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The Horse |
Equine Nutrition | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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The Equine Herbivore The horse is a herbivore, and when living in a natural environment would spend up to 20 hours grazing, slowly moving from place to place searching out grasses and herbs. The horse's stomach is relatively small due to this pattern of eating small amounts very frequently. Food spends only 10-15 minutes in the horse's stomach. It takes about 48 hours for food to pass through the horse's entire digestive system while ruminants (cattle etc) take up to 90 hours to digest their food. So while the horse only extracts about 70% of the energy and nutrients from the same amount of food, he can eat more in the same amount of time to make up the difference and does not need to 'rest' to chew its cud like a cow. The horse is therefore better able to take advantage of and more suited to, less lush pasture. A good mixed grass pasture grown on well fertilised soil under favourable climatic conditions should meet all the nutritional requirements of most horses. However, even horses kept at pasture will often require supplemental feeding due to the restrictions in physical area imposed. Modern pastures can be of reduced nutritional value and pose greater risk of parasites, due to the intensiveness of the grazing. Alternately, due to the horse's ability to make the best of poorer grasses they can suffer from problems such as laminitis if given free access to rich pastures designed for dairy cattle. Foals rarely watch their mothers eat but are able to determine between good and bad plants from the age of six weeks. This is possibly from the smell and taste of their mothers dung which they eat in small amounts. Horses like any animals will eat bad and poisonous plants if that is their only choice. Chewing: Horses grazing pasture complete up to 60,000 jaw sweeps each day. About 1000 jaw sweeps are required to chew one kilogram of grain and up to 3000-3500 for each kilogram of hay prior to swallowing. Ponies chew even more thoroughly than horses, chewing up to 8000 times for each kilogram of hard feed. |
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| On this Page | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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The Elements of Nutrition water energy protein roughage - Hay minerals vitamins Commercial mixed Feeds |
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Toxic Plants Laminitis Dental Care
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There are five
basic components to a horses nutrition.
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| Water | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Water is
contained in all feeds, in various levels and is required for the
digestion of fibre (cellulose from plants) in feed, as well as for the
essential operation of all microscopic body cells. Horses should
have access to large quantities of fresh water at all times up to 2545
litres daily may be needed in hot weather. Some care is required
to restrict water immediately prior to and after strenuous exercise. The following factors increase water requirements:
Dehydration occurs with water loss of 2% or more, of body weight. To test for dehydration, pinch a fold of skin on the neck and check how quickly it springs back into place. If it does not return to normal within two seconds, the horse requires water. Most animals can correct their own deficiencies if provided free access to water. Dehydration will severely limit your horse's ability to recover from any other illness or injury, your vet may need to provide intravenous fluids to an animal which is not willing to drink while ill.
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| Feeding | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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As a rough guide - for a horse in light work (up to 6 hours
per week) feed approx. - 30% concentrates to 70% roughage Approx requirements of feed for a horse not at pasture.
Example: On average a horse requires between 2-2.5% of its bodyweight in food, so a large horse of 16.2hh @570kg will require around 11.5 - 14.5kg of hay\pasture per day (or its nutritional equivalent) Important Note! Never feed on
volume, always on the weight of the feed Energy values for feeds are measured in Megacalories per Kilogram (MCal/kg). Energy requirements for the horse are measured in Megacalories of Digestible Energy (MCal/DE) of bodyweight. Energy Requirements vary from individual to individual. The factors that will affect this are:
Energy is supplied by carbohydrates, fats and cellulose. Refer to our feed tables page for a comparison chart of energy sources Grains such as oats, barley and maize are good sources of energy, however when feeding grains it is important to measure the energy value by weight. Barley is considerably denser than Oats and also contains more energy and would therefore cause considerable problems if substituted on a volume basis. Fats may be considered for additional energy requirements when the horse is working for long periods of consistent exercise such as eventing or endurance. Short, highly intensive periods of activity, such as show jumping or racing, do not tend to use fats for energy, which is metabolised after approx 10-20 minutes of continuous aerobic activity. Feeding Oil (Fat) to Horses Feeding oil as a supplement to horses has recently received a lot of support from research into both performance nutrition and nutrition\genetic problems such as EPSM. Oils are readily digested by horses and well utilised. In addition the large number of calories provided by oil for a relatively small amount of bulk and 'no' chewing makes addition of oil to the diet an easy choice for high performance athletes and older horses. Oils have several roles in the body:
However, like any other feed, oils are not all alike and there are
considerations to be made when feeding oil. Omega oils are in the
news a lot for humans and the omega content for horses is just as
important. Not all oils contain the correct proportions of Omega
3,6,9. |
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| Protein | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Protein is shown
as a % of the feed, usually as % Crude Protein (CP). However, there
are variances in digestibility in the various sources of protein, for
instance, leather and wool both contain protein but are not particularly
digestible. You should also be aware that too much protein in the
diet can cause problems such as excess urination and swellings on the
body. Protein is used for growth and replacement tissue and is therefore required by all horses. Although young growing animals will require most, do not forget that working horses also need to repair damaged and working muscles or grow new muscle (i.e. dressage horses) and their requirements must be carefully estimated. There are 10 essential amino acids. These are known as 'essential' because they must be obtained through feed, whereas other amino acids may be manufactured by the horse from other components. Not all feeds which contain protein will contain all of the essential amino acids, choose feeds which contain high levels of a wide variety of aminos as these are the highest quality proteins. The 10 essential amino acids are: |
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| arginine | isoleucine | lysine | phenylalanin | tryptophan | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| histidine | leucine | methionine | threonine | valine | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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The protein in pasture contains all 10 essential amino acids required for optimal performance and growth. Common Protein Sources for Horses: Linseed Meal,
Lucerne, Sunflower Meal, Milk Powder, Soybean Meal
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| Roughage - Hay and Chaff | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| The most common
forms of roughage - grass, hay and chaff - not only provide nutrients but
also the essential fibre and bulk to aid digestion and keep the digestive
tract moving.
Hay is available in many varieties including; meadow, lucerne and specific grasses such as Timothy, clover etc. Good quality hay is characterised by - a high proportion of leaf to stem, absence of weeds, dust and mould, greenish colour and pleasant smell Hay is also described as biscuits, slices or flakes depending on where you live. A biscuit is a portion of hay from a square bale1 where the bale naturally falls apart when the twine is released. Each bale weighs approx. 25kg and contains 10 biscuits. However it is important to recognise that these are only guesstimates, the grass type, the skill of the baler and the water content of the bale will make a big difference to these figures. If you need to be accurate weigh your hay! 1rectangular actually but the description "small square bales" is given to the traditional bale size as opposed to the giant round bales now available for large farms Lucerne Hay has both a higher energy and higher protein content than pasture hay, it also contains approx. 3-4 times the amount of calcium and 5 times as much beta carotene (which assists production of Vitamin A). There can be a problem with the ratio of phosphorus to calcium which may range between 1:4 and 1:6. (a young horse requires a maximum 1:3 ratio) Red Clover Hay is very similar to lurcerne hay in nutrition. Like Lucerne it is very important to find red clover hay which is well dried without being too dusty. Red clover hay can produce problems with slobbering and red colouration of urine if feed to often and\or if the quality is not good. Haylage is semi-processed hay having semi-fermented and bagged. Bagging stops the fermenting process from continuing it will continue to ferment once opened again. Silage is grass which is cut, wilted and then allowed to ferment (you can see silage on farms as large black polythene covered mounds with tyres on top)- it is usually a cattle food but some feed to horses. Chaffhage is haylage (usually lucerne hay) which is chopped and lightly molassed before being vacuum sealed. Chaff is chopped hay, which is often used to mixed with a grain or pellet ration to provide additional roughage and slow down feeding. Commonly both Oaten and Lucerne chaff are available. |
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| Minerals | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Essential for the
construction and maintenance of the body, minerals are involved in such
specialist functions as enzyme and hormone production and bone
maintenance. We are often guilty of associating a single mineral with a
single function, however it is usually an interaction of several. For
instance; Skeletal structure is associated with Calcium but also requires
Phosphorus, Manganese, Zinc and Fluorine
The major
minerals for equine health are: Calcium, Phosphorus, Manganese, Potassium,
Copper, Iodine, Selenium, Salt, Iron, Zinc, Magnesium, Cobalt, Fluorine,
Sulphur What are Electrolytes? Electrolyte is a "medical/scientific" term for salts, specifically ions. Electrolytes are important because they are what your cells (especially nerve, heart, muscle) use to maintain voltages across their cell membranes and to carry electrical impulses (nerve impulses, muscle contractions) across themselves and to other cells. Electrolytes, particularly sodium and potassiumare lost via sweat. The major electrolytes are as follows: sodium (Na+) potassium (K+) chloride (Cl-) calcium (Ca2+) magnesium (Mg2+) bicarbonate (HCO3-) phosphate (PO42-) sulfate (SO42-) Special Considerations: New Zealand soils are frequently low in Selenium and sometimes Manganese and Copper. Selenium acts with Vitamin E in the maintenance of body tissue and development of the immune system. Caution should be used when supplementing Selenium however, since both low and high doses will cause serious side-effects and the acceptable range is quite narrow. Calcium/Phosphorous Deficiencies and imbalance - Most concentrated feeds are based on grains which are naturally low in calcium and high in phosphorous, although both are required for good bone development and young horses require a Calcium to Phosphorous ratio of less than 3:1. Ideal is 1:1> 2:1 mature horses over 4 years may find ratios up to 6:1 acceptable, as their bone development has completed. Some grasses contain oxalates which can have a calcium leaching effect. Common in New Zealand and Australia Kikuyu grass is amongst the offenders and horses on a pasture high in Kikuyu or other high oxalate grasses should be supplemented with rock phosphate mixed with molasses (for palatability) or a combination of 1/3 ground limestone and 2/3 dicalcium phosphate (DCP) mixed with molasses. Salt - requirements vary with work, temperature and humidity.
*tables from Mitavite website
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| Vitamins | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Horses are able
to produce their own vitamin B, K and C and therefore only require A, D
and E from dietary sources. Horses fed good quality feeds and with
access to pasture should not require supplements, moreover overdoses of
the vitamins A, D, E and K (which are stored in fat and not excreted) can
be harmful.
If you think that the existence of commercially prepared feeds is going to make your life easier - think again. The choice of brands, mixes and supplements are daunting in most feed stores and you will receive as many different recommendations as there are people to ask. However, don't be overwhelmed, clearly think about your requirements - it should be commonsense not to purchase feed designed for top level eventers for your weekend ride pony - but it is sometimes tempting to buy 'quality' feeds for your horse in medium work. Don't be tempted as overfeeding your horse can be dangerous - colic or laminitis - and make your life a misery- with an uncontrollable horse. The vast majority of your horse's needs should come from grass or hay, feed merchants also sell a variety of chaffs and chaffhages which may be fed on their own or used to mix with other feeds to slow your horse's eating and digestion rates down. Commercial mixed feeds come in several formats; muesli, pellets, combinations It is often our preferences and prejudices have more influence on our decision than real differences for our horses - muesli mixes look more appealing - to us. Try not to be influenced by that too much. Molasses is high in calcium. Many concentrates include molasses for this reason, it also makes feeds highly palatable to horses, contains highly digestible sugars as an energy source (a mixed blessing), is a laxative and has levels of B group vitamins which help maintain coat condition. Things to remember with commercial feed mixes:
*table from Mitavite website Links to Feed Manufacturers websites Both of these feed manufacturers give details of their products online and provide a 'feed chooser' to help you select the right product for your horse's requirements.
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