Equine Nutrition Tips for the New Year

Work with your veterinarian or equine nutritionist to ensure your horse’s diet is balanced heading into the new year.
Share
Favorite
Close

No account yet? Register

ADVERTISEMENT

Looking towards the New Year, many riders will make resolutions to eat better, exercise more, and re-evaluate their diets in general. It is also important to do the same evaluation for your horse. The New Year is a great time to take a close look at your horse’s diet, so SmartPak has some tips to help start the year off right … and you don’t have to wait until January to get started!

“Take a closer look at your horse’s feeding program, with the help of your veterinarian or equine nutritionist, and make sure it’s as complete and balanced as possible,” said Lydia Gray, DVM, SmartPak’s staff veterinarian. “Some key elements to think about are forage, nutrients like vitamins and minerals, omega-3 fatty acids, and possibly digestive support.”

The basis of every horse’s diet should be high-quality forage, whether that’s pasture, hay, or another source. Horses were designed to graze nearly constantly and should receive 1-2% of their body weight in forage per day (for a 1,000-pound horse that’s 10-20 pounds of forage per day). Poor hay quality has been linked to an increased the risk of colic, so it’s wise to purchase the best quality hay that can be found in your area. If finding quality hay is a challenge, other sources of roughage can be added, such as beet pulp, hay cubes, or bagged forage (i.e. chaff) to help meet this daily requirement. Feeding hay in a small-hole haynet can also help reduce waste and keep hay in front of your horse for a longer time, helping to support healthy digestion.

In addition to adequate forage, making sure your horse is getting the right balance of key vitamins and minerals is important to supporting his or her health. These nutrients are critical to everything from immune function to recovery from stress and exercise. If your horse receives grain daily, find out how much (in pounds) and compare that to the recommended amount on the grain bag. If your horse is getting the full, recommended serving of grain for his age and workload, his minimum vitamin and mineral needs should be met. However, many horses receive less than the recommended serving size because they don’t require that many calories to maintain their body condition, but this can leave them short on key nutrients. A multivitamin supplement or a ration balancer pellet can help close the gap on the vitamin and mineral requirements for horses that receive a partial serving of grain or no grain at all

Create a free account with TheHorse.com to view this content.

TheHorse.com is home to thousands of free articles about horse health care. In order to access some of our exclusive free content, you must be signed into TheHorse.com.

Start your free account today!

Already have an account?
and continue reading.

Share

Written by:

Related Articles

Stay on top of the most recent Horse Health news with

FREE weekly newsletters from TheHorse.com

Sponsored Content

Weekly Poll

sponsored by:

Where do you primarily feed your horse?
305 votes · 305 answers

Readers’ Most Popular

Sign In

Don’t have an account? Register for a FREE account here.

Need to update your account?

You need to be logged in to fill out this form

Create a free account with TheHorse.com!