How Much is Enough?

Several people have asked lately about supplementation requirements. Why do horses need supplementation and how would I know what my horse needs. First look at the quality of your hay (have it tested if you are in doubt) and then the quality of the grass or pasture that you are turning your horse out on. This of course is assuming you can turn your horse out on pasture or field. The protein content is valuable to know and generally you should be feeding about 2% of the horses body weight in forage per day.  

Just as with humans we used to think that we were getting everything we need in our food. For the most part our grand parents grow some if not all their own food and the soil was cared for because they valued it and knew how to keep it healthy. But over the last few generation our soil has been degraded with chemical fertilizers and over use. So too it is with the fields and the pastures. Over watering can leach the nutrients out of the soil and over use can give rise to weeds that most horses won't eat. So here we are trying to figure out what we can do to keep our horses strong and healthy.

Sometimes we can kill them with love. Thinking that if we give them treats and grain they will be happy and love us all the more. But too much grain can have a adverse effect as can too much green grass. You can judge by looking at a few things that will give you good information. If your horse hyper, excitable and even though you feed him/her lots of grain and hay he/she can't put on weight? This may indicate that you are giving your horse too much rich food and she/he is ready to jump out of her skin with all that energy. This would cause the horse to be stressed and drop weight because she is so hyper. Cut back on the grain or eliminate it all together until you see you horse is calm again. Grain is too hot to feed a horse that is not worked often.  Then see to it that your horse is giving a good wormer to be sure that this is not the problem. Exercise is key to keeping your horse happy and if you find you are not able to work her for some reason then find another rider to work with you to fill in the exercise routine. An overweight horse is not a healthy horse and weight puts strain on all body functions as well as legs and hooves.

Once you find out what your hay and grass is lacking or if it contains too high a percentage of protein (over 10% approx.) then you should get advice from your vet as to what is needed to supplement your horses diet or what to avoid.

Wishing you the best ride...