I will provide a search-optimized answer about how cold weather affects a horse’s energy requirements. The provided document does not directly address the effect of cold weather on a horse’s energy requirements, so I will provide a general overview of horse feeding requirements.
Horses need specific nutrients that can be supplied through pasture forage, harvested roughages, and concentrates. The amount of feed depends on the horse’s weight and stage of life.
How Much Should You Feed Your Horse?
The specific nutrient requirements of horses are not well understood. However, horses can usually get what they need from pasture forage, harvested roughages, and concentrates.
Good-quality grass-legume pastures and iodized or trace-mineralized salt will provide enough nutrients for an adult horse doing light work or for mares during pregnancy. Lush, early spring pasture is high in water and protein and may need a high-energy source, like grain, for horses doing medium to heavy work. Late fall- and winter-pasture forage is low in water and protein and may need protein and vitamin A supplements.
High-quality legume hays, like early bloom alfalfa, are good for horses, especially those that are growing or lactating. Moldy or dusty feeds should be avoided because horses are very susceptible to forage poisoning and respiratory problems. Grass hays, such as timothy, prairie grass, orchard grass, and bluegrass, were preferred by early horsemen, especially for racehorses, because they were usually free from mold and dust and tended to slow down the rate of passage through the intestinal tract. However, these hays are low in digestible energy and protein and must be supplemented adequately. Silages of all sorts should be avoided since horses and mules are extremely susceptible to botulism and digestive upsets.
Weanling foals need three pounds of feed per hundred pounds of live weight per day. As they get closer to maturity, this drops to one pound of feed per hundred pounds of live weight daily. Horses usually reach mature weight before four years of age and 80 percent of their mature weight before two years of age.
What is the best grain to feed horses?
Oats are the preferred grain for horses because of their bulk. Corn (maize), barley, wheat, and milo can also be used if they are less expensive.
How much will foals eat?
Foals will start eating some pasture grass, forage, or hay when they are three days old and grain when they are three weeks old.
What if sufficient roughages cannot be grown?
A large number of horses stabled in cities and suburbs where sufficient roughages cannot be grown provide a large market for complete horse rations, including roughage, which are tailored to the total needs of specific animals according to their particular function at a given time, such as growth, pregnancy, lactation, or maintenance.
Horses will vary from the normal requirement in terms of weight, temperament, and previous nutrition.
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