Correct feeding can make all the difference to the health of your horses hooves - you can not “out trim” a nutritional issue!
There are so many options on the market now, all making big claims about how they will help you horse and how they offer superior nutrition. So how do you decide what is best for your horse?
The great thing about feeding for healthy hooves, is that it is the same as feeding for a healthy horse. Hooves reflect the overall health of the horse - a healthy horse doesn’t have poor quality feet, even if they do have an impressively shiny coat!
In general, most people are feeding far too much, and we try to combat hoof issues (or other issues we see as nutritional), by throwing all the “nutrition” we can at it… but feeding the wrong things, or even too much of right thing, can be just as detrimental as a diet that is lacking.
If your horse has any special nutritional needs I highly recommend bringing in a qualified, independent Equine Nutritionist. Getting a feed plan for your horse, balanced with forage testing makes a huge difference to your horses health, and can save you money in the long run!
I recommend using an Equine Nutritionist for all horses, but in particular for:
Horses with Equine Metabolic Syndrome or suspected
Horses with Cushings (PPID)
Laminitic horses
Horses with poor quality hooves
Very over weight or very underweight horses
Suspected gut issues or gastric ulcers
Digestive upset or fussy eaters
Behavioral or grass issues
Horses with a heavy workload or performing to a high level
Pregnant or lactating mares
Young, growing horses
Geriatric horses
Skin issues or allergies
How horses are designed to eat
Horses have a very different digestive system to humans, and also very different to most other grazing stock we keep. Horses are mono-gastric (they are not a ruminant like cattle and sheep), hind gut fermenters. Unlike humans, horses do not have a gall bladder, which produces stomach acid when we know we are about to eat. They produce stomach acid continuously because they are designed to eat consistently, or “trickle feed”.
Horses evolved as a plains dwelling animal living on grasslands, they are designed to roam long distances, graze and browse low-quality forage (about 16 hours per day spent foraging). Donkeys descend from the African wild ass where their natural habitat was dry, rocky, steep and sparse, Donkey’s have an ability well beyond horses to cope with high temperatures, limited water and poor pastures.
Putting equines on pasture created for sheep and cattle (bred for high production fast growth meat and dairy) is like locking your child in MacDonalds. Whoohoo! They may love it, and eat all they can get, but you are going to get a very sick, overweight child with long term health, behavioural and developmental problems. And giving your horses “meals” like a human leads to a build up of stomach acid which can lead to ulcers.
Equines have small stomachs for their size, they should be eating little and often so that there is a constant flow of food moving through the digestive system. Feeding large amounts of hard feed all in one go over fills the stomach and pushes food through the gut before it has been digested properly. This is bad for your horses gut as well as bad for your pocket!
A forage based diet
The bulk of our equine’s diet should be low-quality roughage; grass and hay. Most of our grasses have been “improved” for cattle and sheep. While rye and clover may be “okay” for some horses, for most it is the cause of many behavioural, physical and hoof issues. The effect for some will be dramatic and immediate, but for most it is a slow build up over many years before reaching breaking point and our horse becomes “grass affected” or laminitic.
Ponies and Donkeys should be treated as grass sensitive horses, they are made to live in really tough conditions, so are very quickly and adversely affected by locking them up in MacDonald’s!
Low-quality forage (grass or hay) should be constantly trickle fed. Suitable grasses (this includes the grass your hay is made from): native grasses, brown top, fog grass, cocksfoot, prairie grass, timothy etc.
The challenge can be slowing down our horses consumption, especially when kept in a small paddock, yard or stable. People have come up with lots of creative solutions for this, from spreading hay far and wide, or using slow feeder nets, to track systems and drylots.
Google search “track systems for horses” and “paddock paradise” to get started!
Hard Feed
Horses get much more from our pastures than we think, and many equines will do will on a simple diet of grass and hay (horse suitable). This grass may need to be balanced if there are some nutrients lacking, or if the horse has high energy requirements, but this doesn’t mean we need to throw everything but the kitchen sink in their feed! Finding out what is provided by the pasture (pasture testing) and then balancing to that is economical and better for your horse.
I do not recommend pre-formulated horse feeds, especially those designed for laminitics, metabolic and Cushings horses!
Pre-formulated feeds usually contain a lot of sugar (in the form of molasses) and grains, they often don’t contain the correct balance of minerals and most contain iron (this one might be another story). Most of us don’t feed anywhere near the recommended amount needed to meet nutritional requirements, so we are adding too much of the bad stuff and not enough of the good stuff. Plus, its expensive.
Basic Feed for “Most Horses”
Equines have small stomachs (they should eat little and often), the total size of the feed when mixed and ready should be no more than the size of a 3lt container for an average size 15hh horse.
Daily feed for most equines (based on 15hh horse, so adjust up or down accordingly):
Plain chaff, ideally timothy or horse safe grasses (if you have ponies or donkeys don’t feed lucerne). About one 2lt ice cream container full.
Beta Beet or similar (must be soaked at least 10 mins prior to feeding!)
Mineral mix (I recommend Balanced Equine Nutrition, for a quality, well researched and affordable product)
Salt. 1 Tbs
Getting your horse to eat a plain feed if they are used to preformulated feeds can be a challenge! Change onto a new diet slowly. Start by adding a tiny amount of the minerals and salt, and build up to the full amount over 1-2 weeks. Add in a little of their old feed and wean this out over 1-2 weeks. I have also found that if I mix all the dry ingredients first, then add water to soak (rather than soaking the Beta Beet separately), the horses find it much more palatable.
If your horse is in the list at the start of this article, please contact an Equine Nutritionist. This is not a suitable diet for horses kept off grass, who will require additional nutrition.
Forage testing
Did I mention this earlier? Forage testing is an excellent way of knowing what is in your horses feed, and what needs to be supplemented. It is relatively inexpensive and pays itself off in actually putting the right things into your horse, and not wasting money on supplements you don’t need!