UK horse owner nutritional knowledge

S

smileysharp

New User
Joined
12 October 2013
Messages
8
Location
Essex
Visit site
Hi, I am equine management degree student at Hadlow College.I am currently working on my dissertation, which is a study to find the extentof UK horse owners’ knowledge of equine nutrition and the sources in which theyuse to gather nutritional knowledge.
I have created a survey, which is attached below. It would be of great help if you could take a few moments to fill in the survey. All the data collected from the survey will remain anonymous and will only be used for the purposes of the study. This research will hopefully lead to methods in which to improve the nutritional knowledge of horse owners (if needed) and the availability of nutritional knowledge, and therefore increase the health and welfare of UK horses. Thankyou!! Link to survey: https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/JH3NM6L
 
Worked fine for me...took the county name fine and was quick and easy to use. Not so sure I knew everything I should have known though!!!!!
 
Summed up why so many new horse owners get so confused as to how to feed. So much technical data that no one remembers to teach people to look at the animal and learn to judge for condition, health etc. I am old school and we were taught to feed ad lib hay and water then to look at condition and assess whether there was enough energy etc and go from there. Hard feed came in bags of oats, barley, bran etc and we had to work it out for ourselves. I would say that there were less laminitis cases other than from spring grass and the horses all behaved much better! But I would say that because it is always better in the old days!! But I may not be so stupid as I breed show jumpers, rear them and produce up to international level so I have some knowledge but it might not be phosporous/magnesium ratio etc which you could look up if needed!
 
I've come round to that way of thinking sport horse, I start with good hay/haylage/grazing and go from there and I used to be utterly mad about supplements but now I am a lot more discerning.

When I got back into horses (about 13 years ago now after a 20 odd year break) it was all mixes and stuff so I just went with that and I would actually have no idea how to feed straights. I do like some of the things about modern feeds and nutritional knowledge, my mare is on a brilliant pelleted feed called "Formula4Feet" has absolutely turned her feet around in the last 4-5 months
 
sport horse said:
Summed up why so many new horse owners get so confused as to how to feed. So much technical data that no one remembers to teach people to look at the animal and learn to judge for condition, health etc. I am old school and we were taught to feed ad lib hay and water then to look at condition and assess whether there was enough energy etc and go from there. Hard feed came in bags of oats, barley, bran etc and we had to work it out for ourselves. I would say that there were less laminitis cases other than from spring grass and the horses all behaved much better! But I would say that because it is always better in the old days!! But I may not be so stupid as I breed show jumpers, rear them and produce up to international level so I have some knowledge but it might not be phosporous/magnesium ratio etc which you could look up if needed!
Click to expand...

Yes I agree! There were a good few questions on there where I needed a "I have no idea" to tick. It is all a bit mathematical for me (going off this survey), yet I have managed to have healthy horses on my yards for 30+ years without knowing some of these ratios! I have no idea how many litres of water a day a horse needs, but know how to tell if a horse is dehydrated and know how much is normal for each of my horses to drink.
 
Last question didn't differentiate between how long you should leave a horse after it has had forage, before it is exercised & how long you should leave it after it has had concentrates
 
Done. I also passed the Coursera course and have had horses for donkeys years - excuse the pun - but some of those ratio questions and litres were beyond me plus didn't have time to go off into Internet to 'cheat'!
 
A couple of the questions, especially the water one, I answered based on what I believe would be 'normal' but definately doesn't apply to my mare - she drinks on average 60-70l a night plus whatever she drinks in the field. We had blood work done, pee tested etc as I was concerned about the amount she drank when I first got her but all came back normal so jsut Roo being Roo
 
Hi, I am equine management degree student at Hadlow College.I am currently working on my dissertation, which is a study to find the extentof UK horse owners’ knowledge of equine nutrition and the sources in which theyuse to gather nutritional knowledge.
I have created a survey, which is attached belowand it would be of great help if you could take a few moments to fill in the survey. Thedata that is collected will be anonymous and will only be used for the purposesof this study, Thankyou!!! https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/JH3NM6L
 
Done. Could have done with a "Don't Know" option for a couple of the questions. I have no idea with regards to calcium/phosphorus for example and I wouldn't have thought many people would know that, certainly not those who tend to have horses that mainly live outside 24/7 and require little or no concentrate feed.
 
It tells me that my comment is in an invalid format, doesn't tell me which comment. I have tried twice and will not try again. I always try and fill out student surveys, but get absolutely sick and tired of wasting my time with those which do not allow completion.
 
Managed to complete but some of the options were not really correct - eg how much water per day? This is always going to be a range dependent on several factors and not a specific quantity.
 
ladyt25 said:
Done. Could have done with a "Don't Know" option for a couple of the questions. I have no idea with regards to calcium/phosphorus for example
Click to expand...

All I could think was "1.67" as that's the Ca:P ratio for hydroxyapatite (mineral component of teeth and bones) and it's part of my PhD. I could spout off a list of Ca:P ratios for you but I have no idea when it comes to the ratio for feed! :p

I wouldn't have picked any of the answers for some of the questions, and could have done with a "don't know" for some rather than making a wild stab in the dark.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top