Feeding Guidelines That Really Work Part 5 of 5

Guideline 7: Invest In Good Feeders

Good feeder prevent injuy to your horse, keep his food clean to avoid sand colic, and reduce waste to keep your feed bill affordable. What I like:

• For Hay: Tarter Hay Baskets hold a bunch of hay. They are sturdy, with no gaps likely to trap feet or heads, and easy to clean. They are also ground height. Horses are meant to eat with their heads down. It is better for their lungs. The full basket would be great for a small group of horses fed hay in a coral or pasture. It would easily hold an entire 50 pound bale. They also make a half size basket and a quarter size basket. I could easily see mounting a quarter basket in a stall. Check out the baskets at www.tarterfarmandranch.com

• For Grain: I love the good old fashioned rubber feed pans. They won't shatter into sharp pieces if stepped on, they can be easily cleaned and they alow the horse to eat with his head down. For the naughty ponies that like to throw theirs? Find a big rock or brick, scrub it carefully, put it in the middle of the pan and put the feed around it. It won't stop a determined pan thrower, but for those who seem to do so mostly out of excitement it works great. It also slows down feed bolters.

• Great Budget Combo Feeder: Small rubber feed troughs around 30-50 gallons are great combo feeders. Safe and cleanable. Also encourages horses to browse to find all the grain in the bottom with the hay on top.

Guideline 8: Fat is your friend.

Grains and mixed feeds get most of their calorie content from carbohydrates. These are great performance fuel for horses in their prime putting in an hour or more of moderate to intense work per day. But what about the 18 year old schooling pony? Or the OTTB in retraining?

Carbohydrates can trigger laminitis (founder) in many horses, particularly older horses; and contribute to hyperactivity and other behavioral issues in many younger horses. If the rest of the ration is balanced and the horse still needs more calories, adding additional carbohydrates is not always the best option. Protein is another calorie source, but we have to remember that horses are herbivores, there is a limit to the amount of protein their bodies can cope with. High protein diets fed over long periods can cause liver and kidney problems.

A safer and well tolerated calorie source is vegetable oil. Amounts up to 2 cups a day per 1000 lbs of ideal body weight can add valuable calories and fatty acids to horses who need a little boost to their condition without the founder and hyperactivity that can result from carbohydrates.

Guideline 9: Simplify your supplements.

We as horse owners have become addicted to the concept of adding those expensive powders, pellets, and potions to our horses' feed. I'm not saying supplements can't do amazing things for our horses. But some of us have gone overboard. Do your research and supplement based on known problems. Some guidelines I use:

• General Vitamins/Minerals: If your horse is getting good quality hay and the manufacturer recommended minimum of a mixed or pelleted feed your horse definitiely does not need a multivitamin/mineral product. If your horse is not getting these, then he may benefit from a supplement.

• The young horse (under 5): I wouldn't worry about supplements. Adding things at this point is more likely to throw the horse's diet out of balance than to help him. The only thing I would consider outside of something that has been recommended by your vet/farrier to treat a specific problem would be calcium if it is needed to adjust the calcium/phosphous balance of the diet. In young horses this should be 2:1 for proper bone growth.

• The adult horse (5-15 years old) in training/showing: I would potentially look at putting this horse on an anti-oxidant supplement. Anti-oxidants (Vitamin C, Vitamin E, Selenium) help to slow the aging process by helping the body repair damage. This is well proven in people and animals. If the horse has issues with weak hooves you might consider a biotin supplement. If his hair or skin could use a little more shine I'd add some olive oil to his feed (see guideline 8). The only other thing I would consider is a Calcium supplement if the Calcium/Phosphorus balance of his diet were undesireable. I wouldn't waste my money on additional supplements for this horse. They are unlikely to help in anyway and could even add up to a toxic dose.

• The older horse (15+ years old): Now is the time to start looking at joint supplements. Most horses this age are starting to slow down a little and get a bit creaky. Chondroitin sulfates and glucosamines are amazing, but are better at slowing down the progress of joint issues than reversing them. So add them when the horse first starts being stiff/off, not when the horse is obviously lame. I would also continue the anti-oxidants and all others from above. Again, I wouldn't waste my money unless I was using a supplement to treat a specific condition.

Guideline 10: Remember to Reassess

Feeding horses is as much an art as a science. What works for one horse doesn't necessarily work for another. What works for one horse one season won't necessarily work the next. So even after we've done our best research and planned the optimal feed programs, we aren't done. We have to continue to watch our horses. Has their actual weight changed from the month before? Is it higher or lower than their ideal weight? Are they lacking for energy? Or are they bouncing off the walls? Have they colicked or foundered? Are we expecting an increase or decrease in their caloric requirements in the month ahead? Any of these things could be a good reason to go back and reassess a horse's feed program.

Feeding Guidelines That Really Work Part 4 of 5

Guideline 5: Roughage Is A Must, Type Is Flexible

While we would all ideally love to feed our horses perfect, leafy grass hay, such hay is getting more difficult to find and more expensive to buy every day. This is less of an issue if you have a 300 pound pony who needs 6 pounds a day. If you have a 1300 pound warmblood who needs 26 pounds a day, you're in for a headache or two.

Alfalfa hay/cubes/pellets, chopped oat straw, beet pulp, and bran are also roughages that can be used to supplement your horse's grass hay and concentrates to ensure that your horse gets enough bulk in his diet without breaking your pocket book. We as horse people simply have to be aware of the issues involved in each.

• Alfalfa hay and products made from it are well tolerated by most horses, provided they are slowly weaned onto it. It is also not acceptable as an unlimited feed for anything other than perhaps pregnant/lactating mares or horses under 2 years of age. Be aware that Alfalfa is much higher in protein and carbohydrate than Grass so you will need to adjust your horse's diet accordingly and it may not be acceptable for horses that are prone to founder. Also, alfalfa cubes have been linked to choke in some cases, so you may want to soak them in water first if your horse has choked in the past or if your horse has a tendency to bolt his feed.

• Beet pulp must be soaked prior to feeding because it absorbs water and expands as it does so. If a horse eats a large amount of dry beet pulp he will colic as a result. The plain pulp must be soaked in an equal volume of water until all water is absorbed, the pelleted kind must be soaked in 3 times the volume of water. It usually takes about 2 hours to soak beet pulp so plan ahead.

• Bran is high is phosphorus, so its feeding should be avoided in horses under two years of age, and in pregnant/lactating mares. Even then I would avoid feeding it in amounts greater than 1% of the daily diet unless you have calculated the calcium/phosphorus balance of the proposed diet and supplemented accordingly.

• Chopped Oat Straw (Chaff) is a commonly used forage in Europe, but sadly nearly impossible to find in the United States. Long stem straw straight out of a bale shouldn't be fed to horses as it has been linked to impaction colics. But chopped straw is a different story. If you can find it, without the mollasses coating, it is a great fiber addition to your horse's diet that adds very few calories and very little starch. I've also heard of pelleted hay products that contain straw, and these would likely be similar.
  

Guideline 6: Keep It Clean

We wouldn't eat off dirty plates or cook in a filthy kitchen, but often we seem to think our horse's don't care. Dirty feed rooms and filthy buckets do nothing but attract rodents and bugs. I'm not saying we ought to run our horses' feed buckets through the dishwasher or scrub the feed room floor with bleach (though that'd be really thorough). But a little soap and water goes a long way.

• Feed & Water Buckets: One thing that has worked for me in the past is to keep a small bottle of dish detergent and a bucket scrub brush hooked next to the hydrant closest to the feed storage. Then before I put fresh feed in the bucket I give it a quick scrub. For slimy water buckets try scrubbing with a splash of chlorine bleach. Just rinse extra carefully...and avoid wearing your best breaches when you do this (been there).

• Immobile Stall Feeders: Personally I loathe these, almost entirely because they are a chore to clean. Best method I've found? Get a wet dry vaccume. Vaccume out all the dust and dirt while the feeder is dry, then add a spot of soap and a cup or so of water and scrub away. Vaccume out the dirty water, add clean water and scrub again. Rinse and repeat until clean. Takes forever, and you'll never get them as clean as you would a bucket, but it's better than nothing.
  

• Feed Room: I've never been really together on cleaning, but what has worked for me is when I buy new grain, the bin gets dumped and the feed room floor gets swept. Then at least the floor doesn't build up too much filth, and the old feed dust doesn't spoil the new feed.

Feeding Guidelines That Really Work Part 3 of 5

Guideline 4: Understand the usefulness and drawbacks of mixed and pelleted feeds.

Mixed and pelleted feeds are often vitamin/mineral supplemented. This is a good and a bad thing. The good thing is that if fed according to the directions, they can save you money by providing balanced nutritional supplementation without the need for an additional supplement. The bad thing is when they are fed in quantities never intended by the manufacturer or the horse owner feels compelled to add an additional vitamin/mineral supplement to the already supplemented feed.

First of all the over-supplementation issue: Some is good, more is not always better. Read labels closely and discuss possible interactions with your vet before adding additional supplements that contain the same vitamins/minerals as your feed if your horse is already on a supplemented grain.

Second the amount fed issue: This is where choosing the right feed is important. Many feeds require about 3 lbs to be fed in order for your horse to get the full vitamin/mineral dose. If your horse will keep weight and maintain energy on less than this (or whatever the recommendation is) then you are effectively throwing money down the drain by paying for supplements your horse isn't getting. So choose feeds with care. You want to be able to feed the full amount to take advantage of the supplementation without extra weight gain or hyperactivity.

For the easy keepers that don't need 3 lbs of concentrates, you might assess why you want to give them grain in the first place. Not every horse needs grain; if your horse is in good health, recieves good quality forage and has no need for specialty supplements or medications, then perhaps you should put the bucket away. But sometimes there is a logical reason to find something you can put in that bucket without all the extra calories.

Maybe your hay is stemmy and otherwise less than ideal because of a bad drought in your area last year and you want to get a general vitamin/mineral supplement down him to help offset the poor hay. Maybe you have an older semi-retired school master who needs grain in which to hide the daily joint supplement and gram of powdered bute that keep him sound. Or maybe you have the one horse in the barn that doesn't get grain and he gets so distressed at feeding time from “bucket envy” you are worried he's going to injure himself.

In all these cases, finding something that you can put in that bucket may be the best solution. If you like the prepackaged and presupplemented convenience of mixed grains or pellets then try one of the newer products on the market meant for the easy keepers. Products like these are meant to be fed in the 1 pound kind of quantity and still give the horse all his vitamins/minerals without all the extra calories. Purina makes a line of these called under the name Enrich. As with all prepackaged feeds, please read and follow the directions on the package.

If you are more the DIY type, try my recipe below.

Lindsey's Daily Vitamin Mash:

1/2 Cup Mollasses (Can reduce or omit for founder prone horses.)

1/2 Cup Olive Oil

1 Dose Vitamin/Mineral Supplement of Your Choice

Specialty Supplements or Medications As Needed

1/2 Teaspoon Sea Salt

1/4 Pound (Approximately 1/2 Quart) Bran

1/4 Pound (Approximately 1/2 Quart) Rolled Oats

Add ingredients to feed bucket in order, stirring constantly, adding just a little water if necessary to form a stiff mash.