Table of Contents
What should you feed a horse in light work?
Most horses doing light or medium work, like hacking and schooling, just need good pasture or hay, made up of a variety of different grasses. Only horses in really hard and fast work, breeding stock or very underweight horses will need high energy concentrate feeds.
What percentage of a horse’s diet should be forage?
The horse should always be fed a minimum of 1 percent of its body weight in forage (on a dry matter basis); the ideal is 1.5 to 2 percent of its body weight. Feeding less roughage than this can lead to health issues such as colic and ulcers.
Is orchard grass good for horses with laminitis?
Often, laminitis relates to nutrition and diet. Rapid intake of nonstructural carbohydrates (or sugar) stored in pasture plants can cause laminitis. Cool season grasses like orchardgrass, bromegrass, and timothy tend to store more carbohydrates.
What do you feed a thoroughbred light work?
A typical Thoroughbred, weighing 500kg (1100lbs), at rest or in light work will need 2.5kg (5lbs) of concentrate per day alongside a minimum of 7.5kg (16.5lbs) of forage.
What is the best forage for horses?
Legume Hay for Horses Alfalfa, white clover, red clover and birdsfoot trefoil are common types of legumes, with alfalfa being the most popular choice. Benefits: Legumes are higher in protein and calcium than grass hay, and may also provide more energy and a higher level of total digestible nutrients, such as vitamin A.
How much forage does a horse need a day?
Healthy mature horses should consume between 1.5 and 2% of their body weight per day in forage (hay, haylage, hay cubes), pasture, or a combination thereof.
What type of hay has the lowest sugar content?
Low sugar hay is extremely important in a horse’s diet due to its health properties and the enormous benefits it can offer. While lucerne usually has lower sugar than a lot of grass hays, it more often than not tests HIGHER in sugar, starch & protein compared to our Low Sugar Hay.
Is clover good for horses?
Clover can be a good feed source for most horses because it provides useful energy and adequate protein and fiber. You can use clover in hay or pastures. Clovers can sometimes mold, which causes slobbers, photosensitivity (reactive to light) and bleeding.
How many hours a day should a horse be turned out?
How long should a horse be turned out? This depends on his individual needs and the condition of the turnout area. If the horse has no injury to rehabilitate, most do well with longer turnout, even 24 hours a day.
What time of day is the sugar content highest in grass?
afternoon
Sugar content of grasses is higher in the afternoon than in the morning and sugar content is lowest at night, so grazing should be restricted to the safest times of the day to graze, early morning and night times.
Learn about forage types and how to select the right one for your horse’s pasture. Healthy pastures filled with dense, nutritive grasses can be excellent forage sources for horses. In fact, some horses can meet all their nutrient needs on good-quality pasture alone.
What should I Feed my horse for light work?
Good do-ers in light work may simply require a ration that’s similar to those at maintenance. For those that don’t hold their weight quite as easily, opt for feeds that supply around 8-10MJ/kg digestible energy (DE) such as Hi-Fi Molasses Free, Healthy Hooves Molasses Fre e or Alfa-A Lite.
What is a low energy feed for horses?
Low energy feeds are also used to help good doers maintain a healthy weight, without depriving them of essential vitamins and minerals. For the excitable horse, lower energy feeds can also provide a well-balanced diet without adding too much fizz.
What is the best horse feed for hard work?
Therefore for horses in hard work choose a high fibre feed with a high oil content, such as Alfa-A Oil or Performance fibre.