A Quick Guide To A Happier, Healthier Horse On A Budget

                 Having owned quite a few horses in my life, in a few different countries, I had to learn about feeding my horse appropriate amounts and keeping him in good condition with the feed available. During my stay in Ireland with my Cob gelding Bob, I was in University and rode horses for a Hunt and Show jump yard to earn money. To afford feed for Bob, I would live on noodles for weeks on end. Getting fed up with noodles, I threw myself into research to get better value for money. Although I was feeling utterly selfish, I found a way to keep him looking like a (obese) star without having to cut back on myself. This feeding regime works on any horse, no matter if you have a fat draft horse cross or anorexic thoroughbred. Every horse is different so this is a general guide to portions fed, experiment a little bit to find the perfect amount for your horse. It is also important to ensure that your horse doesn't suffer from a worm burden, bad teeth and/or pain. There's many outside factors that could prevent your horse from looking glossy and round.

                First things first, feral horses don't have the selection of high energy controlled grass available to them as our tame and pampered inmates. Most high calibre sport- and leisure horses in Europe and North America don't even eat much grass as their stabled most of the day. Turning your horse out on dairy pasture is like leaving your kid in charge of a candy store! Please don't stop reading, I know it's frustrating! I got on the phone and started talking to people. What my research produced is that most grasses will make horses fizzy and unpredictable. Mycotoxins, ryegrass, clover... oh no! Although there is so much delicious green grass in summer, I figured pretty quickly that I was the proud owner of a horse and not a dairy cow. I had to limit grazing time! Only setback: my wallet was empty! Now, I have could just turned my horse out and say that he's always been an obese loony in summer and a skinny sweetheart in winter, but is that really what I wanted? If you find yourself in the situation of having to pretend that the weird bunny hops and squeals your horse does, were planned, like I did, you will be on the right track with this!

                So, time for a change of diet. Bob (who is now teaching my Dad to hunt, oh dear!) weighs approximately 650kgs and stands at 15.2hh, was forced onto a strict hay diet. He would be allowed a few hours of grass every day, preferably old hard growth that looked yuck to me as it wasn't nice and green and fluffy, to keep him using his back and teeth for cropping like a proper horse should. It also keeps them sane and entertained while you earn money for their upkeep. At one point, I kept him in the same paddock all year around and sort of strip grazed him. Jenny Patterson, a New Zealand woman, says that making a track all around your paddock and letting the horses eat in the middle square for a few hours a day is the ideal system, but then again, each to their own.

What exactly will save you money, you ask? Well, here is how the feeding program works:

• 1) Feed hay! Bob would eat 1/3 of a bale a day
• 2) Feed a slice of Lucerne hay daily
• 3) Hard feed twice a day if you can, once if you can't manage to come out twice
• 4) Hard feed should be enough to make the horse eat his minerals and oil
• 5) Yes, OIL!!! It is pure fat, 1 cup oil = 1 cup of fat
• 6) Buy a few litres of Canola Oil (i.e. if you're a New Zealander, Countdown sells 2litres for $6,78)
• 7) Use minerals.
• 8) Generally, which will save you even more money, you can swap the hard feed and easy beet for bran and copra. Please make sure you feed the appropriate amount though.

So, how to combine: Bob would get a 2litre Ice Cream container full of Chaff, 1litre Ice Cream Container full of hard feed (like Mitavite Economix) and 2litre Ice Cream container full of Easy Beet (reduced sugar), his allocated minerals and between 1-2cups of Canola Oil. My Thoroughbred, who was underweight when I purchased him, would get the same amount as above, but 3-4cups of Oil. My Arab cross gets all the above and 1 cup of Oil. The miniature gets none of the above but hay.

All of them are fat and I'm too because I don't have to live on noodles anymore!

Now I know you will say that hay will cost you more than grass. Obviously it will cost you, but you don't have to spend money on things like mycotoxin binders and horse calming additives. If performance is important to you, it might be worth it. Some horses have evolved to better tolerate rye grass but evolution takes thousands of years and frankly, I don't have thaaaat much time. So go to your local feed shop and supermarket, find out prices and calculate how much money you used to spent and how much money you will spent! If you failed mathematics in school like I did, find your nearest Mathematician and have them do the work. Paying him will probably make up for the money you saved...? If you keep feeding your horse the same all year around, it'll save you money in the long run as you don't have to start pouring feed into him for the upcoming season or worry about his weight when turning him out for winter.

Laminitis is another issue that is connected to horses on high energy pastures. It's mainly caused by excessive sugar intake and stress. A condition where the enzymes within the hoof wall in the laminae (imagine it like a Velcro holding the hoof horn attached to the coffin bone) will separate the hoof horn from the underlying bone and tissue. This will cause coffin bone rotation and therefore pain. So if you feed less grass and sugar, the chances of your horse developing laminitis will be greatly reduced! Yay for hay!

If anyone is interested to follow up on this, Jenny Patterson is a great source in New Zealand (and elsewhere!), Ruth Bishop's "Horse Nutrition Bible" will give you some insight and Pat Coleby's "Natural Horse Care" makes for good reading material.

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