Feed your horse right!

The more we find out about nutrition and the role that it plays in good health, the more it’s clear how essential the right diet is, not only to keep our horses at the correct condition and energy levels, but also for their overall wellbeing.

But while most horse owners know (in theory) what is best, despite the good  intentions we don’t always actually do what is best. 

Our own busy schedules can play a major part in the way we choose to feed our four-legged friends. We all have a tendency to be influenced by what our friends are doing, and by clever marketing.

And we love our horses, too; that strong emotional bond is another major influence in the way we care for them and meet their nutritional needs.

Added to all this is the mass of often contradictory information out there – little wonder that deciding what and how to feed can be a headache for horse owners.

Usually, the worst that’s going to happen if you feed your horse a less-than-ideal diet is that your bank balance will suffer. Over-supplementation is the most common problem, but in most cases it won’t do any real harm.

But sometimes, feeding mistakes can have major consequences. Some nutritional deficiencies and excesses are serious – even life-threatening.

Here are seven of the most common feeding mistakes that horse owners make. Most of them are easily fixed, but please consult an equine vet or nutritionist if you have any serious concerns about your horse’s diet. 

Mistake #1: Feeding by volume rather than weight

Is a scoop the same as a double handful? And what does it weigh?

Most people feed their horses by the scoop. But if you hold a scoop filled with maize in one hand, and oats in the other, you’ll notice a big difference in weight.

When it comes to calculating feed, it’s the weight and not the volume that is important. A scoop of one pelleted feed might have a completely different density (and therefore weight) from another brand, even if the fibre, protein and fat levels are similar.

So, you need to use a kitchen scale to work out exactly how much your scoop of feed weighs, so you know exactly how much you are feeding. If your horse needs 2kg a day, then give him 2kg a day – not two scoops! 

Mistake #2: Not paying enough attention to forage

Good quality hay is more economical because it’s more nutritious, and horses won’t waste a single stem

An ideal horse’s diet is pasture and hay, with small amounts of concentrates (grain, pelleted or sweet feed). But the quality of the hay is often overlooked by horse owners; the amount of energy (calories) contained by hay varies greatly.

If you are trying to increase a horse’s weight, and are feeding old, stemmy meadow hay, then switching to a leafy lucerne and clover mixture will do a much better job at putting on condition than pouring him full of concentrates. 

And besides providing more nutrients, better quality hay is also more economical, even though it costs more per bale. Confusing? It works out more economically because poor quality hay contains fewer nutrients, so horses have to eat much more of it to get the same amount of energy. Yet because it is less palatable, horses tend to leave more of it uneaten and it is trampled into the ground. 

In contrast, good quality hay rarely goes to waste – horses will devour every stem.

How can you tell good hay from bad? Good hay is leafy rather than stemmy, and green-ish in colour depending on what is in it – lucerne hay is much darker green. Some yellowing is normal, but dull or brown hay is old and/or the grass was overly mature when it was cut.

Hay should smell fresh and slightly sweet – never feed hay that smells musty, mouldy or generally off. Grab a handful and squeeze – good hay will be pliable, springy and even soft, while poor quality hay is coarse and the stems will stab your skin.

Watch out for foreign objects. It’s not unknown for sticks, wire and even dead birds and animals to be baled into hay. And you don’t want to pay for hay that is full of weeds, such as dock. Not only will your horses not eat it, but it will reseed your paddocks with unwanted plants.

Mistake #3: Too much hard feed 

Sweet feed and grains like barley and maize are loved by most horses, and they are great sources of energy. But it is usually much more than most pleasure horses need; overfeeding hard feed has a number of bad effects on both health and behaviour. Too much grain will make it hard for your horse to focus and co-operate under saddle, and can cause obesity, colic and laminitis. Actually, most leisure horses don’t need any grain feeds at all. Be realistic about how much work your horse actually does. If it is an hour or more DAILY training, including cantering and/or jumping, then he will need extra rations in the form of grain or other concentrate feeds to maintain weight. Otherwise, he will be fine on pasture/hay alone, with a balancer to top up mineral and vitamin levels.

If your horse does need a concentrate, then it’s best to break it up into as many small meals as you can. You should avoid feeding more than 0.5% of your horse’s bodyweight in concentrates in any single meal, as his stomach won’t be able to digest more than that. This equals about 2kg in the average 500kg horse.

Mistake #4: Not feeding to recommended levels

Commercial feeds are formulated to provide the precise amount of nutrients needed, as long as you follow the recommended serving size. If you only give your horse half what is recommended on the bag, he will only get half the amount of vitamins and minerals he needs.

It’s impossible for the feed manufacturers to balance the nutrients to suit all horses – if the minerals were balanced for a horse getting 1kg of feed a day then they would poison a horse getting 6kg. If the minimum serving is too much feed for your horse, then it’s not the right feed. Choose a lower-energy feed, or a feed balancer, and then feed to recommended levels.

Mistake #5: Random supplementation

A very common mistake is adding supplements to the horse’s diet ‘just in case’, without first checking if the ration is already overloaded with specific nutrients.

Selenium is an important mineral that is very toxic if overfed, and is frequently added to feeds as well as being an ingredient in general supplements. 

It all comes back to knowing exactly what you are feeding. 

Mistake #6: Failing to offer salt

Sodium and chloride – the components of table salt – are electrolytes essential to many bodily functions.

Both are lost in sweat and must be replaced through the diet. They are also the only essential nutrients that are not naturally present in grasses and grains.

Horses have a natural appetite for salt and will eat what they need if given the opportunity. Putting a salt block in your herd’s pasture is the easiest way of providing access to this vital nutrient, but to ensure all horses get the salt they need, add a couple of tablespoons to the daily feed. Plain white table salt is fine.

Mistake #7: Offering too little water, or dirty water

The myth that you should withhold water from hot, sweating horses is still around. But researchers now know that offering a cold drink to a hot horse will actually help him recover from exertion, and will reduce the chance of colic. 

Make sure that every horse in the herd has access to water. It’s common for boss horses to bully low-ranking herd members away from troughs, so if this happens in your paddock, you’ll need to provide more than one source of water. 

  • This article was first published in the June 2015 issue of NZ Horse & Pony
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