Reader Reply on Horse Feed

I received a youtube message from DaddyLJ1 who commented on Basic Horse Nutrition_Hay_v3.wmv, click here to see this article,……..."His Comment...This is a very good video- I learned more I this one than in 10 different videos by other so called pro’s”.

My reply to DaddyLJ1: Thanks for your kind words, but in defense of most of the pro trainers out, they concentrate on training horses and/or riders. My intent is to help the majority of horse owners out there, who are one, two or three horse owning recreational riders and who have never been exposed the wealth of information created by others. I didn’t invent anything, someone taught me as well.

I never gave much thought to feeds until about 10-12 years ago, when I started to educate myself in feeds, nutritional values and how they affect horses. Two of my primary references were and continue to be: Clinical Equine Nutrition, by Lon Lewis, and, Feed to Win, which is a compilation of wisdom from a wide range of trainers. Feed to Win is a much easier to read book, but Clinical Equine Nutrition is much, much more than a feed book.

Horses are meant to graze all day long or 16-20 hours or so anyway; eating small amounts of grass all day long. We create potential problems when we put them in stalls or pens and feed them concentrated dry hay, pelleted feed or grains.

There are a wide range of problems, such as founder and colic that are almost always associated with feed problems. I actually knew a old boy who had grain trucked in and dumped in a pile on the ground (outside) and would shovel grain in a wheel barrel then feed this horses out of the wheel barrel. This is a recipe for disaster as the grain can mold quickly and birds poop was all over that grain.

I recently was asked to look at a stud horse and give the owner an opinion on where that horse was at training wise. Needless to say, the little stud horse was a grade and only green broke ,..."I was told not to take his halter off" type of thing. They owner was feeding him from loose alfalfa on the ground, out in the open, that he had to scoop up with a shovel. Unbelievable. We have got to do better as horse owners.