Your Pets Choice

Feeding The Boarded Horse

Filed Under Pets | Posted on February 26, 2008

Feeding the boarded horse is slightly different than feeding the horse that lives on pasture. The boarded horse may spend more amount of time in a stall and therefore requires a different feeding regime. The boarded horse does not usually have an ample supply of roughage and it is your job to provide him with as much as he needs. The boarded horse may also eat grain but not always have a place to release any energy acquired from it. This makes it important that you feed him only what he requires and not what he desires.

The horse’s exercise regimen should be considered when developing a feeding strategy. Age, gender and size all play key roles in deciding how much the horse should be fed. A four or five year old horse that is ridden for an hour a day will do well if he is kept on a maintenance diet. He is not working extremely hard and would be considered lightly worked. It does not matter if the horse is a gelding, mare or stallion. The horse should receive approximately one percent of his weight in hay per day and will work well on a ten percent protein feed ration. If the horse is a pregnant mare, however, her feed intake will need to be increased throughout the year so that she will have enough energy to sustain her pregnancy. She may also need to be fed a higher protein ration later in her pregnancy.

Horses that are used for a sport such as jumping, roping or cutting will have different feed requirements from the lightly worked horse. The horse will need about one percent of his body weight in hay, however, he should be fed a higher protein ration. He may also require a larger amount of feed depending on how well he gains weight and keeps his weight. A general rule of thumb is that if the horse requires more energy then you should gradually increase the amount of feed he intakes. High performance horses will also do well on fat-added diets as their bodies will use the excess fat in performance situations and it will help sustain their glucose levels. This holds true for heavily worked cutting horses, roping horses, racehorses and cross-country eventers. These horses are doing an extreme amount of physical work.

The nutrition requirements for feeding horses is generally that a mature adult horse requires eight percent protein for daily maintenance. If the horse is on a very good grass hay or alfalfa hay, he will not need supplementation from grain. This horse is lightly worked and more of a weekend rider. Younger horses require ten to twelve percent daily protein depending whether or not they are being rapidly grown or not. A horse that is being rapidly grown must receive a constant supply of energy. Switching a rapidly growing horse to a diet for a horse that is not being rapidly grown will result in devastating health effects. Owners can buy a well balanced sweet feed from the feed store with a good alfalfa hay and will meet their horse’s feed requirements. If the horse begins losing weight, gradualy increase his feed until he appears to be gaining weight again.

A classic feed ration for horses is oats and grass hay. As this is hard to mess up and your horse should not founder on this feeding regime, it is actually not the healthiest regime for a horse. There is a calcium to phosphate ration figured into all feed rations. This ration should be 2:1. The ratio in oats and grass hay actually has an upside down ratio of 1:2. While this may not cause noticeable effects in a horse now, it my cause him to lose calcium as he ages due to the phosphate tying up the calcium in the bones. This may cause the horse to be more susceptible to broken bones. Another common scenario found is people who feed their horse a mix of both oats and sweet feed. There is a common misconception that sweet feed causes horses to be hyper, when in actuality the horse should have his grain ration cut back or removed completely. Many people believe that the molasses in the sweet feed is what causes horses to be hyper and will “cut” the feed with oats. This actually hurts the horse more than it helps as the feed is balanced on it’s own but when you add the oats then the balance of the feed is changed. It is best to pick one type of feed and stick to it rather than change it. If you must change the type of feed, then you should do it gradually as not to disturb the microbacterial population that resides in the hind gut of the horse. Many racehorse trainers and show horse trainers choose oats because they can find them anywhere they travel. They supplement the oats with a well-balanced hay and insure that their calcium to phosphate ratio is okay.

The boarded horse may require a hay bag or interval feedings of hay depending on the quality of the hay. It is best if the horse is able to munch on grass hay all day and receive alfalfa with his grain. This will keep is digestive system working properly as if he were grazing in the pasture. This is not always capable of happening and splitting the hay ration in half and feeding it to him twice a day will suffice. Some farms offer multiple feedings per day. If you find a facility that offers this, this great for your horse’s health. Horses have small stomachs and benefit from receiving five or six small meals a day versus two large meals per day. This immitates their natural grazing behavior and allows their digestive system to work properly. Multiple small meals per day also eliminates many of the causes of colic as well. The system is not being shocked by large amounts of carbohydrates and sugars all at once.

While making the decision what and how to feed your horse there are a couple of thoughts to consider. First, look at how much work your horse is doing now and how much work your horse will do in the future. Secondly, look at what he is being fed by his current owner. The owner or breeder should have the horse on a good diet, however, you may decide that the diet needs tweaking. You should also look at the horse’s body condition and decide whether or not he needs to gain or lose weight. The individual needs of the horse must be assessed before committing to a feeding regimen and even then he may require some adjustments along the way. If you do feel that your horse should receive extra grain for extra hard work on a particular day, it is best to feed it as another meal and not include it in his nightly ration. This will help him digest properly without causing him to overeat at one meal. As a rule of thumb, you can expect an average horse to stay in shape on one pound of concentrate and and one and a half pounds of hay for every hundred pounds that he weighs. This may and most likely will need to be adjusted as your horse ages or begins to receive more exercise.

Ron Petracek - Raised in southern Idaho, Ron loves horses and the outdoors. If you would like to join in and learn from the vast resources at our equine forum please visit http://www.horsechitchat.com
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