Saturday morning the temperature was -7 Celsius. Yes! Sunday it will be -4 C overnight and then up to a high of 7C.
Here is what the week looks like. All temperatures are in Celsius.
And….on Friday we are forecast to have a high of 15 C. Up -Down-Up-Down. It gets cold and the horses don’t drink enough. The worst complication of this is an impaction colic. No one wants that! What to do? My answer is to give Omega Alpha’s Equisel-lyte. I know electrolytes are most often thought of in hot weather when horses have been sweating a lot. But I also use it in this kind of weather. When I have ridden Biasini in a training session with my coach Belinda Trussell I will give him Equisel-lyte with his afternoon meal. This way he will be sure to drink enough. I also check his manure to make sure it does not look too dry.
And what about blanketing? Biasini has had a full clip but he is growing fur back in daily. However he is clipped. I do not want him to be cold. But I also do not want him to be too hot and start sweating under his blankets. What to do? I check the forecast temperatures and I have a fleece base layer blanket that I can put on for the colder nights and days and then take it off if the temperature is going up. I also have the two windows of his stall open at the bottom. I would rather rug him up than close up the windows until we have to when it gets really cold in the winter.
I am not alone in wondering…should I do this or should I do that? All of us at the barn are talking about what a difficult time of year it is and how best to deal with the weather rollercoaster . Anyone else with these kinds of weather predicaments at this time of year? Let me know what you do in the comments below.
HorseAddict 
I’d love to hear from you!