Teeth and condition before the cold arrives
Winter asks more of an old horse's mouth than any other season: months of dry hay are the hardest chewing of his year. An autumn dental check catches sharp points, loose teeth and packed gaps while there is still time to change his forage plan, and a honest condition score tells you whether to build him up now — adding condition in autumn is far easier than fighting weight loss in mid-winter. If he needs soaked feeds or a hay replacer, trial them while the weather is kind, so the routine is familiar before it is essential. A horse who enters winter already behind on condition rarely catches up in it.
Rugs, shelter and standing ground
Fit this year's rugs to this year's body: an aging topline changes how a rug sits, and last winter's perfect fit can rub a newly bony wither or shoulder. Check stitching, straps and waterproofing before the first storm, not during it. Then walk his winter field with hostile eyes — shelter that actually blocks the prevailing wind, ground at the gate and trough that will not become a bog, fencing intact, and somewhere dry to stand and lie, because an old horse who cannot rest dry loses condition to the weather around the clock.
Forage, water and feed stores
Count your winter honestly: hay or haylage for the full season plus a margin for a long one, stored dry, and the hard feed he will need bought or ordered before suppliers' winter rush. Decide now how his water stays drinkable in a freeze — lagged pipes, a plan for breaking ice, spare buckets — because an elderly horse who drinks less in cold weather is a horse heading for an impacted gut. If he will need feeds soaked, set up the soaking station somewhere it will not freeze solid or flood.
Audit the plan again in mid-winter
Autumn preparation is a forecast; mid-winter is the audit. Put a hand under his rug and score his condition again in the depths of the season, because that is when you learn whether the forage, the feeding and the shelter are actually working or merely looked right in autumn. Check the water system on the coldest morning, count forage against the weeks of winter realistically remaining, and look at his feet and legs for the strain of mud and frozen ruts. Anything failing gets fixed mid-winter, while there is still winter left for the fix to matter.
Feet, and the jobs mud makes harder
Book the farrier so his feet are freshly trimmed and balanced going into the wet months; long toes and collapsed heels manage mud and hard frost badly, and an old horse's joints pay for poor balance daily. Stock the unglamorous supplies — spare headcollar, working torch, rug spares, basic first-aid — while they are easy to buy. Finally, write the winter down as a rota rather than an intention: who rugs, who feeds, who checks water on the coldest mornings, all assigned and marked off in KinsLe Care Teams, so his care does not depend on anyone's memory in the dark.