even more volume. 👎🏻

🌡️ It’s important to feed more hay in the winter though. Lower critical temperature is the temperature below which a horse needs additional energy to maintain body warmth. The lower critical temperature estimate for horses is 41°F with a summer coat and 18°F with a winter coat. This number is affected by the horse’s coat length, if they get wet, if they are blanketed, whether they have access to a shelter, and their body surface area to weight ratio.

For every degree below 18°F the horse requires an additional one percent energy in their diet. 🔥Microbial fermentation of forage in the horse’s hind gut acts as an internal furnace to keep the horse warm during these brutally cold winter days. Some believe that feeding more grain will keep a horse warmer. But digestion, absorption, and utilization of grain does not produce as much heat as the microbial fermentation of forage.

Lastly, it’s important to remove your horse’s blanket from time to time during the winter to monitor body condition. An ideal body condition score (BCS) is 5/9 where you can’t see the ribs but can feel them with light pressure. 🐴

If you have questions about your horse’s BCS or whether you’re feeding enough (or too much) hay this winter, our vets are happy to evaluate your horse and go over feeding recommendations.



📸 The Horse