Managing horse welfare on winter pasture through appropriate shelter, nutrition, and monitoring.
Winter pasture welfare management requires proactive monitoring and resource provision that many horse owners underestimate until welfare problems emerge. The ability of well-managed horses to overwinter successfully on pasture with appropriate shelter represents the welfare-positive alternative to blanket stabling, preserving social contact, movement freedom, and forage availability that are constrained by indoor management. However, the specific requirements of adequate shelter from wind and rain, supplementary feeding calibrated to body condition, and reliable unfrozen water supply must be actively managed rather than assumed to be self-correcting. Regular body condition scoring throughout winter provides early warning of nutritional inadequacy.