Horse Feeding Management
By March 31, 2005
Welcome to Kent University study on basic horse feeding management. In this section we will explain the important concepts on practical feeding management of horses – the nuts and bolts of feeding your horse.
As we stated in the basic horse nutrition section, the horse’s digestive system is classified as a non-ruminant herbivore. As a non-ruminant, the horse does not have a multi-compartmental stomach similar to cattle, but has a simple stomach that works similar to a human’s. Herbivore means that horses can live on a diet of plant material and it is best for the horse to be fed a minimum amount of roughage in the form a pasture or forage.
From a practical standpoint, the important components of a horse’s ration consist of water, roughage which includes hay and/or pasture, grain concentrate product, and mineral supplementation. We will cover each of these areas and provide direction on feeding.
Horses require continuous access to fresh, clean, cool water. It is essential that horse owners have sufficient horse watering equipment especially when water requirement increases. Exercise and work cause the horse to the sweat which increases the horse’s need for water. Hot weather, of course, increases the amount of water a horse will drink. Ice cold water will reduce water intake, so its important to slightly warm the water so the horse will drink.
Because of the horse’s small stomach size, it will drink fairly small amounts at a time. Typical water intake of a horse is 10 to 12 gallons daily.
As a horse owner one of the most difficult determinations is how much should the horse be fed. If the horse is over fed grain, it is expensive, the horse gets to fat, and health problems can result. If the horse is not fed enough feed, the horse gets thin, does not perform in the show ring, and/or health problems result. It is best for the horse owner to seek expertise if he or she is unsure of the proper feeding program.
To determine the proper feeding program, following are the general concepts that are followed. Horses require differing amounts of nutrients in their ration depending on their life stage class – mature, gestation, lactating, working, or growing. Each of these classes have different requirements for energy, protein and minerals. The requirements for nutrients are also based on the body weight size of the horse. With increasing body weight size, the nutrient amounts per day increase.
All horses require a forage in their diet. The forage could be hay, pasture or both. The grain (concentrate) product and mineral product are fed to provide energy, protein, minerals and vitamins. With the help of nutritional scientific research, most nutrient recommendations have been established, however, horses are individuals and may respond differently from the norm. Feeding horses is partly art – the horse owner needs to adjust feeding levels based on the horse’s determined needs.
This provides intake guidelines for feeding horses. Mature horses can generally consume 2 to 2.5% of their body weight daily. For example an 1,100lb horse will consume 22 to 27.5 lb of air dry feedstuffs per day.
As stated earlier, the feeding amounts of grain concentrate and forage is based on the life stage class of the horse. This indicates general feeding guidelines a for horse. A mature horse being maintained and doing very little work is generally fed air dry forage at 1.5-2.0% of its body weight daily while the amount of concentrate fed is 0 to 0.5% of its body weight. Horses should be fed only quality roughages. Generally, a horse requires a minimum of .75% to 1.0% of the horses body weight daily. Horses grazing abundant good-quality pasture can consume enough forage from the pasture. Horses housed in dry-lot or stall should be fed long stem hay. Horse owners have preferences on whether the hay should be a quality alfalfa hay (high protein and calcium) or a quality grass hay (medium protein concentration). Horses not fed enough hay may develop behavioral problems and have loose stools.
Not all horse owners will free-choice hay. When hay is abundant, typically hay is then free-choice fed. In situations where hay is costly and limited in supply, horses will be limit fed hay. Feeding rates were provided on a percent of the body weight. In this example, we have provide the actual feeding amount daily of a 1,000lb horse in a life stage class of mature, late gestation, lactation, and working. A lactating mare requires a significant amount of grain in its ration compare to a mature horse performing little work.
Because hay is an important component of the horse ration, selecting quality is essential. Horse owners should purchase hay with a high leaf to stem ratio. Stemmy hay has little nutritional value. The hay should have a fresh smell and appearance, and not have a moldy or musty odor. The hay should be free of weeds, dirt and trash, all lower than the nutritional value of the hay. A green color is an indicator that the hay is fresh, and of good quality.
Now lets follow through an example of how to balance a ration for an 1,100lb horse performing a moderate amount of work. According to the National Research Council’s nutrient requirements for horses, this horse requires 24,600 Kcal of digestible energy daily. This horse is being fed 12 lb of hay per day which provides 10,000 Kcal of digestible energy to the horse. The grain concentrate will provide the balance of the energy requirement (14,600 Kcal).
In this situation oats or Kent Feeds Dynasty® 14 can provide the 14,600 Kcal per day requirement. At 1300 Kcal/lb, it will require 11.2 lb of oats per day to this energy requirement. Because Dynasty® 14 is a more energy dense product, less of the product is required to be fed daily (9.9 lb) to meet the necessary energy need of 14,600 Kcal.
In the previous example, oats and Dynasty® 14 were the grain products used. There are other grains or grain products used as energy sources in horse rations. Besides oats and Dynasty® 14, a pelleted grain product, corn and barley can be used. For many years, sweet feeds have been a favorite grain concentrate of many horse owners. Sweet feeds are a mixture of oats, corn, and pellets coated with a liquid molasses product. With the sweet molasses product coating, the product is very palatable. Pellet complete grain products are gaining popularity as the product of choice for horse owners. Pelleted products can be handled in bulk, are not as prone to molding as sweet feeds, and can be formulated to contain all required nutrients. Fairly new to the market place are extruded grain products. Extruding horse products improves the digestibility of the starch and slows the eating rate of the product.
Typically, a forage-only diet or a forage and oat diet will provide insufficient minerals and vitamins for the horse. Therefore, horses should be fed a mineral product that provides supplemental calcium, phosphorus, trace minerals, salt, and vitamins. Generally, it is recommended to free choice a mineral product and salt when feeding only grains (corn and oats) as the energy source. Also, provide supplementation when feeding less that 5 lb daily of a commercial grain product.
The present trend for providing additional energy to working horses, lactating horses, growing horses, and horse in poor condition is to feed a product ranging from 6 to 20% fat. The preference of horse industry is to use a vegetable oil typically either corn or soy oil as the fat source. These oils provide concentrate energy, some 2.25 times more energy per unit than starch from corn and oats. Some commercial feed products are low in starch, which indicates little or no corn and oats in the product; high fiber from roughage ingredients and significant amount of vegetable oil added. Including a high level of vegetable oil in a horse diet can improve its hair coat shininess.
Experts recommend some general feeding management rules of thumb for feeding horses. Many horse owners feed their horses by volume using a container to measure out the volume of feed. This can be dangerous because feed density can change when feeding by volume, the amount by weight changes. It is best to measure the feed by weight – may not be necessary on a daily basis, but recommended when changing feed batches. It is recommended never to feed more than 5 or 6 lb of concentrate (grain) per feeding. If feeding more than 5 or 6 lb of grain/day, space the feedings throughout the day. Feed daily at set feeding times. Avoid abrupt ration changes. If you are going to alter the ration, gradually change it over 7 to 10 days.
Important concepts to remember from this section include the horse as a non-ruminant herbivore. It has a digestive system that requires forage (hay or pasture) in the diet. Horses generally require a minimum of 0.75% to 1.0% of their body weight in hay (roughage) per day. It is essential that horses have continuous access to water. Horses require minerals particularly calcium and phosphorus in the proper balance in their diet. Also, access to salt is essential either in the grain concentrate product or free-choice.
The amount of energy required per day is dependent on the horses life stage, weight and the amount of work the horse is performing. Horses expending energy performing work, lactating, growing, or in poor condition should be fed a grain concentrate to provide energy. The amount of grain required per day varies according to several factors. Because of the design of the horse’s digestive system, it is recommended not to feed more than 5 or 6 lb of a grain concentrate per feeding. The energy concentration in a commercial grain concentrate can by increased by adding vegetable oil to the product.