Posts Tagged ‘pound horse’
Horse Feeding Guidelines – How to Understand Them
Due to the number of questions and concerns I field from horse owners unable to maintain weight on the horses I’ve written the following to explain feeding guidelines found on feed bags. Also, how to determine what amount your particular horse needs.
Typical Guidelines call for:
Recommended feeding amount is to 1 pound of feed per 100 pound bodyweight.
Feeding amounts may be adjusted slightly to meet the needs of the horse.
Feeding amounts should be split into 2 or more feedings per day.
I.e. a 900 pound horse would need to be fed 4 to 9 pounds per day.
Now comes the tricky part
I know you’ve all probably heard the terms “easy keeper” and “hard keeper”. What that boils down to is the metabolism and energy level of that particular horse. You also have to factor in the size of your horse. A taller horse will weigh more than a shorter or smaller horse. If you have a low energy low metabolism horse you’d go toward the low end. If you have high energy high metabolism horse you’d go toward the high end. The average person is not good at guessing the weight of their horse nor the proper weight their horse should be.
The best judge of your horse is you. If your horse is getting to heavy or losing weight look at the nutritional needs of your horse and see if they are within the guidelines. Use a body scoring chart to see if your horse is within optimum weight range.
I’ve had people with a small, average and large horse ask me why one is doing well, one is doing okay and one is losing weight. When I ask what they are feeding they answer “one scoop”. Here lies the problem.
Different feed weighs different amounts. Also, some people fill the scoop to different levels. You should scoop out your feed and weigh it. Find out exactly what you have been feeding. Then compare that to the guidelines.
In the example above an 800 pound horse, a 1000 pound horse and a 1200 pound horse were being fed 6 pounds of feed daily. It was the appropriate amount for the smaller horse but way to low for the others. The 1200 pound horse guidelines call for 6 to 12 pounds per day. I recommend splitting the difference and seeing how the horse does then increase or decrease according to body condition. If your horse is underweight go to the high end. Just remember, do it gradually and increase their feed no more than 1 pound per meal.
Quick Reference Table Chart
Horses weight _____________Feed bag rec________________Amount to feed horse
800………………………………………… 4-8 pounds daily ……………………………………6 pounds per day
1000…………………………………….. 5-10 pounds daily…………………………………7-8 pounds per day
1200………………………………………6-12 pounds daily………………………………….. 9 pounds per day
This is based on an average horse. If your horse is high energy you go to the high side, low energy to the low side average you fall in the middle. Start out with the mid range and adjust accordingly.
Feeding Need To Knows
- An average horse can not utilize more than 5 pounds of feed at one meal. Anything more they are basically just pooping out without being able to utilize the nutrients. This is why feeding horses must be broken down into 2 or more feedings per day.
- In order to achieve the nutrient value on a bag of feed the horse has to consume the pounds required for their size and metabolism or their nutrients are falling short.
- Do not increase a horses feed ration more than 1 pound per meal over a course of a week..
- Do not change a horses feed without mixing it with the new feed for at least 7 to 10 days. Feed changes must be made gradually.
- Do not feed less hay than feed. If a horse is getting 6 pounds of feed they need a minimum of 6 pounds of hay.
- Typically, the average horse should consume 1 bag of feed and 2 bales of hay a week.
Conclusion
The best judge of your horse is you. Feed your horse according to their needs. Stop being of the “scoop” mind and get “pound” wise. Listen to your horse, they can tell you a lot. Don’t be afraid to ask questions from someone. If your horse doesn’t appear to be doing well to you they probably are not. Get in the habit of observing horses body condition. Rate horses based on a body condition scoring guide. Rate your horse and other horses. Get to know your horse and your horses individual needs.
Horses do not fit into a nice tidy package. They are as different as us in their nutritional needs. Obviously a 5 foot tall person is not going to have to eat as much as a 6 foot tall person to maintain their optimum weight. So goes it with horses. Also, we’ve all met that person with the high metabolism that seems to be able to eat anything they want and they stay skinny or the person that watches everything they eat and still gains weight. Again, so goes it with horses.
Author: Melody Baum
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
Provided by: Canada duty rates
How Much Weight Can a Horse Carry?
When asking the question, how much weight can a horse carry? you often hear a response similar to it depends on the breed of the horse, its conditioning and conformation, how far and how long you will be traveling, the horses bone structure, the type of weight the horse will carry (for example live [rider] or dead weight [gear]), weight distribution and so on. So with this sound advice from your fellow horsemen, surely you now have a much better idea of how much weight your horse can carry. No? Of course not. Though your colleagues are correct in stating all the above factors, you are still left in the dark without any guideline on how much weight a horse can carry. Can my horse only carry 80 pounds, or is he capable of carrying 300 pounds?
Fortunately some very smart horsemen over the years have come up with a few methods for us to calculate a starting point to help determine how much weight a horse can carry. One very simple guide is to take the horses weight and divide by six to give you the total weight, including rider and tack, the horse can carry. Given this, a 1200 pound horse could carry up to 200 pounds.
Another quick and popular method is to use the 20% rule. You take 20% of your horses body weight and the result is the amount of total weight your horse can carry. For example, a 1,000 pound horse should easily carry 200 pounds of rider and tack. The 20% rule typically applies to competitive or otherwise hard riding. For pleasure riding, many use a 30% rule, so this 1,000 pound horse could carry 300 pounds for shorter pleasure rides.
Measuring a horses cannon bone is used by some in determining the approximate weight a horse can carry. A measurement is taken around the circumference of the foreleg, just below the knee. Add together the weight of the horse plus the rider and tack, and divide this sum by the cannon bone circumference measurement. Then divide that result by two. A number between 75 and 85 is good. If the number is over 85, you probably need a larger horse. Using this method, I measure the circumference of the horses cannon bone and get 7.5 inches. The body weight of the horse is 1,150 pounds and the rider and gear weigh 235 pounds for a total combined weight of 1,350 pounds. Divide 1,350 (total combined weight) by 7.5 (cannon bone) and I get roughly 185. Divide 185 in half and my final resulting number is 93. Using this calculating method, I either need to lighten my gear or get a larger horse to get the number down to around 85.
Some horse and rider guidelines where carrying weight is concerned:
The maximum weight a horse can safely carry does vary by the breed of the horse and how hard its worked. There is no absolute rule about how much weight a horse can carry, but generally speaking the lighter-framed the horse the less he can carry. A well conditioned horse or a stout horse can generally carry more. Some breeds are bred to carry heavier weights like the Quarter Horse, Arabian or Icelandic Pony. Riders with good balance also make weight load less of a problem.
Author: Randall Holman
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
Provided by: Mobile device news
My Practical Guidelines For Feeding A Horse Grass Hay
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.