Owner or Person, it’s a Herd Mentality

Foodstuff nutrition draws heavily on the realm of human medical knowledge.  Because of the long-standing economic background, cattle have benefited from decades of management know how in feeding to maximize either pounds of gain or of production.  The changes being adapted by equine managers may prove to be the edge difference between in the money or not.  The single most important consideration for proper feeding of any horse is ensuring that the microfloras in the hindgut are healthy and happy. 

Because horses thrive on eating plant fiber materials, their entire intestinal tract is developed to digest and handle the volume coming into the large intestine, where the bacterium help to get the nutrients broken down and absorbed by the horse.  A change in hay or feeds overwhelm the happy little intestinal bugs causing digestive upsets.  Want a healthy horse?  Get back to what nature intended by supplying good grass hay, one that is easily digestible, leafy, not overly mature and dust free. 

Choosing the correct feed will not be a matter of choosing the paper colored bag with the large fancy “V” on it or the “Appointed Lifestyle Feeds” dictated by the pamphlet.  Not choosing the right feed will put you in a perpetual game of going in circles and 4 to 6 months from now, your new friends will spin you out another story of the magic high this and high that or low this.  Maybe the one riding the horse should first be able to answer the question, “what’s your hay like?”  The horse is made to eat fiber so that is the place to start or the base if you like.

The consumption of hay is the most important key in feeding your horse.  Many leave this variable as the last component, often coming up short saying; do you know where I can get some hay?  The key factor and its left to chance, go figure! 

If you want to actually accomplish a feeding regime with leanings of hands on horsemanship, become a horse person rather than a horse owner, put a little faith in feeding fundamentals of Step #1. Pay attention to your fiber source first.  Next time, we’ll paint a little picture of your step 2 options and you might be ready to throw off the shackles of the herd mentality when it comes to feeding your horses.