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Don’t horse around with equine diets

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Published: May 4, 2017

Don’t horse around with equine diets

RED DEER — Eating more fibre is often recommended for better health.

Horses are no different.

Horses evolved as continuous grazers and would eat 16 to 20 hours a day if they could, said Deborah Barrie, who owns Feedstore to Your Door Inc.

“The reality is we do a lot to our horses and we compromise their digestive processes, resulting in some severe metabolic problems,” she said at the Mane Event, a recent equine expo held in Red Deer.

Horses spend more time in stalls, they do not eat when they are hauled long distances to events and are often overfed in one meal.

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Many of these horses do not receive enough hay.

“We have cases where hay is 50 percent of the diet,” Barrie said.

“I like to see it 85 or 90 percent.”

The hay ration should be about two percent of the horse’s bodyweight, said equine veterinarian Ela Misuno.

A growing horse could go up to three percent, while a fat one should be cut back to 1.5 percent.

A horse needs to consume 22 to 24 megacalories per day and can consume about 2.5 kilograms of grain or complete pelletted feed. More than that could lead to gastric problems.

“If your horse needs extra calories, you could up the quality of the hay, but whenever you add more concentrate, sweet feed or oats, that can really interfere with the horse’s gut,” Misuno said.

A horse should also drink about 25 litres of water per day.

“At any time if you are not sure your horse is getting fed enough or there is something going on, I always recommend monitoring how much your horse is drinking,” she said.

They will go off water if they are not feeling well, and they can get dehydrated quickly.

She also recommended introducing new feeds gradually.

Mix new hay with old product to avoid disturbing the microbiology of the gut.

Offer hay before turning horses out to fresh pasture in the spring. They are less likely to gorge on fresh grass if they have had something to eat.

Also, consider turning them out in later afternoon or early evening because fewer sugars are available in the grass at that time.

A horse’s gastrointestinal tract has evolved to work around the clock, said Barrie.

Digestion starts when they pick up forage. They grind it up in their mouths and produce saliva immediately. With constant eating they can produce 60 to 100 litres of saliva per day, and the jaw moves 40,000 to 50,000 times.

Constant chewing creates saliva to buffer the stomach lining.

Food stays in the stomach 30 minutes to three hours, depending on what is in there.

A horse’s stomach is about the size of a football, or about eight percent of the total digestive tract. That small organ cannot handle too much feed at once, so it pushes it through to allow for digestion of fibre in the cecum and colon.

The cecum, or hindgut, is like a fermentation vat full of bacteria capable of digesting fibre to produce volatile fatty acids, a major source of energy to the horse.

The hindgut holds six to eight gallons of material. Acidosis could occur when the pH drops below 6.5, and good bacteria can die off.

The large colon is 10 to 12 feet long and holds 15 to 20 gallons, while the small colon is nine to 10 feet long and holds about four gallons.

Horses need high levels of digestive enzymes in the foregut. They will replenish enzymes and bacteria if they are grazing grass; otherwise, they may need probiotics to help digestion.

“The good feed we offer is of little value if they don’t have enough bacteria and enzymes,” Barrie said.

A healthy horse should have good body condition, good foot quality, good hair coat and a good disposition.

An out-of-balance diet may result in ulcers.

Gastric ulcers are painful, and a horse suffering from them may have poor body condition. The eyes and coat are dull, and the horse may grind its teeth. It eats and drinks poorly, and the manure is smelly. It may have an unpleasant disposition, especially when being saddled or ridden because its stomach hurts.

The horse may be given a buffer such as omeprazole to decrease acid production, but other dietary changes are needed.

“If you haven’t changed anything else, you are putting a Band-Aid on it,” Barrie said.

She recommended giving them more hay 24 hours a day and checking to see if they are eating it. Feed probiotics to help with hindgut fermentation. Offer low starch and high fat diets, and feed them less grain.

“Feed little and often,” she said.

A horse that is chewing wood may need hay. However, it is hard for them to stop chewing once they start, she added.

More than 90 percent of all racetrack horses have gastric ulcers, and more than half of show horses are affected.

Ulcers show up in more than 60 percent of ponies and endurance and pleasure horses. Foals are starting to show signs of ulcers 25 to 57 percent of the time.

About the author

Barbara Duckworth

Barbara Duckworth

Barbara Duckworth has covered many livestock shows and conferences across the continent since 1988. Duckworth had graduated from Lethbridge College’s journalism program in 1974, later earning a degree in communications from the University of Calgary. Duckworth won many awards from the Canadian Farm Writers Association, American Agricultural Editors Association, the North American Agricultural Journalists and the International Agriculture Journalists Association.

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