New year, same old weather…

Winter has well and truly set in – 2024 has started with some fairly unpleasant weather, and my big grey part-Thoroughbred looks a lot like a polar bear despite being wrapped up warm! I hope you all had a lovely holiday season and saw the new year in with style (I played board games with my family and went to bed at quarter past midnight).

Throughout the winter months, many horses are kept stabled overnight. This can help maintain fields (especially during wet weather!), but it can also limit the horse's natural foraging behaviours (Bradshaw-Wiley and Randle, 2023). Rosa Verwijs discusses the nutritional and behavioural needs for forage in the equine diet, along with how the presentation of forage and hard feed can impact behaviour (P26). This review also covers the potential links between diet, gastrointestinal disorders and behaviour, such as stereotypic behaviours like crib-biting and weaving.