Feeding Guidelines That Really Work Part 2 of 5

Guideline 2: Never drop below 2%

The old standard has always been that your horse should be eating at least 1-3% of his body weight in food every day. I use 2-4% from personal experience because I believe strongly that horses without enough bulk to their diets are more prone to colic, ulcers, and behavioral issues like stable vices. Horses are physically and mentally intended to eat for most of the day. The more overall material we can give them, the better.

While sometimes 1% is necessary for founder prone easy keepers, I would rather try to cut calories and starches by making swaps in what they were eating than to cut the overall amount first. Seriously, have you ever tried to put a 1000 pound horse on a 10 pound a day feed plan? Trust me, it isn't pretty. You end up with a horse that is convinced they are starving and will likely start stall kicking or other undesireable behavior, which is likely to give you a bad case of rattled nerves. So, unless you have made all the swaps you can, and you absolutely must restrict intake further, I would stick with 2% or more.

I should say, that before calculating your 2%, you will need to remember that we need 2% of the horse's ideal weight, not their actual weight if there is a difference. This means that you will need to add or subtract approximately 50 lbs from your horse's actual weight for every BCS score other than 5. This is why it is necessary to know both those numbers. So if your horse's actual weight is 1250 pounds and his BCS is a 7, you will want to do your 2% calculation based on 1150 pounds (1150 = 1250 Actual Weight - 50 (BCS of 7 to BCS of 6) - 50 (BCS of 6 to BCS of 5)) When you calculate 2% a small 800 pound horse would need at least 16 pounds of total feed daily while a larger 1300 pound warmblood would need 26 pounds of total feed daily.

Guideline 3: Never more than 40% concentrates.

Research has shown time and time again that horses whose rations are 40% or more concentrates (grain, mixed and/or pelleted feeds) are much more likely to suffer from colic, ulcers, and behavioral issues. So after you do your 2% total feed calculation, take 40% of that, and make sure your concentrates never exceed that number. You will keep your horse physically and mentally healthier, and avoid wasting your money.

Feeding Guidelines That Really Work Part 1 of 5

Guideline 1: Stop guessing.

Do you know your horse's weight? What about his body condition score (BCS)? Do you know in pounds, rather than in quarts, flakes, or (gasp) scoops how much your horse is fed every day? You should, because accuracy is half the battle to ensuring your horse gets what he needs.

Know his real weight. While it would be nice if we all had access to platform scales that we could get perfect weights on all our horses say monthly, that isn't a reasonable option for all of us. What is reasonable is to mosey down to the tack shop and get yourself a weight tape. Check your horse's weight monthly. Not only will this help you accurately determine what he should be fed, it will be invaluable information when it comes time to deworm or medicate him.

Know his BCS. The BCS (Body Condition Score) is used as a way to describe how thin or fat a horse is in a standardized way. Pretty much anyone can obviously figure out that a horse is too thin if he scores a 1, and that he's too fat if he scores a 9. But sometimes we manage to lie to ourselves when it comes to deciding if our horse is just a little over or under weight. Using the BCS method helps take your emotions out of it and guide you to a more realistic assessment of your horse's condition. The BCS can be found at: http://www.thehorse.com/pdf/nutrition/bcs.pdf

Know how much you are feeding. Flakes, scoops, cans, quarts, armfuls, we use a lot of generalized measurements to describe how much we feed our horses. These work fine if you are aware of how much those measurements really are, but one person's scoop may not be the same size as someone else's, one flake of hay may be larger or smaller depending on the bale of hay and the person flaking it. Ideally you'd have a scale in your feed room and you would weigh absolutely all your horse's hay and grain. At the very least you should weigh each component of a new ration so that you know how many of your scoops or flakes make the necessary number of pounds. For example: If you get in a new load of hay, weigh a flake of it. If you have calculated that your horse needs 10 pounds of hay at each feeding, and your find out that your hay weighs 5 lbs per flake, then two flakes is great. But what about if you get a load of hay that only weighs 3 lbs per flake? If you don't check the weight and adjust accordingly, you might end up effectively cutting your horse's hay intake in half. Another example: If you switch pelleted feeds and your old feed was 1 quart per pound but your new feed is 3/4 quart per pound you could end up over feeding. If someone else feeds your horse(s), weigh/measure/flake with them so that you both agree on what the flake/scoop amounts should be on a day to day basis.

Can we get rid of horse feeding extremism please?

Many modern horse owners seem to fall into one of two extremist categories when it comes to horse feed. The first category seems to be those who have embraced the natural horse keeping ideal of unlimited pasture or grass hay and nothing else. Or they go buy a bag of mixed feed and feed a bucketful in the morning and a bucketful at night with a couple flakes of hay thrown in just for good measure.

Both will work fine in some cases for some horses. But lately I have run into several horse owners who refuse to deviate from their chosen extreme even when they are aware that it is not working for their horses. Not all horses are the same, not all situations are the same. If it works for the other 8 horses in the barn it doesn't mean it will work for your horse. If you expect to take good care of your horses you must be willing to change tactics when what you are doing isn't working. You also must be willing to do your research to find optimal solutions instead of just what is easy.