Feeding your performance horse
Basics of Performance Horse Nutrition
Feeding a performance horse does not have to be a daunting task. In fact, you may find that you have better results with a simple diet. Horses are designed to be grazers, with most of the forage digestion taking place in the hind gut. Relative to their size, horses have a small stomach- about 2 gallons, so it stands to reason that they prefer to enjoy several small meals throughout the day. If your horse is on good pasture, the forage part is easy. If you drylot your horses or if your pasture is short, grazing may not satisfy their forage quantity or quality requirements.
Horses should consume about 1.5 to 2% of their body weight per day, with horses under moderate work at the higher end of that number. For a 1000 pound horse, that’s 20 pounds of dry matter, of which at least 1% should be forage.
Horses get their energy from carbohydrates, fiber, protein or fat. Each of these sources is digested then used for energy production or stored as fat. Hay and pasture can provide all of these sources, especially when hay is harvested earlier in the year. Grass that is cut for hay at or after the reproductive stage of development contains more fiber, but fewer vitamins, minerals and protein. Building on that topic, I would highly recommend you have your hay tested. Many hay brokers will provide the test results to you and it’s appropriate to ask them for the results. If you put up your own hay, there are several labs across the country that perform testing inexpensively. The results from your forage testing will help you balance your horses’ ration more effectively.
Do horses need grain? The short answer is no, but a commercial feed may be the most convenient way to balance your horse’s ration. Look for probiotics and amino acids (particularly lysine) in a commercially bagged feed. Most grains contain 2-5% fat, which is a great feedstuff but should be fed at >10%. For those of you who want to be grain-free, offer a ration balancing mineral to bridge gaps in your forage.
A horse in work (stress) has higher requirements for vitamins B, C and E. Again, good quality hay should supply these vitamins in adequate amounts and forage testing will indicate levels. Adding too much vitamin A and D, along with trace minerals such as selenium, copper, iron, zinc or iodine can be detrimental and should be avoided- ESPECIALLY if you don’t have the nutritional analysis on your forage.
This is a good segway to briefly touch on supplements. There are so many great marketing pitches, celebrity endorsements and shiny bags available these days, it can make you feel like you’re not doing the best for your horse if you’re not using them! Our biggest goal in feeding horses is to “do no harm.” I am not badmouthing supplements- there is a time and a place for them, as long as you know WHY your horse needs it. Keep in mind that each horse is an individual, so what has “cured” one horse, may not do squat for the next. If you are feeding a balanced ration and your horse still doesn’t look or feel right, head to the vet for an exam and perhaps a blood panel to see exactly what the horse is lacking.
Avoid “shotgunning” a bunch of new stuff at once- and allow at least 60 days before deciding if a feed through supplement has achieved what you intended. Supplements will not make up for genetic potential (a draft horse won’t run as fast as a thoroughbred), nor will they offset training issues or natural ability.
In summary, test your hay and know your horse. If you have interest in learning more, get a copy of NRC’s (National Research Council) 2007 update to Nutrient Requirements of Horses. There are lots of good articles by universities available, too. Just watch to see who paid for the research.😉
Brenda Rettinger received a double major in Animal Science and Large Animal Nutrition from Montana State University and has a lifetime of continued education and experience in equine heath and nutrition.
She and her husband Perry ranch along with their son Nick in Southwestern North Dakota.
