Food and care for horse forage feed is necessary for the proper functioning of their digestive system as it is the horse’s most natural diet. A horse usually consumes about 2% or more of their body weight in feed each day although an individual horse’s nutritional requirement will vary depending on their age, weight and activity.
Beets can be a good nutritional additive for some equines . Pelleted feed – Examining feed pellets vs. traditional horse food. antioxidant nutrients are to given to the horse .Ideally at least half, preferably all, of a horse’s daily feed should be made up of forage feed. As forage feed is such an important factor in any horse’s diet consideration should always be to quality providing the highest quality forage feed available.
A horse usually eats about 2% of it’s body weight a day in forage. Forage feed is considered grass or hay. If you have a large pasture full of plenty of grass, hay is not necessary for you to buy. However if you don’t have a pasture with plenty of grass, then you need to make sure that you keep hay in your pasture at all times. Especially in the winter, horses need to be able to eat lots of hay to keep their body temperatures up.
Some additions to a horse’s diet include bran, chaff and barley. The easily digested bran, when wet, serves as an efficient laxative. Chaff can be added to the horse’s feed to keep him from eating to quickly. Barley is also an important source of nutrition, especially in the winter when grass is less abundant. But barley should always be soaked in water for about two hours if it has not yet been crushed or rolled. This will prevent digestive problems including a swelling of the stomach.
Then there are Oats. Oats are a very common feed for horses. They are a good source of energy for horses and are easily digested. Then there is Sweet Feed. This is a mixture of feed covered in molasses and is very good for horses. Horses love the taste of the molasses over their feed. Sweet feed usually consists of chopped corn, pellets, and oats.
When should a horse be given these supplements? If you have a mature horse with minimal activity should thrive on good quality forage without a need for supplements. Most horses with a good pasture will benefit from supplemental forage during the winter months. If you feed working horses, stabled horses, and growing or breeding horses, it is a good idea to considered additional feed.
Water should always be available to both the grass kept and stabled horse it is particularly important that it is available prior to feeding. Horses should be fed at regular times and a horse or pony should be given a few hours between having a hard feed and carrying out strenuous exercise. Strenuous exercise on a full stomach can cause breathing problems and also put strain on the heart. A horse or pony should never be fed directly after hard exercise.
Ration balancers (also sometimes called diet balancers) are nutrient dense feeds meant to be fed in small amounts. They are an ideal base to most feed programs. Hopefully this quick look at the types of horse feed available has helped clear up some of the confusion at the feed store. Sweet feeds are feeds that have added sugar to make them more palatable to the horse. Usually the sugar is added in the form of molasses. The high sugar and starch content in these feeds can be the cause of behavioral issues and health problems.
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