Feeding lesson!

[shemp]

Hi all, never really put much thought into feed as my horses have all just always had the same feeding plan each, made up when i bought my feed by the tack store owner or have just continued on the same feed they were on from their previous owners.
May be an unbelievably ridiculous question but what should a horses feed consist of to give them everything they should be having? I know all horses are different and this is going to vary horse to horse. Im not talking in terms of brands but things like conditioning cubes, can you just feed them on their own or should they be balanced out with something, or mixes, what do they do that would mean they differ nutrition wise to chop for example etc

 

[be positive]

Most horses require very little in the way of feed, they do well on a basic diet of grass and hay or haylage, if they need a feed then it should be kept as simple as possible, fibre based, oil for calories if they lack condition and possibly a balanced supplement.
The majority of horses are over fed, over weight and under worked, unless they are growing youngsters, in hard work or underweight for some reason they should get almost everything they require nutritionally from grass and grass products.
Your feed store owner can offer advice but unless they know your horse they will want to sell you feed so may not be the best people to ask, all compound feeds can be fed alone, obviously with hay/ grass, they are balanced in their own way if you start adding other mixes then that unbalances the nutritional value, every feed will have the ingredients listed on the label as well as a breakdown of the nutritional value, many feeds are extremely high in starch and sugar neither are great for the average horse so look for feeds with low levels of both especially if your horse is a good doer, highly strung or difficult in any way.

 

[shemp]

Most horses require very little in the way of feed, they do well on a basic diet of grass and hay or haylage, if they need a feed then it should be kept as simple as possible, fibre based, oil for calories if they lack condition and possibly a balanced supplement.
The majority of horses are over fed, over weight and under worked, unless they are growing youngsters, in hard work or underweight for some reason they should get almost everything they require nutritionally from grass and grass products.
Your feed store owner can offer advice but unless they know your horse they will want to sell you feed so may not be the best people to ask, all compound feeds can be fed alone, obviously with hay/ grass, they are balanced in their own way if you start adding other mixes then that unbalances the nutritional value, every feed will have the ingredients listed on the label as well as a breakdown of the nutritional value, many feeds are extremely high in starch and sugar neither are great for the average horse so look for feeds with low levels of both especially if your horse is a good doer, highly strung or difficult in any way.

Conpletely agree with you, too many horses on feeds that don't need them, so many people incorrectly think that they deserve a breakfast and tea like people do.
My thoroughbred is currently worked 5 out of 7 days a week and looks great without a feed just on grazing and good quality haylage.
I wasn't planning on changing the feed that any of mine are on, just thought i could learn something new

 

[soloequestrian]

I use this brilliant page http://nrc88.nas.edu/nrh/ to calculate mineral requirements, which are the main thing that won't necessarily be provided by forage alone. All of mine get Fast Fibre as a base, oats if they need extra energy and a mineral mix that is calculated using forage analyses and the NRC requirements. I've been using it a lot recently with a growing youngster - checking her feed monthly!

 

[laura_nash]

I've gone the mineral balancer route and my horses get a mineral mix based on an analysis of our grazing, I used Forage Plus for the analysis they have a website (Forage Plus Talk) that has info on this way of feeding. The minerals are fed in a token handful of feed (fast fibre is my choice) to make them a bit more palatable.

They also get linseed in the winter, a few weeks on milk thistle seed after any worming or other drugs, and the cob gets bicarbonate of soda and mag ox when he's on growing grass. I have some bentonite clay in my feed room which they get a feed of if I'm worried about their guts (e.g. after a fencing failure and grass gorge).

 

[maccachic]

I did an as fed analysis with the help of feed xl.

Mine (WB) who hunts and competes gets plenty of grass, some Lucerne chaff and minerals and salt x1 day - if there isn't enough grass she gets hay and if she needs any more condition she get oats. My partners standardbred get the same.