Health care for horses through good nutrition
Wild horses once roamed the steppes in large herds. Their everyday life differed fundamentally from that of our domestic horses. They spent up to 16 hours searching for food, covering many kilometers and gradually filling their stomachs with many small portions. In this way, a horse could eat 50 to 60 kilograms of pasture grass per day. If you subtract the water content, this corresponded to a dry matter content of ten to twelve kilograms. That hasn’t changed. Even today, when calculating rations for horses, it is assumed that two kilograms of feed are consumed in dry matter per 100 kilograms of horse. The horse’s digestive tract has adapted to these conditions over the course of the horse’s development and the associated change in the food spectrum (from forest dwellers to steppe animals). Therefore, roughage is the basis of every feeding plan. If the work is light and the hay is of appropriate quality, a horse can survive without concentrates at all.
No long breaks to eat
Roughage plays an important role in horse feeding, and not just from a nutritional perspective. Due to their developmental history, horses have an instinctive need to constantly “nibble” and move. Since the horse is a constant eater, the horse’s stomach constantly produces stomach acid, which only saliva can neutralize. And saliva, in turn, only flows when chewing. If the stomach is idle for more than four hours, the continuously produced stomach acid attacks the mucous membrane. The consequences of incorrect feeding : stomach ulcers, colic. Behavioral problems and behavioral disorders such as cribs and weaving etc. are other signs of inadequate supply of sufficient food.
There are various approaches to avoid psychological and physical damage, such as:
- More grazing
- Open stable with run
- Always provide enough roughage in the form of hay and straw
Roughage, concentrated feed, juice feed
When it comes to horse feed, a distinction is made between raw fiber-rich feed (roughage) and concentrated feed (concentrated feed). The products rich in crude fiber can be moist (pasture grass, silage) or dry (hay, straw). Common concentrated feeds include oats, corn, barley and compound feed. Apples, carrots, beets and beets are referred to as juice foods. They also provide energy, but above all vitamins, which are particularly relevant for nutrition when fresh pasture grass is not available in winter.
- How much hay does a horse need per day?
1.5 to 2 kilograms of roughage per 100 kilograms of horse weight is the minimum. And: feed roughage before concentrated feed! - How should hay be fed?
Don’t hang hay nets too high! Horses prefer to eat hay from the ground. However, a hay net that is placed too low can also pose a risk of injury. For troughs and drinking troughs, the guidelines for keeping horses recommend that they be installed close to the ground. The maximum height is given by the formula 0.3 x height at withers. - How often should concentrates be fed?
Concentrate feed should be spread over at least three meals. -
Minerals, vitamins and additional feed
Ideally, there are enough minerals and vitamins in the hay. The only problem is: the soil is no longer as nutrient-rich as it used to be and neither are the plants on it. In addition, the vegetation these days is usually quite one-sided. In the past, horses covered their needs for trace elements, minerals and vitamins by selectively eating certain herbs. This is hardly possible today and the hay hardly comes from cultivated areas that are characterized by a wide variety of vegetation. Minerals – i.e. bulk elements whose requirements are stated in grams – and trace elements – which are measured in milligrams – are vital for the body because they take on various tasks in metabolism. They activate enzymes and are sometimes part of these as well as vitamins, hormones, etc. They are also important for all tissues, bone formation, oxygen transport, etc.
Vitamin and mineral needs of the horse
Vitamins are also one of these little helpers that ensure that everything runs smoothly in the organism. A distinction is made between water-soluble vitamins (B vitamins, C) and fat-soluble vitamins (A, D, E, K). The horse can produce some of its own vitamins in its body, such as vitamin C. But it has to absorb minerals through food. The quantitative elements that the horse needs are: calcium (Ca), phosphorus (P), potassium (K), magnesium (Mg), sodium (Na), chlorine (Cl) and sulfur (S). Sport horses, young horses and broodmares in particular have an increased need here. If the riding horse is fed regulated under medium stress, the supply of the quantitative elements is usually guaranteed. However, you have to pay attention to the right ratio between calcium and phosphorus. The ration should contain two parts calcium to one part phosphorus. An excess of phosphorus can cause bone loss. Sodium, potassium and chlorine deficiencies can occur in horses that sweat a lot. A salt lick provided freely is usually sufficient for a normally working horse. However, high-performance athletes (especially racing, endurance and eventing horses) lose a lot of electrolytes (minerals that are present in the body as either positively or negatively charged particles) through their sweat, which a salt lick alone can hardly compensate for. Electrolytes in the form of sodium, potassium and magnesium chloride, which are commercially available and can be added to drinking water as additional feed, help here.
Dose mineral feed correctly
For horses that are kept exclusively on pasture, a so-called mineral lick can be useful instead of a salt lick. Minerals and trace elements can also be absorbed. However, because it is difficult to control what quantities the horses consume in this way, it is better to give a targeted mineral feed that can be dosed. The crucial trace elements are iodine (I), copper (Cu), iron (Fe), cobalt (Co), selenium (Se), manganese (Mn), zinc (Sn). On the one hand, these are necessary for survival, but in moderation and definitely not in masses. Oversupply can even have fatal consequences. But even with massive defects it can be dangerous. The consequences range from brittle hoof horn and shaggy fur (if there is a zinc deficiency) to immune deficiency (including if there is a selenium deficiency) to skeletal changes (including if there is an iodine deficiency) and anemia and loss of performance (including if there is an iron deficiency). If deficiency symptoms are suspected, there are various ways to test how the horse is being cared for.
Have food examined
You can take blood or urine samples, have a hair analysis done or even create a ration calculation by examining the ingredients of the feed that the horse usually receives and comparing it with its requirements. The latter is usually recommended. The Hannover University of Veterinary Medicine (TiHo) says that you should have your hay tested once a year for the content of copper, zinc and selenium – as these are the trace elements that are most often deficient – and then choose a suitable mineral feed. The sample results can only be applied to the entire batch if the hay sampled comes from the same harvest from the same cultivation area. It doesn’t matter whether you give the mineral feed as powder, pellets, briquettes, liquid or whatever: “The main thing is that the horse eats it,” as Dr. Petra Wolf from the Department of Animal Nutrition at TiHo sums it up.