Posts Tagged ‘Feeding Horses’

Do you use guesswork to decide what and how much to feed your horse? Do you believe it’s too hard to modify your horses’ feed as their workload changes or as the seasons change? For many of the ten years that I’ve been managing the feed for the horses we breed and train, I had been doing just this. The horses seemed healthy and in good condition. Little did I know how much money I was wasting by feeding the horses too much of the wrong stuff! For just one of our horses I was feeding 20% more energy and 30% more protein than he needed! As he was an Australian Stock Horse Stallion, he wasn’t getting fat. Instead he ‘sweated up’ easily and he always seemed hyperactive. We just put this down to him being a stallion. What could we have saved? Annually this 20% represented more than $200, for just one horse!

The purpose of this article is to, for those of you who are also relying on guesswork when putting together your horses’ feed, open your eyes to how easy it is to calculate the right diet for your horse. You need to know this before even thinking about going in to the local horse feed store to choose a commercial feed from the huge range that is on offer.

Before we get into the details of calculating what to feed your horse there are a few points you need to understand about horses in general.

1) Horses have been designed by nature as grazing animals. While grazing they may also eat some grass seed (grain), but this wasn’t meant to make up a large part of their diet. So, if possible, always try to make up as much of your horses’ feed from good quality pasture and hay.

2) A horses’ digestive system can process only a limited amount of feed per day. This includes pasture, hay, and any feed mixes (‘hard feed’) you provide. The general rule is that total weight of feed eaten should be between 1.5% and 2% of the horses’ bodyweight (e.g. 500kg horse = 10kg total feed per day).

3) The amount of feed a horse needs is dependent on three main factors. These are the weight of your horse, how much work they do, and the weather. This last factor assumes your horse is kept in an open paddock or field (i.e. not kept in a stable). This also assumes your horse is already in good condition (body, teeth, worming, etc), and is in good health. In general, the bigger they are, the more work they do, and the colder the weather, the more energy they will need – but still within the limits mentioned in point (2).

What are the basic guidelines for working out what to feed your horse? Your horses’ overall diet must contain balanced amounts of;

1) Digestible Energy (from carbohydrates, sugars, and fats);

2) Protein;

3) Crude Fibre; and,

4) Vitamins and Minerals.

To quickly estimate the correct amounts for your horse, use the following. References to BW refer to your horses’ bodyweight.

1) Resting Horse (no work): 15MJ DE (energy) per 100kg BW, 150g Protein per 100kg BW, minimum of 1% BW in crude fibre, between 1.5% and 1.75% BW total feed weight (including pasture).

2) Horse in Light Work (20-30 min per day): 18MJ DE (energy) per 100kg BW, 180g Protein per 100kg BW, minimum of 1% BW in crude fibre, approximately 2% BW total feed weight (including pasture).

Vitamins and minerals have not been included as this is a complex area that deserves its own article. Worry about getting the first three right and then deal with vitamins and minerals later.

Given the above information, what you now need to do is work out the right balance of feed that provides the correct levels of energy, protein, and crude fibre, while staying under the maximum consumption weight. Generally the steps are;

1) Work out how much pasture your horse eats and the energy and protein value of this pasture. This is determined by how long they are in the paddock/field and the quality of the grass. If you live in areas where the temperature drops down to 5 to 12 degrees Celsius, in the Winter, the energy value of pasture is at least 15% lower than during mid to late Spring.

2) Calculate the remaining amounts your horse needs and decide whether this can be made entirely from good quality hay.

3) If your horse still needs more Energy and Protein, you now need to go looking for commercial feed mixes that meet the remaining requirements of your horse.

You may think that all of this appears to be a complicated balancing act. This is probably why a lot of us avoid accurately calculating our horses’ feed. However, there are now some good feed calculators, available on the Internet, that makes this all very simple. It’s easier if you use a calculator that takes a holistic approach by including the pasture and hay available to your horse, and provides generic advice that is not linked to a particular feed manufacturer. If it includes pictures of pasture types, and already includes the energy and protein values of the feed brands available to you at your local horse feed supplier, you’ll save a lot of time.

You now know the basics of what your horse needs. There are numerous tools online that will help you calculate the exact amounts required. Make use of them today, eliminate the guesswork, and save money at the same time!

Erik Durow
http://www.horsesfeed.com.au
Practical Horse Feeding Information for Recreational Riders
Visit the above website for more information and resources.

Author: Erik Durow
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
Smiling shark

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 a stabled horse is slightly different than feeding a horse that lives on a pasture. A stabled horse will spend more time in a stall and will require a somewhat different feeding regime. This is because the stabled horse does not have access to the same amount of roughage that the pastured horse receives. The stabled horse will also eat a lot of high-energy feed, but then have nowhere to release that energy. This is why it is important that you understand what and why you are feeding the horse to ensure that he is receiving all of the nutrients the horse requires.

Exercise must be considered when developing a feeding program for your horse. The horse’s age, gender and size will all play a determining role in how much the horse is fed. A horse that is four years old or older and is only ridden on the weekends or one hour per day will only require a maintenance ration. If the horse is not working extremely hard, then the horse is considered to be lightly worked. In this case, it does not matter what gender the horse is and a maintenance ration will be sufficient. You will need to fee the horse approximately one percent of his body weight in hay per day and then use your feed tag to help you determine what percentage of the horse’s body weight should be fed in grain. A horse that is on a very good pasture may not even require a grain supplementation until the cooler months.

Horses that are used for events such as jumping, roping, cutting, polo or racing are going to require a more customized feeding program. These horses will still require about one percent of their body weight in hay per day, but they may require a higher protein ration. Some horses may also need a fat added ration depending on how much energy they are burning in their work and if it is causing them to lose weight. A good general rule of thumb is that if the horse needs more energy then you should gradually increase the amount of feed that the horse is receiving. Racehorses and polo ponies may require fat added diets because they need to sustain their glucose levels throughout their competition.

The mature adult horse requires eight percent protein for daily maintenance. This means that a horse on very good pasture or alfalfa hay will not require supplementation from grain. Younger horses will require a ten to twelve percent daily protein depending on how quickly they are growing. High performance horses may require 14 percent protein depending on the amount of work they are doing. Owners should consider purchasing a well balanced sweet feed with a good hay, either alfalfa or grass, to meet their horse’s nutritional needs.

Once your horse is feed go inside and enjoy your horse home dcor.

Author: Jo Thompson
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
News of Solar Power and Alternative Engery

One of the joys of happy horse relationships is offering your four-hoofed friend a tasty morsel. However, there is as much difference of opinion about whether or not one should feed horses treats as any other aspect of horse training. If you would like to share cookies, carrots, and other equine delicacies with your horse, here are a few basic rules and concepts to consider.

Treats Are Not Rewards

Unless you are teaching your horse to do tricks, and small bits of feed are used as reinforcement for teaching specific cues, horse cookies are best used only on special occasions. The main objection lodged against feeding horses carrots and apples is that it teaches horses to bite and may cause horses to get pushy as they search for another cookie.

Don’t Associate Treats With Work

Horses work to earn their living, just like the rest of us. If your boss started giving you a bonus every time you showed up to work you would get pretty upset the next time you clocked in and there was no bonus. Horses are no different. A treat is just that, something special. Bring your horse’s favorite snack out when they are thinking of nothing other than you. Not getting tacked up, not getting a bath, not getting into the trailer… but when there’s nothing on their little equine mind but you. You are presenting your horse with a gift, not a paycheck.

Safety First

Offer treats with your hand open, fingers together, and palm up. Provide a little support as you let the horse’s lips take the treat from you. Sure, some folks have their horse take a carrot from between their own teeth – that’s a trick. Some people can also do a full reining pattern bareback and bridleless. If your experience doesn’t measure up to the experts, choose the safer road.

Be aware of your horse’s expression and body language. If you even get a whiff of pushiness or impatience, walk away. You always get more of what you reward. If your horse begins to demand that cookie, and you give it to him, you have just taught him to be more demanding the next time. Treats are a gift, not dinner.

Unless your horse is soft and obedient, no treat.

Three’s A Crowd When There Are Treats

If there are other horses around at cookie time, be careful to note their reactions in addition to those of your horse. Feeding cookies to more than one horse at a time requires you to stay in control of where all the hooves are. If you don’t have the leadership established to direct who gets the first cookie, etc, then don’t take a chance. Horses can get rough with each other and with you if there’s a cookie to be had.

Best Horse Treats

Horses are not all born knowing that carrots and apples make good treats. There are many commercially prepared treats available. Some horses like peppermints, some prefer gingersnaps. Many horse cookies have nutritional supplements in them. How many and how often you feed treats, as well as how big your cookie budget is, will determine what will be on your horse’s cookie menu. The best horse treat is the one your horse likes most. You won’t have any trouble figuring out which treats your horse prefers.

Carrots as Hydration

There are good reasons to use carrots as a source of hydration rather than as a treat. When trailering long distances or for horses who don’t drink well tied to a trailer, you can use carrots as a way to supplement your horse’s water intake.

The easiest way to teach young horses to eat carrots and apples is by feeding them to their mother before they’re weaned. If Mama loves carrots, Baby will learn to as well. For older horses, break carrots into one-inch pieces and mix in their grain or pellets during their regular feeding time. Start with just a few pieces at a time. Most horses will eventually learn to eat carrots, and then you can feed larger pieces when you are concerned about maintaining hydration.

Treats Are Special Gifts

Whenever you’re confused about whether or not to feed your horse treats, just think about what is appropriate for children. We don’t give special presents to a kid having a tantrum. We don’t reward a child who is sulky or stubborn. Horse treats are special gifts, that’s why they are called ‘treats.’

Just use your common sense – make that ‘horse’ sense, and both you and your horse will enjoy sharing treats.

Whether the topic is personal success or training stallions, Lynn Baber brings years of experience to readers and audiences. Highly credentialed in issues of leadership, relationship, and most things equine, Lynn has a unique perspective not found elsewhere. Read excerpts from Lynn’s latest book, “AMAZING GRAYS-AMAZING GRACE: Pursuing relationship with God, horses, and one another” at http://www.AmazingGrays.us. It may also be found on Amazon.com. Lynn is a retired equine professional and is a director of Amazing Grays Ministry.

Author: Lynn Baber
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
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It’s kinda like “Singing in the Rain.” My new mantra is, “I’m feeding in the dark…”

And you might be wondering why I’m feeding horses in the dark. Good question. I’m feeding my horses early in the morning and late at night for two reasons:

1. Evenly spaced feedings more closely mimics a horse’s natural feeding patterns

2. This feeding schedule keeps my horses healthier, and lowers the horse feed bill

Wild horses spend 20-22 hours per day walking and eating. In other words, they graze. The rhythm of walking a bit, eating a bit, walking a bit, and eating a bit helps them digest their food. They don’t eat too much at any one time, and the walking keeps their digestive systems active.

Plus, the constant food intake prevents ulcers, since the fiber they eat forms a “mat” in the upper stomach, which prevents the acid from the lower part of the stomach from eating through the stomach wall. The lower stomach wall is protected from the acid, but the upper stomach is not. Without the fibrous mat formed by the constant intake of fibrous foods, horses develop ulcers in their upper stomach.

Horse Feed: Throwing Hay in the Dark

In the deep dark of winter, most people feed their horses breakfast around 7 am, and dinner at 5 pm. This is convenient for us humans because it’s a little warmer, plus the sun is usually up by then. The bad news is that it’s not such great horse health care. When fed only twice a day, horses tend to gorge, upsetting the natural rhythm of their digestive cycle. They don’t digest their food as well or as thoroughly as they should, which can lead to ulcers, mild colic, or internal adhesions.

Of course, changing this schedule isn’t an option for most people, since work often dictates their schedules or they board their horses at stables that only feed twice daily. If this is the case for you, there are several ways you can solve this horse feed problem:

Horse Feed Solution #1: Pay Someone to Feed for You

I have several friends who use this option. One friend boards her horse at a stable where the horses are only fed twice a day. She pays one of the grooms an extra monthly fee to throw extra hay to her horse for lunch and for a late-night snack. She also pays the stable for the extra hay. My other friend keeps her horses at home, but works all day. She pays a neighbor’s daughter to toss hay over the fence twice a day, at lunch and at dinner. Late in the evening, my friend goes out in the dark to give her horses a little horse feed for a snack.

Horse Feed Solution #2: Offer Free Choice Hay

If your horse doesn’t have a tendency to get too fat, offering free choice hay is another option to the horse feed dilemma. I used to do this, even when I boarded my horses at a stable. I would buy one large round hay bale per month, and deliver it personally to my horses’ paddock. They were fed regular meals of breakfast and dinner, and snacked on the round bale whenever they felt the need. This kept their bellies full… and their little naughty minds out of trouble.

Horse Feed Solution #3: Use Small-Hole Hay Nets and Other Feed Dispensers

Small-hole hay nets, as the name implies, are hay nets that have very small holes. This allows horses to eat only a few pieces of hay at a time, which means they can’t gorge, plus they stay occupied for longer. This also more closely mimics the slow grazing pattern of wild horses. They can be difficult to fill, not to mention time-consuming, but it does tend to keep horses occupied for twice as long.

I also use this great new horse toy called the Nose-It. It’s a plastic polyhedron that has a tiny hole in it. You can fill it with horse pellets, hay cubes, or any other healthy horse feed. Your horse has to tip it in just the right direction before feed comes out, which means he has to “play” with the Nose-It for a long time before he gets his full dinner. Again, like the hay net, this toy provides a way to feed your horse over a longer period of time. The only caveat with this toy is if your horse lives in a sandy environment. To prevent him from eating sand, put the toy in a large feed tub and let him play with it in there. This keeps his horse feed clean and prevents sand colic.

Horse Feed Solution #4: Feed in the Dark

This is possibly the least attractive solution if you are afraid of the dark or dislike the cold. I’m not fond of either, but I don’t find it too difficult. I work at home, online, so I have a flexible schedule. I prep the horses’ early morning hay portions the night before so I don’t have to do anything other than chuck it over the fence. Ditto with the late night dinner. Lunch, which includes a combination of beet pulp, senior feed, and hay cubes, all soaked, is prepped and fed during the day. My horses are fed around 5 am (I’m an early riser), 12 pm, and 8 pm. This spaces their meals out fairly evenly around the clock. If I’m going to be gone during the day, I use small-hole hay nets and the Nose-It toys to keep my horses occupied. This works well.

I take the same kind of care with any supplements I feed, which are syringed directly into each horse’s mouth to ensure that every horse gets what he or she needs. Some of my horses, who have been through trauma or have health issues, get a bitter herb supplement that helps them stay in a relaxed, healing mode. Others get my regulation Horse Goo, which includes mangosteen juice blue-green algae, probiotics, and enzymes. This system ensures that every horse gets the right feed and supplements.

The Good News About Horse Feed Solutions

If you use any of these solutions, especially during the winter, you’ll notice that your horse feed bill will probably go down. Horses fed more frequently or are fed over a longer period of time (as with the small-hole hay nets) tend to hold their weight more easily. Plus, they stay occupied for longer, which helps if you have “Mr. Destructo” in your herd. Finally, feeding this way helps prevent digestive health issues like colic and ulcers.

So while these horse feed solutions may not be the most convenient in the world for us humans, if they prevent a giant vet bill or reduce the feed bill, they may be worth all the hassle. I know it’s worth it to me… plus my horses love me for it!

Author: Stephanie H. Yeh
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
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While you might think this is a easy thing to do – feed your horse – you’d be amazed at the number of horse owners that don’t know about the fundamental principles. There is nothing called standard, when it concerns the nutrition requisites of a horse, as it would mostly be based on the amount of activity, its age and body weight. To start with, your horse by nature uses forage as a primary ingredient of their diets. This by the way is one of the most critical components of his diet, which keeps his digestive system functioning correctly, and when we say pasture we are meaning a combining of natural grass and cut hay.

Large horses normally consume about 2 to two point five % of their body size in food every day so a 1,000 pound horse will eat around 20 to 25 pounds of feed each day. Feeds rich in nourishment are what horses need and high-fiber feeds should not be give to them, as it may upset the digestive system. In fact, a horse would be happy if you fed him with a feed of hay/pasture grass amounting to one percent of his body size. For horses, which do not do much activity, a feed of forage only without any grain is sufficient. On the other hand, developing, breeding, or working horses must have supplements in addition to pasture – such as grain or a supplement concentrate. Thus, for optimizing growth and development of the animal, foraging should make up for at least half or more of the body size, as part of his everyday diet.

When you are considering a balanced diet for your horse, consider the nutrient content as well as quality criteria of the grass. This information would help you to gauge the amount of nutrients he would need. The best source, and the least expensive one for summer food is your grass fields and, in most cases good pasture by itself can provide all the nutritional requirements your horse needs. But how do you come to know how much pasture is right for your horse? Using a weight of 1000 to 1200 pounds, here is a rough guideline. This means that a mare and foal 1.75 to 2 acres – yearlings 1.5 to 2 acre and weanlings 0.5 to 1 acre.

Winter feed of course would be cut hay, and again, high quality if you can provide it. Ensure that the hay is leaf-like and green in colored and cut in a systematic way, free of dust, moulds weeds or stubble. This feed is usually rich in protein, minerals and vitamins. While alfalfa hay is food for a developing horse as the protein content is very high, but you have to be careful as it contains abnormal calcium in comparison to its phosphorus content. Too much calcium is not good for growing horses so if you’re not sure about hay quality, have it analyzed.

You will be able to locate some of the best deals on used horse trailers for sale online. There are many used horse trailers for sale, but which one is the right one for you and your horse? Well if you take your horse out only every blue moon then a simple trailer will suffice. The single most important thing to consider when buying any kind of used horse trailer is the floor. Make sure it is stable enough for your horses to stand on and that wood is still strong and not rotted away.