Teresa Kackert demonstrates how to safely catch a horse in a paddock, field or pasture when there are other horses present. This is a safety video from Certified Horsemanship Association (www.CHA.horse)

For more information on the largest certifying body of riding instructors and barn managers in North America, Certified Horsemanship Association, please visit www.CHA.horse.

Read more: Catching the Horse in a Paddock with Teresa Kackert (5:29)

Equine Guelph has announced that the month of February, Canada’s coldest month, will be Colic Prevention Education Month. The next four weeks will be dedicated to increasing awareness of ways for caregivers to decrease the risk of colic in their horses. Although horses can be afflicted with gut pain in any season, the cold weather months are a challenging time – especially with impaction-related colic.

Here are three simple rules for preventing winter colic in your horse: 1. increase forage in diet, 2. keep your horse hydrated and 3. maximize turnout and exercise.

With these easy tips in mind for the cold weather months, check out Equine Guelph’s highly popular online healthcare tool, the Colic Risk Rater (http://www.thehorseportal.ca/ColicTool), an interactive experience customized to your situation. Answer a simple questionnaire about your horse’s current management and watch the interactive dial move depending on your answer. Then, try redoing by changing your answers, using the three simple rules for preventing winter colic. You will be surprised to witness the rater’s dial move away from high colic risk as well as noticing the difference in your before and after scores!

Now that you have seen firsthand what these changes mean in reducing the risk of winter colic, the following explains why these three rules are so important.

Rule #1 – Increase Forage in Diet

Forage is critical for hind gut fermenters. An 1,100 pound horse should consume 2.0% to 2.5 % of their body weight per day in forage (22 to 28 lbs). Horses only produce saliva when they chew, therefore feeding forage ad-lib will increase the production of saliva – one of the best buffers for the horses' digestive system and the most effective way to reduce the chance of ulcers and impaction colic.

Rule #2 – Keep your Horse Hydrated

While on the topic of impaction, 24/7 access to clean water is always imperative to keep all that forage moving. Remember, horses tend to drink less in the winter and impactions usually form with dry feed. February is typically Canada’s coldest month – with water in buckets freezing within 6-12 hours of filling – so be sure your horse doesn’t become dehydrated due to a frozen water bucket situation.

Read more: Equine Guelph Declares February Colic Prevention Education Month