- Breeding
- Submit Your Grant Proposal To USA Equestrian Trust
- Feeding and Management of Horses During the Transition from Warm to Cool Weather
- The History of Horse Breeding
- Buying a Horse
- Cookies With a Clue For Your Horse
- Equine Experts Send Us Your Best Tip - Win $750 Worth of KAM’s Healthy Horse Products and More
- How to Buy Horses: A Step by Step Process
- General Horse Articles
- Win Pulling Contests with Brain, not Brawn
- Calcium - More than Just Bone
- Trail Rides, Cell Phones and ID
- Horse Feeding
- You’ve Got the Right Feed, Now What?: Proper Feeding Practices
- Fueling the Motor – Energy Sources for Horses
- What Makes Good Hay
- Horse Grooming
- OmegaTri & the Equine - Reducing Inflammation, Restoring Balance
- An Overview of Horse Grooming
- When Dealing With Horses Get It in Writing - Sign Up for May 16 FREE Webinar
- Horse Health Issues
- Horse Nutrition: The Basics
- How to Care for Your Horse in the Winter
- Old Habits Die Hard
- Horse Training
- Relive Southern Eighths/Nikon Three-Day on YouTube
- It's Hard to Get Back to Basics When You Haven't Been There To Start!
- Help Your Stiff Horse Bend
- Horses & History
- Equine Experts Send Us Your Best Tip - Win $750 Worth of KAM’s Healthy Horse Products and More
- The History of Overalls
- The Missing Equine Link: How the Modern Horse Came to Be
- Horses & Sports
- Ask Chelsie Natural Horsemanship - What Does It Mean To Disengage My Horse?
- In Defense of Horses in Sport
- ELITE DINING AND HOSPITALITY CLUB TO DEBUT AT 53rd WASHINGTON INTERNATIONAL HORSE SHOW
You’ve Got the Right Feed, Now What?: Proper Feeding Practices
05/26/2008
In a horse’s daily diet, quality forage, water, and a good salt or mineral block is all that is needed. If grain and other concentrates are included, then quantities should be carefully monitored, generally by weight.
In a horse’s daily diet, quality forage, water, and a good salt or mineral block is all that is needed. If grain and other concentrates are included, then quantities should be carefully monitored, generally by weight. When trying to decide whether or not concentrates are needed for your horse’s diet, a veterinarian can help tremendously.
Basic #1 – Forage
Your horse will need forage – regularly. Most nutritional experts recommend having it always available for your horse, but this does need to be monitored if it is causing overeating and obesity. If you have a mixture of hay with legumes, then generally a smaller amount should be provided. Some feeds, such as beet pulp, are not as easy, and can be less palatable than others. Thus soaking the feed in water is a recommended practice. This also reduces the risk of choking. Pelleted forms of forage are available, and are designed to be a “complete” nutritional source for your horse. However, a horse needs to graze – both for a good functioning digestive system and for its own natural instincts – so hay should still be provided in addition to pellets.
Basic #2 – Water
To avoid dehydration, horses should never be kept from water for longer than four hours in a day. The general rule of thumb is to have clean, fresh water available at all times for your horse. If a horse has a heavy workout, water should be limited. During the workout, a horse should be allowed to have water periodically. When done, a hot horse should be provided a little water every few minutes as it walks around to cool off – usually 30-90 minutes. After this cooling off process, it is safe to allow the horse to drink as much as it wants. When in hot weather or other situations where dehydration is a concern, it is important to encourage your horse to drink. Dehydration can lead to impacted colic, or even weight loss, as the horse may not feed as much if it cannot produce the necessary saliva.
Combining these two basics with a nice salt or mineral block will ensure a happy, healthy horse for many years to come!
