Posts Tagged ‘feed ration’

You may know what is best to feed your horse but that does not mean you are feeding your horse right. Sometimes we become very busy with our daily schedule and let that influence the diet we choose for our horses. The consequences of less than perfect feeding regimens are rather minor at first, maybe costing extra money but not really harming our horses. Sometimes bad choices when making feeding decisions can have serious consequences. Sometimes excesses or insufficiencies can cause health threats to our beloved animals. Some less than optimal feeding decisions may cost the horse his energy. This can result in sluggish performance when you are counting on an excellent performance from your horse.

This article will include some mistakes to avoid when feeding your horse. These are mistakes most often noted by equine nutritionists so that we can avoid them. 

Too much grain can be harmful to your horses’ health. This mistake can lead to obesity and contribute to colic and laminitis. When feeding your horse right, less grain is usually better unless your horse is working extremely hard such as a competing hunter/jumper or race horse.

If your horse does need concentrated feeds it is best if the portions are broke up into small meals. Four or more small meals per day will be better than feeding the ration once or twice per day. If you want to feed your horse right, avoid feeding a meal of more than 0.5 percent of your horse’s weight per meal. Horses’ have a very small stomach in comparison to their size. Frequent small meals are much better for them.

Feeding a horse by volume rather than weight is a common mistake. If you are feeding your horse right you must feed by weight not volume. It is easier to just scoop out the usual feed ration and feed it to the horse. When it comes to nutrition weight is what matters not volume. If you happen to change feeds the same volume in one brand may not be the same amount of nutrition in another brand. Be sure to read the feed label to understand the nutritional content per pound of ration. A kitchen scale is convenient tool for measuring the ration.

Another common mistake that is made when we feed our horses is giving the wrong feed to the wrong horse.  There are a wide variety of feeds available for many specific equine needs. There are feeds specially designed for broodmares, foals, adults, seniors and the list goes on. All are formulated for very specific nutritional needs. Giving the wrong feed to the wrong horse can cause harmful imbalances in horses. So does feeding a horse a formulated feed when none is needed. The nutritional needs of a yearling still developing are very different from the needs of an adult horse. Improper feeding in a yearling can cause abnormal growth. You must make sure you feed your horse the ration designed for his specific time in life if you are going to feed him correctly. 

Sometimes we kill our horses with kindness. We must find the balance between the horse’s natural eating needs and the demands domesticated life places on them. Feeding your horse right will help him stay healthy for many years to come.

For additional information about practical horse management please go to http://wcf-ltd.com/horse/ to learn more about how to care for your horse.

Author: Fran Mullens
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
Panasonic Lumix G2

I love to hear my horse whinny to me. The sound of his satisfied munching is another reward I find in horse ownership. Of all the things we enjoy doing for our horses, feeding can be one of the most emotionally rewarding. Sometimes we can be guilty of “over-kill” when it comes to feeding our horse.

In order to avoid causing damaging imbalances when feeding our horse we need to calculate the nutrients the horse is receiving from his basic feed ration in the first place. Once that is established then a decision to add supplements to his diet can be made. Supplements can be beneficial to our horses if they need them. Overloading nutrients can be harmful when we are feeding our beloved equines and must be avoided.

When feeding our horse we must not overlook the significance of availability of fresh water at all times. Having access to fresh clean water will reduce the chances of impaction colic. This is very important for horses kept mainly on dried forage. The horse will drink more often if he is offered fresh clean water. This will help prevent dehydration in the horse also. In cold weather heated water will encourage horses to keep drinking water. Heaters for water tanks are available commercially that keep the drinking water at a palatable temperature. This will encourage them to drink more water during cooler weather. Often decreased water consumption as the temperatures drop can lead to colic.         

Another consideration if you have more than one horse make sure there is more than one source for water and easily accessible to all of the horses. When feeding more than one horse sometimes horses will bully others. More than one water source can help this situation.

When feeding horses we must not overlook salt. Sodium and chloride (salt) is essential to many bodily functions.  Not naturally present in grasses and grains salt is a vital nutrient that we need to add to our horses’ diet. Horses lose salt when sweating and it is necessary for it to be replaced. A block of salt may be placed in your horses pasture. It will be available to him when he needs it. If the horse has a balanced diet a mineralized salt block will not be necessary when adding salt to his diet.  In the winter additional salt (no more than a tablespoon) to your horse’s food at night will encourage drinking as nighttime temperatures drop. This can aid in preventing colic that sometimes occurs as temperatures become cold outside.

If given an opportunity horses will consume the salt they need. Horses have a natural appetite for it. Sometimes horses kept in stalls will get bored and consume too much salt. There is a solution for this. When feeding such a horse loose salt, an ounce or two may be added to the diet. Table salt may be used if the horse already has a balanced diet. 

As we give our horses food we must make sure our desire to care for them does not conflict with their need to graze and roam. We must make sure we do not create imbalances in their nourishment. After all the time and money we put into our horses we want to enjoy them for many years to come. When we are feeding our horses right we are well on our way to obtain that goal.

For additional information about practical horse management please go to http://wcf-ltd.com/horse/ to learn more about how to care for your horse.

Author: Fran Mullens
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
Unix inter-process communication (IPC)

Feeding the boarded horse is slightly different than feeding the horse that lives on pasture. The boarded horse may spend more amount of time in a stall and therefore requires a different feeding regime. The boarded horse does not usually have an ample supply of roughage and it is your job to provide him with as much as he needs. The boarded horse may also eat grain but not always have a place to release any energy acquired from it. This makes it important that you feed him only what he requires and not what he desires.

The horse’s exercise regimen should be considered when developing a feeding strategy. Age, gender and size all play key roles in deciding how much the horse should be fed. A four or five year old horse that is ridden for an hour a day will do well if he is kept on a maintenance diet. He is not working extremely hard and would be considered lightly worked. It does not matter if the horse is a gelding, mare or stallion. The horse should receive approximately one percent of his weight in hay per day and will work well on a ten percent protein feed ration. If the horse is a pregnant mare, however, her feed intake will need to be increased throughout the year so that she will have enough energy to sustain her pregnancy. She may also need to be fed a higher protein ration later in her pregnancy.

Horses that are used for a sport such as jumping, roping or cutting will have different feed requirements from the lightly worked horse. The horse will need about one percent of his body weight in hay, however, he should be fed a higher protein ration. He may also require a larger amount of feed depending on how well he gains weight and keeps his weight. A general rule of thumb is that if the horse requires more energy then you should gradually increase the amount of feed he intakes. High performance horses will also do well on fat-added diets as their bodies will use the excess fat in performance situations and it will help sustain their glucose levels. This holds true for heavily worked cutting horses, roping horses, racehorses and cross-country eventers. These horses are doing an extreme amount of physical work.

The nutrition requirements for feeding horses is generally that a mature adult horse requires eight percent protein for daily maintenance. If the horse is on a very good grass hay or alfalfa hay, he will not need supplementation from grain. This horse is lightly worked and more of a weekend rider. Younger horses require ten to twelve percent daily protein depending whether or not they are being rapidly grown or not. A horse that is being rapidly grown must receive a constant supply of energy. Switching a rapidly growing horse to a diet for a horse that is not being rapidly grown will result in devastating health effects. Owners can buy a well balanced sweet feed from the feed store with a good alfalfa hay and will meet their horse’s feed requirements. If the horse begins losing weight, gradualy increase his feed until he appears to be gaining weight again.

A classic feed ration for horses is oats and grass hay. As this is hard to mess up and your horse should not founder on this feeding regime, it is actually not the healthiest regime for a horse. There is a calcium to phosphate ration figured into all feed rations. This ration should be 2:1. The ratio in oats and grass hay actually has an upside down ratio of 1:2. While this may not cause noticeable effects in a horse now, it my cause him to lose calcium as he ages due to the phosphate tying up the calcium in the bones. This may cause the horse to be more susceptible to broken bones. Another common scenario found is people who feed their horse a mix of both oats and sweet feed. There is a common misconception that sweet feed causes horses to be hyper, when in actuality the horse should have his grain ration cut back or removed completely. Many people believe that the molasses in the sweet feed is what causes horses to be hyper and will “cut” the feed with oats. This actually hurts the horse more than it helps as the feed is balanced on it’s own but when you add the oats then the balance of the feed is changed. It is best to pick one type of feed and stick to it rather than change it. If you must change the type of feed, then you should do it gradually as not to disturb the microbacterial population that resides in the hind gut of the horse. Many racehorse trainers and show horse trainers choose oats because they can find them anywhere they travel. They supplement the oats with a well-balanced hay and insure that their calcium to phosphate ratio is okay.

The boarded horse may require a hay bag or interval feedings of hay depending on the quality of the hay. It is best if the horse is able to munch on grass hay all day and receive alfalfa with his grain. This will keep is digestive system working properly as if he were grazing in the pasture. This is not always capable of happening and splitting the hay ration in half and feeding it to him twice a day will suffice. Some farms offer multiple feedings per day. If you find a facility that offers this, this great for your horse’s health. Horses have small stomachs and benefit from receiving five or six small meals a day versus two large meals per day. This immitates their natural grazing behavior and allows their digestive system to work properly. Multiple small meals per day also eliminates many of the causes of colic as well. The system is not being shocked by large amounts of carbohydrates and sugars all at once.

While making the decision what and how to feed your horse there are a couple of thoughts to consider. First, look at how much work your horse is doing now and how much work your horse will do in the future. Secondly, look at what he is being fed by his current owner. The owner or breeder should have the horse on a good diet, however, you may decide that the diet needs tweaking. You should also look at the horse’s body condition and decide whether or not he needs to gain or lose weight. The individual needs of the horse must be assessed before committing to a feeding regimen and even then he may require some adjustments along the way. If you do feel that your horse should receive extra grain for extra hard work on a particular day, it is best to feed it as another meal and not include it in his nightly ration. This will help him digest properly without causing him to overeat at one meal. As a rule of thumb, you can expect an average horse to stay in shape on one pound of concentrate and and one and a half pounds of hay for every hundred pounds that he weighs. This may and most likely will need to be adjusted as your horse ages or begins to receive more exercise.

Author: Ron Petracek
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
Provided by: Credit card currency-exchange fees