Feeding The Stabled Horse

25 October 2006

With winter just around the corner, the weather seems to be making up for the lack of rain through the summer months, meaning that, for many of us, we have reduced turnout and our horses are confined to their stables.

Some horses appear to cope quite happily with spending less time out at grass, while others may become fractious, excitable or find it more difficult to keep condition on. The aim of the following article may help you to manage these types of horses better and make winter and the care of the stabled horse more bearable!

FORAGE:

Over the last several decades, research has dismissed some of the commonly held beliefs concerning the nutritional management of horses but, unfortunately, some of the myths regarding feeding forages still abound, despite the domestication of horses thousands of years ago and the volumes of research. In some situations, hay is regarded as a mere filler and not nearly as crucial to the horse's nutritional well-being as the concentrate portion of the diet or it is regarded as a 'pacifier' of sorts, something to keep horses occupied, particularly if boredom may rise its ugly head in the form of cribbing, box walking, or some other vice. The fact is that forage and a supply of fibre is essential to the healthy function of the equine digestive tract, and whether the horse is a happy hacker or a top class racehorse, forage should be given primary consideration in the horse's diet. A diet that contains large amounts of concentrate is an artificial, if often necessary, deviation from a natural management pattern but should be no excuse as to why your horse does not receive adequate levels of forage in his diet. Hay is the traditional source forage for horses but finding consistently good hay is difficult. Some experts believe that up to 90% of UK hay is too unhygienic to be fed to horses, as it contains dust and mould particles that cause respiratory problems like recurrent airway obstruction (RAO), also known as COPD. The typical calorie content for UK hay is 5-7 MJ/Kg, with a crude protein level of 6%; around half that found in a typical cooling mix. The hygiene quality of the hay is more important than its nutritional value. How many of you have a horse that coughs once or twice a day? Dust and mould spores irritate the horse's respiratory system and may lead to coughing, flared nostrils, mucous production and laboured or forced breathing. These could all be symptoms of RAO and are the result of hypersensitivity to dust and moulds. If you choose to feed hay there are several things that you can do to check its quality

  • Hay should smell sweet and clean.
  • It should not feel damp but should be green in colour.
  • Shake out the hay in good light and assess the volume of dust and mould particles.
  • The most reliable method is to have the hay analysed by a laboratory.

Some feed manufacturers offer this service, which can include analysis for energy, protein fibre and hygiene quality.

We recommend soaking hay before feeding it. There are differences of opinion about how long hay should be soaked for, but research carried out by Dr Liz Warr at Writtle Agricultural College, Essex, suggests soaking hay for half an hour to help reduce the number of particles a horse can inhale.

Haylage is becoming a popular option for many horse owners because of its better nutrient value and hygienic quality, but remember that, in general, haylage has a higher water content than hay, so to ensure adequate fibre intake you will need to feed more haylage than hay on a weight for weight basis.

For any horse in the winter, whether he is living in or out, providing plenty of forage will help to ensure that he maintains condition. Good quality forage should be viewed, not as purely providing bulk, but also as a good energy source to provide calories to help maintain body condition. Horses that are kept in stables for prolonged periods very often have their natural instinct to trickle feed taken away from them. Ensuring that your horse has ad-lib hay will not only help to maintain a healthy digestive system but will enable him to tickle feed, chew and stimulate saliva production.This will help protect against the effects of acid build-up in his stomach, which can lead to problems such as gastric ulcers. New research has shown that giving horses a variety of forages allows them to exhibit normal foraging behaviour, thereby improving their welfare.

Some horses and ponies would simply get too fat if they were provided ad-lib forage, which is just as much of a welfare issue as not providing enough forage, so it may be necessary to limit his forage intake, which is possible without predisposing him to digestive upsets such as colic. The key is to try and keep the period the gut is empty for as short as possible. Try providing lots of small haynets through the day to help the trickle of forage through the digestive tract. We appreciate that practically this may be difficult as we all have busy working lives but if you are on a yard it's worth seeing if you could share the responsibility with some of the others and take it in turns to go to the yard at lunchtime or a little later!