Healthy Diet For My Horse.?

Question

This summer my horse has been living out in the field, and does not get any hard feed. When I bring her in to ride and groom, she has a salt l**k in her stable and seems to love it. She looks very healthy at the moment, glossy coat, bright eyes.. So she seems to be doing well without any hard feed.

Now it's the summer I ride her 5/6 times a week for a short light work ride apart from when I have lessons when she works extremely hard!

Anyway, what I want to know is if she will be OK with just grass and a

salt l**k with no hard feed.. It is possible for me to give her hay etc.

I am thinking of getting a mineral block..

Answer 1

Sounds like she has been out in a well managed pasture. I am surprised at how many people don't know that horses thrive and are healthier in their natural environment, much more so than stable boarded horses. Stable boarded horses need a carefully managed diet of hay and grains. But a horse's natural diet in their natural environment is grazing on grass and legumes and on that they thrive and are healthiest. I keep my pasture, as well as my hay field, sown with a seed mix I blend myself at the seed store. The blend I make is 80% grass of which I make an equal mix of timothy grass and orchard grass (and I add more orchard grass to the tree shaded areas), and the remaining 20% of the blend I add legumes for added protein of which I make an equal mix of red clover and sweet yellow clover and alfalfa. I seed both the pasture and the hayfield twice a year and to the early spring pasture seeding I blend in a prairie wildflower seed mix about 5% by weight. My horses and the pasture boarded horses who are out 24/7 need no diet management at all, although I do keep salt and mineral licks in pasture, and it is only during the winter months that I manage their diet with hay and added grains. So I think you answered your own question when you said this summer your horse "has been living out in the field" and that she "looks very healthy at the moment, glossy coat, bright eyes.. So she seems to be doing well without any hard feed." My guess is that the field is well managed and that she is getting all the nutrition she would in a natural untouched environment. I don't think I would be worried about adding hay and grain to her diet until winter as long as she has full access to that field.

Answer 2

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Answer 3

Some horses that graze in an open field continually,

risk getting laminitis or founder.  Definately do not give the horse any grain, as this adds to the carbs already plentiful in the grass. Put a mineral block in their to l**k too.  In the spring the grass is particularly hard on horses (concerning laminitis)  In the Winter supplement with hay.  I would only graze the horse part of the time, but if you don't have that option, then what can you do?  Make sure the horse is not gaining too much weight.  Staying fat is a risk for laminitis too.  Remember that there is more chance for worm infestation in a pasture, especially with many other horses in it.  If there are other horses there, see if it is possible to ask the owner to worm all the horses at the same time, several times a year.

Answer 4

Just grass is not a very good idea for a diet. it doesn't give much nutrients. But it does all depend on the amount of grass in the paddock, if there is tonnes it wont harm her to have a little bit of hay but if it is short or brown hay is maybe necessary for a healthier horse.

1) If your horse/pony is Fat: Give them 1 biscuit of hay, 2 If they are a horse.

Some hard feed will bring up her muscle condition and inner body health. DEFINATLY keep up the salt l**k or mineral l**k. and some fruit or vege is Never bad.

2) If your horse/pony is skinny (see ribs or poor muscle condition):

Give them 1.5 biscuits for a small pony (below 13.2hh), a galloway (14-14.3hh) 2 biscuits, a horse (15+hh) 2 biscuits, 3 if a big horse (16+hh).

Hard feed again for muscle condition and inner body health. Also the salt l**k and some fruit or vege.

I am not accusing u of treating your horse badly in any way. Im sure your horse is happy and healthy. Hope i helped, cya

Answer 5

It depends on the animal and how well it can handle the sugar content in the field.

My pony was living out at the start of the summer on nothing but grass and I'm afraid to say i think he had a touch of laminitis.  Nothing too serious for the vet to diagnose definitely but he had a week's box rest and is fine again.  

He is currently on the "fatty and lammy" field (which is last year's winter turn out field) and had 3 meals a day (happy hoof and pony nuts) and 5kilos of hay.

I would suggest that if your horse is getting regular exercise, getting  no "hard" feed and not dropping weight then there is no reason to change her current routine.

I might be tempted to give her a very small feed after she has worked particularly hard but apart from that she sounds fine :)

Answer 6

Texas -- M2 Presswire carried a story on June 22, 2000 about how to feed your horse a healthy diet:

GUTHRIE -- Texans love their horses - whether they are kept in ranchette paddocks or ranch-sized pastures. In fact, Texans spend an estimated $342 million annually buying and selling horses - whether they be miniatures, saddle ponies, working Quarter Horses, Thoroughbreds, or draft stock.

Feeding horses is an industry in itself, but the bottom-line for horse owners to remember is "they all need good groceries," according to two horse experts speaking at the June 2 Western Rolling Plains Mare and Foal Clinic here.

The clinic included presentations on feeding and nutrition; live-animal demonstrations on starting young colts and body condition scoring; and a tour of the horse breeding program and facilities at the 6666 Ranch. The clinic was sponsored by the King, Kent, Dickens and Stonewall county offices of the Texas Agricultural Extension Service; the 6666 Ranch; Tongue River Ranch; and Purina, Pfizer and Hoescht.

Feeding mares and foals for optimum health, reproduction and growth need not be a complicated matter as long as horse owners follow a few simple guidelines.

"Horse reproductive rates are low in comparison to other species, but what you can achieve in your breeding operation largely depends on mare body condition going into the breeding season," said Dr. Don Topliff, equine nutritionist and professor and head of West Texas A&M University's Division of Agriculture.

"Mares need a reserve tank of body condition to overcome the stresses of breeding, foaling, lactation, rebreeding and reconditioning.

"We typically rate body condition from 1 to 9 -- with 1 being very poor to barely alive, and 9 being extremely fat. In between are many different levels of body condition. Mares that are moderately thin (4) to extremely fat (9) will breed, but the ideal body condition range lies somewhere between fleshy (7) and fat (8). Too often, we expect thin mares (4-7) to breed, foal, and nurse their foal while regaining body condition. That's expecting too much." Horse owners can achieve 90 percent or higher reproduction rates in their mares by providing a sound health program and feeding for optimum body condition, Topliff said. These tips will help:

* follow a regular de-worming and vaccination program.

* feed on a regular schedule; providing each horse 1 percent of their body weight in roughage each day.

* feed by body weight, not by volume, and never force horses to compete for feed - put out enough feeders (troughs, pans) for every horse, plus one.

* feed large-particle concentrates that are at least 10 percent crude fiber to encourage slow eating.

Weanling to yearling horses require a different feed management strategy, said Pete Gibbs, Texas A&M Extension horse specialist based at College Station.

"Young horses require feeds that allow them to achieve sound structural development (bone and muscle) early in life. We have to feed according to their growth rate. Colts that exhibit rapid growth will reach their mature height and weight in 18 to 24 months," he said. "Moderate growth colts won't achieve mature height and weight until they are about 3 years old. At either growth rate, we need to feed to avoid developmental orthopedic diseases such as contracted tendons and epiphysitis.

"Foals learn to feed from their mothers, but we need to remember that mare rations often don't fill a colt's nutritional requirements. For example, an oats and alfalfa ration won't provide enough protein - especially lysine - for a growing colt. Keep in mind that grains are typically higher in phosphorus than calcium. Colts need a balanced, 1:1 calcium/phosphorus ratio in their diet. And remember that free-choice supplements are a bad choice for young horses. We need to provide minerals in their feed to ensure adequate uptake." Even though young horses will require their own ration starting at two- to six-months of age, balancing the energy, protein and mineral content of their rations isn't hard to do. A 16 percent protein commercial feed containing 0.7 percent lysine, 0.7 percent calcium, 0.5 percent phosphorus, about 3.4 percent crude fat, and about 6 percent crude fiber fits the bill nicely for most weanlings, Gibbs said.

"If you use creep feeders, put the feeders close to where the mares eat but make sure the mares can't get the colts' creep feed. Young horses eat light portions almost continually - they eat all day long," he added. "So, provide enough creep feeders and feed for every colt to get something to eat; regardless of the pecking order.

"With a good nutrient program, you can start weaning colts at four months of age. Once they start weaning, their ration should contain 70 percent concentrates and 30 percent roughage. It's also a good idea to divide their daily ration into three portions and feed each portion at eight-hour intervals."

Weanling horses cannot thrive on grass pasture - they must receive their roughage requirement from hay. But as weanlings become yearlings, horse owners can adjust their ration to contain 50 percent concentrate and 50 percent roughage (hay or grass pasture). By this age, young horses typically exhibit moderate growth rather than rapid growth, Gibbs noted.

"How we feed, and the nutrients we feed, determines the success of any exercise program. Don't forget that yearlings require more calcium in their diet once they enter a forced exercise program," he concluded. "Stay away from feeding anabolic steroids - it just isn't a good idea for young horses. You will be more successful, and your horses will be healthier, if you simply get them on a good balanced feed and keep them on it year-round." Texans can get Extension publications on horse management from their local county Extension office, or on the Internet ( http://animalscience-extension.tamu.edu ).

Brand or company names appearing in this article are used for identification only. No endorsement is intended, nor is criticism of similar products or companies not mentioned.

((M2 Communications Ltd disclaims all liability for information provided within M2 PressWIRE. Data prepared by named party/parties.

Answer 7

Your vet should be your primary resource for concerns about your horse's nutrition. A vet can perform various tests to determine if your horse is well-fed, needs supplements, etc.

If you do consider a mineral block, be careful - some of them contain selenium, which can be toxic over time at certain levels, and which builds up in the body. Others may not have the right balance between sodium and potassium.

Finally, there are a few other things you can do on your own - these can improve your knowledge and help you work with your vet.

One is to estimate your horse's body condition score. This will give you an idea of whether your horse is getting enough food for its activity level. There is a link at http://www.temporaldoorway.com/stable/li... that shows the body scoring system and how horses look in each condition score.

Second, review the nutrition papers linked from http://www.temporaldoorway.com/stable/li...

These give good science-based answers to questions about the relation between activity and diet and have been produced by university veterinarians. There's an article on pasture among those links.

Hard feed typically becomes necessary for horses when they are in especially hard work (4-5 days per week, over 1 hour per day, mostly at lope, canter and gallop) because there is a point where they may not be able to eat enough pasture or hay to keep up with what they are burning. Also, some horses can't keep weight on without extra grain or fat, simply because they have a metabolism that burns food faster. Body condition scoring and your vet can help you understand when that's an issue for your horse.

I hope this helps!