proper nutrition for horses

here we go!

first thing first. you must identify how much your horse weighs in order to know what his nutritional needs are. second, you need to identify his work load. my guess is that most everyone here has a horse in a light to no work load. preggo mares and growing foals will require additional protein and energy.

let's start feeding!!
forage is the MOST important aspect of your horse's diet. grazing on forage is what the horse was designed to do. if a horse does not have adequate forage in their diet, they will be more prone to digestive upset. with this said, a horse should consume no less than 1% of their weight in forage daily. given their way, horses will consume up to 2-2.5% of their body weight daily. keep in mind that forage includes both hay and pasture. the ideal diet for a horse is as much hay/pasture they will clean up. any additional nutrition can be supplemented with grain concentrates.

three types of hay:
grass hay (bermuda, fescue, timothy, orchardgrass, etc). the type you feed will be directly correlated to what grows best in your area.

legume hay (alfalfa, clover, rhizoma peanut, etc)

legume/grass mix

the quality of hay can make a big difference in its nutritional content. the more mature a forage plant becomes, the lower in crude protein, energy, vitamins and minerals. it is near impossible to have a consistent quality hay year-round. this goes the same for fresh pasture. when selecting hay, cut open a bale and take a look inside. it should be clear of debris and weeds. it should also have a fresh smell. musty and dusty hay indicates that it was baled too late and is of poor quality. good hay should be leafy and fairly soft to the touch. excessive stems indicate that the hay was either too dry when baled or is of very late maturity. if you are growing your own hay (or want to have your pastures tested), I highly suggest you contact your local agricultural extention agent for testing.


http://www.nap.edu/catalog/1213.html is the link to the National Research Council's online guide for horse nutrition. this is the reference guide that I am using.

http://www.ext.vt.edu/pubs/horse/406-473/406-473.html#L4B is an excellent site for you to look up your particular horse's nutritional needs. it also contains a walk-through of what i am doing if you want to jump ahead.

let's go ahead and figure out what your horse is getting. once we've got that squared away, we'll go on to feeding supplements. I am going to post my calculations for DevilDog's two mares, Allie and Lady, as well as for Thumper.