Is one of your New Year’s resolutions to not only take care of your health, but also your horse’s health? Managing your horse’s diet shouldn’t be overwhelming. We asked equine nutritionist Kristen Janicki, MS, PAS, to share some tips:
Feed by weight, not by volume. You’ve probably read this a million times in nutrition articles and the back of your bag of feed. But what exactly does that mean? Why is it important? And, by the way, every single horse person I’ve ever learned from and known feeds by coffee can, so how are all those people wrong? I also think it’s funny how horse people drink so much coffee that they started using empty coffee cans to scoop out horse feed. Does that mean we are all sleep deprived, living on caffeine and adrenaline? (That’s a topic for a whole other post.)
There’s a practical reason why nerds like me, an equine nutritionist, want to know the weight of what you are feeding. Nutrients on a hay analysis report or feed tag will be listed as a concentration (like milligrams of copper per kilogram or pound). So, without knowing the exact amount of hay or grain you are feeding per day, it’s impossible to calculate those nutrients and compare that to the nutritional requirements for your horse from a publication known as the Nutritional Requirements for Horses.
But there’s a more important reason: your horse’s health. Overfeeding calories can result in obesity, meaning your horse would be considered a body condition score greater than 6 out of 9. Obesity can put your horse or pony at risk for several health conditions and is a serious health concern. Not only is the extra weight putting more stress on joints, which is a big concern especially for those horses still actively used for riding, but did you know that obesity is one of the risk factors for laminitis, a debilitating condition affecting the laminae in the hoof that can cause severe lameness? Weighing the hay and grain gives you a better idea of where the excess calories are coming from to get the diet back to balance and the weight off of your horse.
Most feed companies have made it easier to balance your horse’s diets without doing any complex math by giving you feeding rates based on your horse’s weight and activity level. The most accurate way is to purchase a food scale for your barn and weigh the feed. Place that coffee can you are using on the scale, zero out the weight, add the feed to the top and VOILA! Easy peasy.
Another option is to get a pre-measured scoop like the Tough1 Feed Scoop with Measurements. This will give you a good estimate of how many pounds (or grams) you are feeding, whether it be a pellet, sweet feed or oats. Plus, it saves time versus weighing every horse’s feed out by scale-just scoop and go!
Let’s not forget about hay. I bet you know how many flakes per day you are currently feeding, but could you estimate that in pounds per day? Probably not because each flake is so different in size, shape and density. You have a couple of options when it comes to weighing hay, but I find the best way to tackle this task is with a luggage scale and hay net. A luggage scale can be purchased for around $10 and uses a hook or strap to attach your luggage to so you don’t cause a scene when your luggage weighs in over the limit at the airport because you packed 10 pairs of shoes. In this case, we are going to use the hay net to neatly package the flakes of hay you wish to weigh into a neat and tidy bundle and suspend the hay net from the luggage scale.
Consider this example: You own an overweight horse and realize that you are overfeeding hay and need to cut back the amount per feeding. What’s the best way to stretch your horse’s hay while cutting back the amount? A slow feed hay net! Not only will using a slow feed hay net allow you to extend your horse’s hay supply by extending the time it takes to eat, but they also reduce wasting of hay, too.
There are a couple of options, depending on your preference and management needs--Tough1 Super Slow Feed Hay Net, Tough1 No Knot Slow Feed Net - 1 1/2" and Tough1 No Knot Slow Feed Net - 2 1/2" are all great picks. The main difference is the size of the openings to pull the hay through.
If you haven’t used a hay net before with your horse, I recommend starting with the largest hole size. Romeo, my 25-year-old retired Paint horse, is really keen on pulling out all of the hay from the hay net before eating it if I use a hay net with large holes, so the smaller hole styles are key to keeping him busy for longer and wasting less hay by using it for decoration around his stall.
Have a horse on pasture turnout? Pasture can contribute a significant amount of calories to a horse’s diet, which is an especially important consideration for overweight horses. How many calories, you ask? Good question. It’s difficult to estimate how much grass a horse can eat while out on pasture. Scientists have a good idea how to estimate based on species of grasses, grass height, number of horses grazing, time out on pasture, among other factors. If your horse is at an ideal weight or not at risk for any metabolic syndromes, consuming grass in the pasture isn’t going to be an issue. But, for overweight horses, you will want to manage the number of calories your horse is consuming from the pasture grass.
You have two options to help you out: completely take your horse off grass and turnout on a dry lot with access to hay (that you can weigh out ahead of time with your luggage scale). Or, turn your horse out with a grazing muzzle like the Tough1 Poly/Nylon Grazing Muzzle with Halter. Grazing muzzles are great because your horse can still be turned out on pasture and graze, but their consumption rate is slowed down, thus lowering the calorie intake.
Remember, you don’t have to tackle your horse’s diet changes by yourself. Talk with your veterinarian or find an equine nutritionist (like me) that can help you evaluate your grass, hay and grain and come up with a plan to get your horse’s nutrition back on track.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Kristen Janicki, MS, PAS Over 20 years experience in the livestock, pet and equine industry; proud Equine Nutritionist, the hard way; Bachelor's degree and Master's degree in Animal Science/Equine Nutrition; passionate about helping pets and horses live long, happy and healthy lives through nutrition; social calendar dictated by 2 Golden Retrievers (Rey and Chewie), 2 orange tabby cats (Peanut and Little P), and her 25 year old retired Paint horse Romeo.
