Creating a balanced diet plan for your active horse involves understanding their nutritional needs based on activity level, age, and individual metabolism. A well-structured plan ensures your horse receives the right balance of energy, protein, vitamins, and minerals to support their health and performance. This includes a combination of forage, grains, and supplements tailored to their specific requirements.
How to Create a Balanced Diet Plan for Your Active Horse
Understanding Your Horse’s Nutritional Needs
The specific nutrient requirements of horses are not fully understood, but can usually be met with pasture forage, harvested roughages, and concentrates. Horses need a balanced diet that includes:
- Forage: Grass, hay, or pasture should form the foundation of the diet.
- Concentrates: Grains like oats, corn, and barley provide additional energy.
- Vitamins and Minerals: Supplements may be necessary to fill any nutritional gaps.
Assessing Your Horse’s Activity Level
The intensity of your horse’s activity significantly impacts their dietary needs:
- Light Work: Adequate nutrients can be supplied to maintain an adult horse at light work or mares during pregnancy with good quality grass-legume pastures and iodized or trace-mineralized salt.
- Medium to Heavy Work: Horses performing medium to heavy work may need to be supplemented with a high-energy source, such as grain, in addition to lush, early spring pasture.
Choosing the Right Feeds
Selecting appropriate feeds is crucial for a balanced diet:
- Hay: High-quality legume hays, such as early bloom alfalfa, are preferred for horses, especially those that are growing or lactating. Grass hays, such as timothy, prairie grass, orchard grass, and bluegrass, were preferred by early horsemen, especially for race horses, because they were usually free from mold and dust and tended to slow down the rate of passage through the intestinal tract.
- Grains: Oats are the preferred grain for horses because of their bulk, but corn (maize), barley, wheat, and milo can be used whenever they are less expensive.
- Commercial Feeds: A number of commercial feed mixes are available to modern breeders and owners; these mixes contain minerals, vitamins, and other nutrients and are designed to provide a balanced diet when supplemented with hay.
Sample Feeding Schedule
| Feed Type | Amount (per day) | Notes