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Practical Feeding Of Horses
By admin | May 21, 2008
It should be noted, however, that brood mares require a good supply of protein, minerals and vitamins during pregnancy, and these requirements will increase even further while nursing foals.
For most horses in
Foodstuffs used for feeding horses fall into two classifications:
Concentrates—foods high in nutritive values but low in fibre contents; and
Roughages—foods high in fibre content but lower in nutritive value.
Knowing what and how much to feed your horse is dependant on three factors;
(I) the quantity and quality of pasture available;
(II) the amount of work the horse is performing; and
(III) the body condition of the horse.
Legume hay is undoubtedly the best hay from a nutritional point of view and well-cured grassy lucerne hay is good, palatable roughage for horses.
When undertaking full hand-feeding of horses the following tables may be used as a guide for the rates of roughage to concentrates.
A good guide as to whether your horse is getting sufficient feed is to check their body condition.
Daily quantities of feed per 100 kg liveweight (full hand feeding)
|
Type of Work |
Concentrates (kg) |
Hay or Chaff |
Approximate liveweight of horses (in good body condition)
|
Type |
Height ( hands) |
Liveweight (kg) |
Source:
Beeftalk No. 10 Spring—Summer 2000
Topics: Horses |