- Breeding
- Equine Experts Send Us Your Best Tip - Win $750 Worth of KAM’s Healthy Horse Products and More
- The Missing Equine Link: How the Modern Horse Came to Be
- Feeding and Management of Horses During the Transition from Warm to Cool Weather
- Buying a Horse
- What to Look For When Buying a Horse
- Top 3 Ways Using Horse Classifieds Can Save You Money
- Do you need insurance for horses?
- General Horse Articles
- Ingredients in Feed that Affect Behavior
- Riding Tree: Following the Motion
- Why Keeping Your Horse in a Herd Makes Sense
- Horse Feeding
- 5 Horse Feeding "Don'ts"
- Keeping the Horse Replenished - Equine Electrolytes
- What do do when the Panic is On to keep our Horses Safe!
- Horse Grooming
- What do do when the Panic is On to keep our Horses Safe!
- Keeping Your Horse Beautiful with Horse Products
- Mane Saving Ideas
- Horse Health Issues
- Vital Signs Tell Horse's Condition
- Horse Breeding: Covering a Mare
- Equine Health 101: How to Keep Your Horse Healthy
- Horse Training
- Training Mythunderstandings: More Early Lessons for the Green Horse
- Two-track to Slow Your Horse's Gaits
- Healthy Horse Boutique Supports Haddad Staller In Her Olympic Quest
- Horses & History
- Battle-Ready: A History of the War Horse
- Horsing around the Sierra Madre - 1974 Style.
- A Brief History of Horse Breeding
- Horses & Sports
- How to Prepare for Your First Equestrian Competition
- What do do when the Panic is On to keep our Horses Safe!
- Halter Horse Show
5 Horse Feeding "Don'ts"
12/14/2009 - By Don Blazer
Most horse owners know one of the five things you do not do when it comes to equine nutrition is make sudden changes in forage or diet.
But do you know the other four “do not dos”?
Most horse lovers know and understand that the horse’s digestive system is very sensitive, so you don’t make sudden changes in the horse’s diet, says equine nutrition specialist Eleanor Richards.
“Disrupting the delicate balance of microbes in the large intestine can lead to colic, laminitis, founder and death,” Richards warns. “When you are going to change a horse’s diet, be sure you do it gradually.” That includes the introduction of a new load of forage, she says. “Mix some of the existing forage with the new forage for several days,” she advises.
Richards says, “Do not purchase the least expensive feed you can find.”
Cheap feeds will have non-digestible “fillers” and you’ll end up feeding more to meet the nutrition requirements of your horse.
Cheap feeds, she says aren’t cheap! (You can do the “math” along with Eleanor at her web site, www.thewayofhorses.com See article archives.)
Richards teaches the www.horsecoursesonline.com course Nutrition for Maximum Performance. The course can be taken for college credit, as part of a professional certification program or just for personal enrichment. See: http://www.horsecoursesonline.com/index/index_nutrition_description.html for a course description and outline.
The third thing you do not do is feed by the “scoop.” Weigh your feed. If you feed less than the recommended amounts as stated by the manufacturer you will not be providing a balanced diet. “Always follow the feeding direction on the feed tag”, Richards insists.
Do not feed a product that is not designed for your horse.
If your horse is growing, in training or on poor quality forage you don’t want to be feeding a product designed for a mature horse that is not being worked and is on abundant pasture.
Richards teaches students how to “balance a feed ration” for the individual horse. Feeding to reach the specific requirements of the individual horse is extremely important, she says.
Finally, do not feed any product if you have even the slightest doubts about its quality and freshness. Horse feed should be free of dust, contain no mold, smell good and be of consistent texture from batch to batch.
“Return questionable products, or throw them out,” Richards says emphatically.
Better to waste a little feed than to endanger your horse.
