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.