Feeding Flashcards
What are the 9 rules of feeding horses?
Feed to the individual horse
Feed good quality forage
Use clean utensils/bowls
Keep the routine the same
Make no sudden changes
Feed little and often
Allow 1 hour post eating before exercising
Clean water 24/7
Feed plenty of fiber
Why feed little and often
Horse has a small stomach and in the wild grazed up to 29 hours per day which should be mimicked.
Why must you wait an hour post eating to excerise a horse
Blood supply will be in the gut and cannot be used for muscular work at the same time.
A full stomach can restrict lung capacity by pressing on the diaphragm
Why is important to feed good quality fiber?
Horse can overtime develop digestive/respiratory problems or the horse may not eat the forage all together
What are the qualities of a good hey?
It smells sweet, it is a golden green colour, no poisonous plants, no dust, feels dry and crisp
What are qualities of bad hey
Sour and damp, black/dark brown, weeds, and poisonous grasses, dusty, damp/soggy
What are good qualities of Haylage?
Sweet, smelling, separate when handled, Gordon stems, good graces, higher moisture content, then hay
What happens if you feed horses, poor quality hay .
Respiratory problems, weight loss, due to lack of nutrients, or not eating, toxicity from poisonous plants, scouring, sores in the corners of the mouth, colic, botulism
Describe two methods to feed multiple horses in the field
Place multiple piles of feed in the field including two extra, so there’s no fight and remove any bullies from the group
Tie each horse up and feed individually
To maintain normal body weight. How much do horses need to eat in fibre
2% of their body weight
What type of feeds are fibre?
Long fibre, including grass, hay, or Haylage
Chopped fibre, including chaffs
Fibre cubes including alfalfa, pellets, and sugar beet
What is included in a healthy diet?
High fibre diet with Low serial/grain kept to a minimum
What is hey
Dried grass that is cut in the summer and love to dry in the Sun. Getting turned over a couple of times by farm machinery 
What is Haylage?
Dried grass cut like a hay bailed while still a little damp. It is then wrapped in plastic so it is airtight and the bacteria within the bail ferment the sugar in the grass. 
Why is chav fed?
To bulk out food bucket, so it’s not eaten too fast as fibre takes longer to chew them grains. It is also used as a disguise to hide the taste of supplements or medications. Some chart fibre-based feed contain added, vitamins and minerals and can be fed as a complete bucket feed.
