Horse nutrition
Will moldy hay hurt my horse? How can I help my horse lose weight? Does my horse need a ration balancer? Find research-based information to provide your horse good nutrition.
- Learn the 10 important things to know in feeding your horse.
Providing carbohydrates and fats in your horse’s diet
- The type and amount of carbohydrates horses receive can affect their health.
- Fat is dense in calories and provides a good source of energy for the horse.
Encouraging your horse to drink
- Always make sure your horse has free access to fresh, clean water.
- Horses that refuse to drink are at risk of poor performance, poor organ function and colic.
How to take a hay sample
Understanding your hay analysis
- A hay analysis helps you better understand what you’re feeding your horse.
- Always request a horse analysis when sending in hay samples.
Harvest moisture level and bale wrapping affects hay quality for horses
- Moisture and bale wrapping affects mold and forage quality.
- Orchardgrass bales are prone to significant mold and poor forage quality at moistures slightly over 15 percent.
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Clover is a good feed source for horses.
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There are clover-causing health problems that horse owners should be aware of.
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Learn how to identify different clovers.
Don’t feed your horse moldy hay
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Moldy hay presents risks to horse health.
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Mold spores can produce respiratory disease in horses.
Steaming horse hay to reduce the effects of mold and dust
- Steaming shouldn’t replace the main goal of feeding hay with low mold and dust content.
- In the absence of such hay, steaming is a good practice for reducing mold and dust content in moderately moldy hay.
Determining the value of rained-on hay
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Rainfall on cut hay laying in the field causes yield and quality losses.
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Rained-on hay can be a suitable forage, especially for horses prone to laminitis.
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The best way to check the quality of rained on hay is to have it tested.
Evaluating amino acid levels in forages and horses
- Forage plays a key role in the horse’s diet.
- Cool-season grass and alfalfa are higher in amino acids than teff. Amino acids are the building blocks of protein.
- While alfalfa and cool-season grasses were higher in protein and lower in fiber, horses grazing teff had a similar blood amino acid response.
Evaluating glucose and insulin levels in grazing horses
- Teff has lower nonstructural carbohydrates (NSC) and higher fiber values compared to cool-season grass and alfalfa.
- Blood insulin levels were lower for horses grazing teff compared to cool-season grasses in the fall and late fall.
- The lower NSC and higher fiber values of teff could help decrease the insulin response of horses grazing in the fall and late fall.
Horse hay suppliers in Minnesota
A list of hay auctions and private hay suppliers in Minnesota.
Selecting and storing horse hay
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Horse quality hay should be baled between 10 and 15 percent moisture.
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Store and protect hay from moisture to best prevent spoilage.
Feeding hay with a round bale feeder
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Round-bale feeders can reduce hay waste.
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Feeder design doesn’t affect the amount horses eat.
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All feeders reduce hay waste compared to not using a feeder, but hay waste differs based on the feeder design.
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Horses would naturally graze for about 14.5 hours a day.
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But many horses spend a lot of time in stalls or dry lots with limited time to forage.
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Horse owners try to mimic a more natural feeding pattern by providing free access to hay, but this can cause horses to eat too much and become overweight.
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Hay nets can help slow a horse’s eating in these situations.
Selecting a small square-bale feeder
- We tested small square-bale feeders to evaluate hay waste, cost, hay intakes and herd bodyweight.
Feeding your horse a ration balancer
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Ration balancer is a commercial horse feed designed to provide the trace minerals and vitamins your horse needs.
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Ration balancers do not add energy to the diet.
Caring for the overweight horse | Cuidado del caballo con sobrepeso
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Overweight horses are prone to disease, overheating and poor performance.
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Learn how to determine if your horse is overweight.
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Restricting diets and easing into regular exercise can help horse’s reach a healthy body weight.
Caring for the underweight horse | Cuidado del caballo con peso bajo
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Determine why the horse is thin by working with an equine veterinarian and nutritionist.
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Learn how to determine if your horse is underweight.
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Soaking hay can benefit horses with certain health issues by reducing water soluble carbohydrates, potassium and dust.
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Health issues soaking can help with include laminitis, polysaccharide storage myopathy (PSSM), hyperkalemic periodic paralysis (HYPP), chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).
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Rely on forage tests before and after soaking to decide which type of hay is best for your horse.
Grazing horses prone to laminitis and metabolic disease
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Laminitis, also known and founder, is inflammation of tissues inside the hoof.
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High amounts of sugars or fructans in grasses can bring about disease in susceptible horses.
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Many factors affect the amount of sugar in forages.
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Susceptible horses should have limited grazing or no grazing.
Could common dry lot weeds trigger laminitis?
- The wide range of nonstructural carbohydrate (NSC) content within the weed species suggest horse owners should control dry lot weeds.
- This is especially true for owners with laminitic horses and ponies.
Managing forage carbohydrate content
- Horses require carbohydrates in their diet.
- Some horses are sensitive to the carbohydrate content of hay and pasture forages. This could lead to health problems.
Alternative feedstuffs for horses
- You may consider alternative feedstuffs due to high hay costs or poor hay availability.
- When selecting an alternative feed, evaluate the pros and cons, and always work with your veterinarian or nutritionist.