- ©Stacey Nedrow-Wigmore
Question: I am a new horse owner and am confused about the best way to feed my horse--a 5-year-old, 16-hand Thoroughbred/Quarter Horse-cross. I ride three or four times a week. I feel there are many choices in types of grain, hay and supplements. How can I tell if I'm feeding my horse correctly, and what should I keep in my feed room?
Answer: When your horse maintains good condition and is alert and responsive, you know you've hit on the correct feeding regimen. Back in the old days, there were fewer choices: You fed your horse hay, and he was out on pasture with a salt block and water. If he started to drop weight, you added some corn or some oats to his diet. Now, because there are so many products, people try to micromanage, and they get into trouble.
The basics for feeding any horse are hay, salt and water with only as much grain as needed for the animal to maintain good body condition. Hay still is the basis for a good feeding program because it usually can satisfy daily maintenance requirements of energy, protein, fiber, vitamins and minerals. However, depending on the quality, hay can vary in its nutritional content. For example, it can contain less than 8 percent or more than 22 percent protein. Alfalfa hay may provide much more protein than some horses need, whereas, older, yellowed grass hay might not provide enough. Protein is important for your horse's bones, muscles and just about everything else, including coat condition. Too little protein will cause a dull coat and poor hoof quality. Too much won't hurt your horse but will result in higher urine output (wet smelly stalls, increased water needs). For the horse you described, probably 10 to 12 percent protein in his daily diet would be plenty.
Hay analysis can be done by a county agent or any university that has an agricultural department, however, this is not always practical. A rule of thumb for testing grass hay is to look at the stem to the seed head. The longer the stem, the lower the protein. If stems on timothy hay, for instance, are about six to seven inches long, you probably would have a less than 8 percent protein hay product, and you might need to supplement with a higher protein concentrate. If the stems are all nice and short, barely coming out of the blade of grass, then the protein percentage will be higher, and you probably would not need to supplement.
Watch for moldy hay. Any hay can become moldy because of harvesting or storage problems. It can cause respiratory disease and, in rare instances, colic. Usually, horses won't eat moldy hay, and you'll see a lot of it wasted. Bales that are heavier than those around them may be moldy. Look for discolored patches of brown or white. Also, be sure to take a whiff. You can smell mold. Good hay is always clean, leafy and sweet smelling.
Sometimes hay can be difficult to find, especially after drought conditions. If this is the case, you can substitute forages such as hay-cube products, which are pretty good as hay substitutes. Complete beet-pulp-based rations are not really 100 percent adequate to replace hay but can be used. You need to switch slowly. In both cases, expect increased wood-chewing activity. A horse naturally spends 10 to 14 hours a day eating. A diet of only hay cubes and concentrates can be consumed in less than four hours, therefore, these horses will look elsewhere to chew.
In my experience, many people overfeed grain. Only a hardworking dressage horse, training every day at Third Level or above, might need six to eight pounds of grains along with a good quality hay, salt and water with electrolyte supplements added after a hard workout.
Adding fat in moderate amounts is one good way to keep the weight on a horse without feeding a lot of grain. However, if you start going over two cups of vegetable oil or add too much rice bran, which is popular now, you've got to be careful. Vegetable oil has no minerals but may increase the need for vitamin E. Rice bran is high in phosphorous, and you can get into a reverse calcium-to-phosphorous ratio if you feed too much. When phosphorous intake is higher than calcium, the horse's body tries to stabilize things by leaching the calcium out of his bones. This causes intermittent lamenesses, and you can even get fractures.
