Basic equine nutrition

Search for:. The FeedBank is a reference database providing nutrition information on components in the equine diet. Listing in the FeedBank does not imply endorsement by Mad Barn.

A balanced diet is just as essential to your horse's health as it is to yours. No matter what your horse's age, these nutrients are essential for good health and strong bones and muscles. Adequate water intake is essential for the absorption of other nutrients, digestion, and temperature regulation. Although you may not be able to force a horse to drink, you can make drinking water more tempting by:. Offering fresh water daily rather than topping off buckets and troughs. Using bucket heaters or tank de-icers to prevent water from freezing.

Basic equine nutrition

Kylee J. Duberstein, Ph. Johnson, Ph. How do you properly feed a horse? With so many feed, supplement and hay choices available, many people find themselves wondering exactly what their horse needs for good health and nutrition. Many horse-feeding opinions and myths make deciding what to feed even more difficult. The law requires commercial horse feed manufacturers to put information concerning their feed on a "feed tag," which is either attached to or printed directly on the bag. This tag provides essential information on what the horse will be eating. However, most horse owners either don't understand or don't take the time to read this information. This publication explains your horse's nutritional needs, common guidelines to observe when feeding your horse and how to determine if your horse's nutritional requirements are being met. When feeding horses, it is important to recognize that there are six basic nutrient categories that must be met: carbohydrate, protein, fat, vitamins, minerals and water.

Phenylalanine Phenylalanine is the third-most abundant amino acid in equine diets. Brown, yellow or weathered in color.

A sound nutritional program is important to ensure that horses are happy, healthy, and perform to their best. When teaching an audience about equine nutrition, it is best to start with the digestive anatomy and physiology because it directly relates to what, how, and when a horse is fed. This publication provides educators with information about the anatomy and function of the digestive system along with specific points to make when teaching about sound feeding management practices. Forages for horses, like pasture and hay, contain water, protein, fat, structural carbohydrates i. It was only in the last few thousand years that cereal grain-based concentrates high in non-structural carbohydrates were added to the diet to help meet the energy demands of the equine athlete.

Nutrition is the foundation of a healthy, happy horse that performs to the best of its ability. The article is made up of ten different sections, or keys, each covering a separate but related topic within equine nutrition:. Ideally, this comes in the form of fresh grass. If grass is not available, free-choice grass hay is the next best choice. Keeping hay in front of horses at all times allows them to most closely mimic their natural grazing behavior. For a pound horse, this is about 10 pounds of hay per day by weight, not by volume flakes. Pasture may also not be appropriate for horses prone to laminitis founder , especially when the specific sugar fructan is high such as in the spring and fall. Because grass is deficient in certain minerals and hay is deficient in certain vitamins and minerals, horses need more than just forage as their diet.

Basic equine nutrition

Kylee J. Duberstein, Ph. Johnson, Ph. How do you properly feed a horse? With so many feed, supplement and hay choices available, many people find themselves wondering exactly what their horse needs for good health and nutrition. Many horse-feeding opinions and myths make deciding what to feed even more difficult. The law requires commercial horse feed manufacturers to put information concerning their feed on a "feed tag," which is either attached to or printed directly on the bag. This tag provides essential information on what the horse will be eating. However, most horse owners either don't understand or don't take the time to read this information.

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In these situations, it is important to remember that it may take a few days to a week for a horse to naturally increase the numbers of gut microbes so that it can efficiently utilize forages in its diet again. Guest User. Exercised horses and horses in hot weather lose potassium through sweat. Grain fed to horses often contains large amounts of starches and sugars that are readily digested and absorbed by the small intestine. Ascorbate Vitamin C Vitamin C , also known as ascorbic acid, is a powerful antioxidant that supports the healthy function of all cells of the body. Plant Proteins. Brown, yellow or weathered in color. Histidine Histidine is incorporated into various proteins. Ration balancers are manufactured by many feed companies and are designed to be fed at a low level approximately 1 pound per day that contains the needed vitamins, minerals and protein. Minerals are critical inorganic materials that must be present in adequate amounts for the body to function properly. It takes approximately 2 hours for the digesta to move from the cecum through the large colon. Although you may not be able to force a horse to drink, you can make drinking water more tempting by:.

However, enzymatic digestion of carbohydrates, protein, and fats is also of major importance. This occurs in the small intestine, which is the primary site of absorption of sugars, amino acids, long-chain fatty acids, minerals, and vitamins. Any of the nutrient sources that escape small intestinal digestion and absorption are passed on for microbial degradation in the large intestine, where byproducts of microbial fermentation, such as volatile fatty acids, amino acids, and vitamins, are absorbed.

Grass hays before seed heads mature and alfalfa cut early in bloom. Offering fresh water daily rather than topping off buckets and troughs. Subtract this value from crude protein to determine available protein. In these situations, it is important to remember that it may take a few days to a week for a horse to naturally increase the numbers of gut microbes so that it can efficiently utilize forages in its diet again. Vitamin D is obtained from sunlight, so only horses that are stalled for 24 hours a day need a supplement with vitamin D. The main building blocks of protein are amino acids. Signs of energy deficiency include weight loss, decreased physical activity, milk production, and growth rate. For example, biotin, zinc and copper supplemented above requirements have been shown to improve hoof strength. Find out what Extension has for you! However, feeding a diet too high in energy can cause obesity increasing the risk of colic, laminitis, and contribute to increased sweat loss and exercise intolerance. NFC is calculated by subtracting fiber and ash from total carbohydrate content. Therefore, in this instance, the horse's protein requirement is being met through the forage it is consuming. Complete Forages.