Feeding

Question 1

What do horses eat?

Answer 1

• hay (grass or alfalfa)
• pasture
• Concentrates (pellets, sweet feed, extruded kibbles)
• Beet pulp, COB, soy hulls and or cubes
• mineral and performance supplements
• biologicals, pre-biotics
• water

Question 2

What is the principle of the first limiting nutrient?

Answer 2

yield is proportional to the amount of the most limiting nutrient, whichever nutrient it may be
- performance and health of our horses will be reduced to the level of the most limited nutrient in their diets.

Question 3

What are the 6 essential nutrients?

Answer 3

• protein
• carbohydrates (includes sugars, starches and cellulose)
• fat
• macro minerals/trace minerals
• vitamins (water soluble and fat soluble
• water

Question 4

What are nutrient requirements of horses based on?

Answer 4

size, age and metabolic state of the horse

Question 5

How do you calculate your horses weight?

Answer 5

• weight tape

- calculation in inches (distance from point of shoulder to point of rump X heart girth)

Question 6

What can effect how much you need to feed your horse?

Answer 6

growing, lactating or pregnant, working/undergoing heavy training workloads, environment
-> combination?

Question 7

What can reduce energy requirements in poor weather?

Answer 7

blanketing

Question 8

What are some important factors to consider when feeding a horse?

Answer 8

• forage quality and access
• frequency of feeding
• health issues, teeth, parasites
• social order and fear
• access to water
• housing and climate

Question 9

What will effect what you feed your horse in winter?

Answer 9

• weather
• age
• metabolic status
• work
• housing and management
• forage quality

Question 10

What are two very important factors to consider when feeding a non ruminant herbivore?

Answer 10

quality and intake

Question 11

How much of their daily dry matter intake will forage make up?

Answer 11

80%

Question 12

What are two methods of forage analysis?

Answer 12

• core sampling or laboratory analysis

Question 13

What is wet chemistry?

Answer 13

where your sample is analysed for its component nutrients using controlled chemical reactions in a laboratory

Question 14

What are the advantages and drawbacks of wet chemistry?

Answer 14

Drawbacks: more time consuming and more expensive
Advantages: more accurate for some nutrients such as trace minerals

Question 15

What is Near Infrared Reflectance Spectroscopy(NIRS)?

Answer 15

Rapid reliable method to analyse feeds that uses infrared light and computer calibrations with mathematical modeling rather than chemicals to identify and predict the amounts of nutrients

Question 16

What are the advantages of NIRS?

Answer 16

very accurate

- fast, clean and environmentally friendly

Question 17

Why can hay be so variable?

Answer 17

• Genetics
• Growing Conditions - fertilizer, water
• Harvest conditions - time of day, weather
• maturity
• health/vigor of the stand
• sampling procedure

Question 18

What is Non-structural carbohydrate (NSC)?

Answer 18

a calculated measurement of all the carbohydrate sources that MAY be digested rapidly to glucose in the stomach or rapidly fermented in the cecum
- parameter we need to watch when choosing hay for the metabolically challenged horse

Question 19

What can simple carbohydrates and/or excessive fructans cause?

Answer 19

rapid pH drop in pH in the hind gut

Question 20

What can too much rapidly fermented sugar in the cecum of your horse lead to?

Answer 20

• laminitis, diarrhea and/or gas colic

Question 21

How do you make the best of the wrong hay?

Answer 21

• dilute with other hay
• dilute with other fiber sources (cubes, soyhulls)
• modifications such as soaking
• small meals fed often is the safest
• include a supplement in your balanced diet

Question 22

Where are water soluble vitamins manufactured?

Answer 22

in the hind gut but stress can disrupt this

Question 23

What type of feed is good for supplementing your horses mineral intake?

Answer 23

manufactured feeds

Question 24

What can dehydration lead to?

Answer 24

impaction colic and death