Page 146 - June_2023

VETERINARY VIEWS
of herd competition with others eating more than their share. Historically, horse owners have relied on a twice daily feeding program mainly because this is how it has always been done, and also because work obligations prevent one from being around to feed small amounts at frequent intervals throughout the day. Thus, a horse is given his daily ration split into two large feedings. This creates multiple problems:
• The horse finishes his food fairly quickly and is left with long periods of fasting, which are detrimental to efficient digestive function while also increasing the risk of gastric ulcers.
• The horse finishes his food fairly quickly and is then bored or unfulfilled in his urge to chew so stall vices and behavioral abnormalities develop, such as crib-biting, wood chewing, weaving, pawing, or eating dirt.
• Large grain meals create glucose surges in the bloodstream and hormonal imbalances including insulin resistance, making a horse prone to developing obesity and/or laminitis related to equine metabolic syndrome.
Ideally, if a horse cannot have free choice access to hay or pasture, then hay feedings should be divided into four equal amounts fed at intervals throughout the day. This reduces the duration of lengthy fasting periods, and continually presents fiber to the intestinal tract in a manner more similar to natural evolutionary tendencies to nibble small amounts through much of the day
and night.
Ideally, if a horse cannot have free choice access to hay or pasture, then hay feedings should be divided into four equal amounts fed at intervals throughout the day.
Your horse should be fed at least 1 pound of forage (hay, pasture, high fiber feed) for every 100 pounds of body weight each day. Horses usually can consume between 1.5 – 2.5 percent of their body weight each day. In theory, this implies that on a diet of exclusively hay, a 1000-pound horse can eat 15-25 pounds of hay in a day. However, some horses become fat on 15 pounds of hay, while a hard-keeper may only be able to consume 20-25 pounds of hay before feeling full yet still needing more calories.
An unfortunate tendency is for horse owners to want to overfeed a horse both in amount and in calories. Keep in mind these simple general rules:
• An average adult horse needs a minimum of 1.5 pounds of hay for each 100 pounds body weight each day for maintenance.
• At least 60 percent of the feed provided
should be in the form of forage (hay and/or pasture) rather than grains. Fiber promotes good gastrointestinal motility, and reduces the development of impactions, laminitis (founder), gastric ulcers, or nutritional imbalances.
An average adult horse needs a minimum of 1.5 pounds of hay for each 100 pounds body weight each day for maintenance.
Horses only fed twice a day sometimes finish their food
too quickly and are then bored or unfulfilled and have an
urge to chew so stall vices
and behavioral abnormalities develop, such as crib-biting, wood chewing, weaving, pawing, or eating dirt.
Supplements refer to energy-dense feeds. Once you have considered the quality
and nutritional value of your hay, you can decide if it is necessary to add more calories from a selection of energy-dense feedstuffs. An important general rule when feeding any supplement is to always feed at least
60 percent of the diet as forage (fiber) to maintain healthy gastrointestinal function. Certain types of hay may be considered as supplements due to the richness and calories of nutrients supplied. Typically, various grains, fats, or energy-dense feeds like beet pulp are considered as supplement feed, but hay in a compressed, pelleted or cubed form may be used for providing supplemental and relatively condensed calories.
Certain hays have more calories than others, such as alfalfa hay. Preferably, alfalfa should be used as a supplement to a diet
of grass hay to improve condition. A safe strategy is to offer no more than one-third of the hay ration as alfalfa. This provides your horse with calories, but does not overload his body with excess calcium, protein, or energy.
Some concentrated supplements are high in fiber yet provide more calories than hay. Such examples include compressed alfalfa pellets or complete feed pellets, which are largely alfalfa based. Complete feed pellets also contain about 25 percent grain products
QUESTION: DOES MY HORSE NEED ANY FEED SUPPLEMENTS?
Alfalfa should be used as a supplement to a diet of grass hay to improve condition. A safe strategy is to offer no more than one- third of the hay ration as alfalfa.
144 SPEEDHORSE June 2023
QUESTION: HOW MUCH SHOULD I FEED MY HORSE?