Winter Water for Horses

Horses require access to free choice clean water at all times and in all seasons and will drink an average of 30 litres of water per day. Many horses diets see an increase in dry feed matter like hay during the winter months. As a horse requires three litres of water for every kilogram of dry matter they eat although horses drink less in cold weather adequate water consumption remains a priority.
Forcing horses to get moisture from eating snow is counterproductive. In addition to the fact that an average of ten times as much snow must be eaten to provide an equivalent amount of water horses must use precious body heat to melt the snow. Horses on snowcovered pasture will receive a certain amount of fluid through the snow they ingest but not enough to satisfy their daily requirements.