Feeding Your Horse What You Need To Know

There is an old cliché that goes: "Show me your horse, and I'll tell you what type of person you are." However should your horse be skinny that would reflect very badly on you.  

We took a look at the feeding of horses, the psychology behind feeding and the psychosocial effects that feed has on a horse, as well as how the digestive system works. Then threw it all in a mixer to come up with the ultimate guide to feeding or feeding up your horse. 

But first some background

Many people consider, or think, that a skinny horse is the result of negligence. This is not always so. Bad horse or stable management more often than not are the root causes.

Why do we talk about a skinny horse? Because most people only realise the importance of feeding once their horse starts loosing weight. 

A skinny horse, or a horse that is loosing weight is warning you that something is not right, that somewhere something has gone wrong and continues to go wrong.

There are many reasons why a perfectly healthy horse could become skinny in a matter of a few weeks.

These reasons include:

• insufficient nutrition;
• medical or physiological conditions;
• stress or psychological reasons; and
• before attempting to feed up your horse, you would need to know the reason behind its loss of condition.

Insufficient nutrition includes:

• mot enough food;
• the wrong food;
• the wrong type of food; and
• no set feeding times or routine.

Medical or physiological, it is a proven fact that nothing throws weight off a horse faster than pain. A horse suffering from a painful condition will appear to loose weight overnight. This is because pain is either caused by an infection (the horse will have a temperature), which the body is fighting off using all resources available to it, or the pain is of such a nature the horse does not or cannot consume enough food or alternatively digest the food properly. Theses are often confirmed by a vet or dentist and corrected.

Medical or physiological reasons include:

• recovery from injury, conditions and illnesses;
• worm infestations;
• stomach ulcers;
• tooth ulcers; and
• sharp ridges on the teeth.

Very few realise the psychosocial impact feeding and food has on a horse. Food can have a big impact on a horse's outlook and behaviour.  

We investigated this a little further. 

When we think of springtime with our horses (those who are turned out into pastures daily) they appear joyful, playful and well broody. This lasts through summer till about mid-autumn, when the horses become more brooding and prone to arguing and fighting, and they become progressively worse in winter.  

Seasonal? Not really, horses can be joyfully happy all year round if they did not have one main concern - food. 

Food, or the abundance thereof in spring and summer allows for horses to concern themselves less with finding food, and more with enjoying their time by playing and breeding. From about mid-autumn food is less plentiful, resulting in the horses becoming less playful and more brooding. In winter there is the dread of going without any food so all food must be protected, causing them to fight.

Horses do not know of hay stockpiles and bagged food. Oh they know what they look like! But they do not understand the concept behind storing hay and concentrates. Therefore, to them hunger and starvation is a real threat even with being stabled and having food brought to them. 

Let's look at spring again. To start off the horses eat and eat and eat until they almost pop, then they slow down. (Remember this it is important) once this stage has been reached life is good.

Now let's look at winter. There is little food and lots of horses that want to eat it so they eat fast and fight the others off so they can have it all. The further the winter progresses and the more likely they are to lose weight, the more desperate they become to eat more and faster, until blissful spring arrives with its grass again.

Do you still think food does not change or control a horse's mood?  

So what is wrong with horse management today?

Many horses today are kept in large numbers on properties often too small for the amount of horses. Most of these horses are fed out of bale and bag, and with the rising cost in feed many yards have limitations on how much food your horse will receive. When taking all this into consideration and the fact there may be little or no grazing available, the horse's system will feel like it's in a continual winter state. It is no wonder some horses have the issues they have, and only want to eat (like they're starving) when they actually see grass.  

Knowing all this, how could you use it to put weight on your horse?

Finding the root of the cause as mentioned would be the starting point. Remember putting weight on a horse is a long time project. There is no quick way to put weight on a horse. Many will claim they have a quick solution, however when the next stressful situation comes along the weight will go, leaving you to start over again. 

When feeding a horse: Getting it fat is expensive, keeping it fat is cheap. This is because a healthy horse does not need much to maintain itself, it only needs what it burns up whilst working. Where a skinny horse has to survive and provide for the energy to do its work.  

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