• Hydration – provide fresh, clean water at all times in a clean container. As a note, an average horse in cool weather will drink around 18 litres of water a day. This can double or more if the external temperature rises or your horse works hard. Hydration helps the gut to function and ensures good health all round, so should always be a priority for any equine.

• Feed by weight, not volume – one person’s ‘half a scoop’ may be another’s full scoop. Keep a record of weights of feeds in your diary and if possible make a feed chart. Learn how to monitor body condition and top line, especially during the winter. Consider taking side on photos of your horse every couple of months for a record. Utilise the help of a feed expert if you are unsure of what to feed and see if they can bring a portable weighbridge to your yard, which is a great way to keep track of weight loss and gain over time.

• Fibre is king! Horses have evolved to live on high fibre diets, which support a healthy gut and minimises nutritional issues. Because of this, you need to feed concentrates ‘little and often’, with no more than 2kg being fed at a time. Large feeds cause digestive stress – imagine how you feel after Christmas dinner! Use fibre feeds such as chaff to provide roughage. As a rule of thumb 50% of your horse’s diet should be roughage.

• Check your feeds for quality. If a bag of feed smells musty or looks mouldy, don’t feed it. The same applies for hay, haylage and supplements.

• Consider your horse’s type, size, existing weight, temperament and workload when planning feeding regimes. Overweight and underweight horses are at increased risk of health issues.

• If you have a new horse, or are thinking about changing your regime, then do things slowly. Horses can cope with feed changes but their gut will remain healthier if it these are carried out gradually. The same rule applies if a horse is on box rest or limited turnout due to weather.

• Don’t exercise your horse directly after feeding a concentrate feed. The rules of feeding have slightly changed here and vets have now agreed that horses might benefit from eating a chaff / fibre feed closer to exercise. This ‘buffer’ feed helps to prevent stomach acid sloshing about and causing discomfort and gut issues as the horse is put under the strain of exercise. If in doubt consult your vet’s advice but as a general rule give your horse time to digest before doing anything after feeding.

• Get a routine and stick to it – horses like routine and their health thrives on regular routines and feed times. This isn’t always possible and requires personal organisation but is an important factor of horse ownership.

• Keep an eye on your grazing! Grass nutritional value will drop off during the winter pick up in the spring. This means you need to consider adjustments to feed, according to the quality of grazing and availability of grass.

Horses in relatively light work might feel the result of electrolyte imbalances if the weather is excessively hot and they have no access to shade. But in general, most horses on a fully balanced diet, and in light to moderate work, will receive sufficient electrolytes to meet their daily requirements.  That said, many people add a small amount of salt to their horse’s diet each day or provide a free access salt lick.

However, horses that compete, travel long distance or participate in cross country, endurance riding or show jumping in very hot weather may need the support of an additional electrolyte supplement. Similarity, a horse that is hunting, even in cold winter weather, may need a boost if they are working hard and sweating profusely.

An electrolyte supplement replaces salts that are lost during exercise or work and help maintain the concentration of a horse’s body fluids at the right level. Electrolytes come in a range of formulas, some in a syringe paste, a powder or a liquid. They are easy to administer, via a feed, in water or orally with a syringe much like a worming paste. In some cases, a horse will reject the water and some owners find adding apple juice or the water from soaked sugar beet can make the drink more appetising.  If an electrolyte supplement is fed in a feed, it is important that the feed is wet and sloppy. A small amount of wet soaked sugar beet pulp, perhaps with a handful of alfalfa or chaff added, can be used as a basis for adding electrolytes and is safe to offer after exertion such as cross country. Another point that is important to remember is that electrolytes are “hydroscopic” (attract water). If insufficient water is provided, the electrolytes will draw fluid into the gut from the surrounding tissues, worsening the horse’s dehydration. If you are feeding electrolytes, it is very likely they will make your horse thirsty so provide a constant supply of fresh water.

Unfortunately, a horse’s system cannot store electrolytes so it is impossible to ‘pre feed’ and stock up levels before travel or a competition. However, it is known that electrolytes can stay in a system for up to four hours, so careful feeding can help support any imbalances later on in the day. In addition, if a horse receive electrolytes within an hour of work being completed, recovery is improved greatly, so this is another consideration when going out competing in (hopefully!) warmer weather this summer.