Many people worry about which they should be feed first – hay or grain?
If you feed starchy cereal grains (oats, corn, barley, etc.) on an empty stomach, the horse will produce more acid than normal potentially leading to ulcers. Plus, the grain will leave the stomach quickly and head to the small intestine where it will not be fully digested.
If this undigested grain ends up in the hindgut where starch would be fermented by the bacterial population, then this can increase the risk of laminitis.
Your horse should have access to forage (hay and/or pasture) at will, therefore, when you feed your grain, the horse’s digestive tract should already have hay flowing through it.
If hay is present in the stomach first, it creates a physical barrier for the grain to move out of the stomach as quickly. When is hay present, the fiber in the hay mixes with the starch from the grain and then this enters the small intestine. Fiber’s presence slows down the process of digestion.
So the answer is to trickle feed forage all day using a slow feeder if necessary to avoid grain on an empty stomach. For more about the digestive tract click here. For more about slow feeders click here.
I truly love equine nutrition and love helping horse owners help their horses, unfortunately, I do not have the time to answer the 100s of PMs and emails I receive every week seeking advice. I feel bad not answering but I simply cannot for several reasons:
1) There is not enough information provided to offer solutions.
2) There is always a liability without this information.
3) My time and experience has value.
I really do appreciate and thank you for taking the time to write me and to read my blog but if you need answers that are not in one of my blogs (use the search bar to see if your topic is on the blog) if I suggest you:
1) Call your vet– they know your horse and need to be involved with their health plan.
2) Call your feed company– they have great feed reps that know usually know alot about nutrition. If they don’t find one that does.
3) Contact your State college that has an equine program. They usually have someone with a PhD in equine nutrition or Masters level students.
As temps dip down and the weather stays cold, a horse’s nutritional requirements change. It’s best to have a horse be a tad over weight (maybe a 6-7 BCS) entering the winter and with a thick hair coat and fat cover.
It has been estimated that a horse with a healthy winter coat, that can keep dry, will be comfortable at temperatures down to 18° F; and if the horse has access to a shelter it can tolerate temperatures as low as -40° F.
If you are lucky enough to be able to ride throughout the winter and clip your horse then understanding proper blanketing is a must!!
As winter’s temperatures drop a good rule of thumb to remember is for every degree below 18°F the horse requires an additional 1% energy in their diet. This might prompt you to ask, “what is the best source of additional dietary energy during the cold winter months?”
Good question! But first we must understand how horses utilize the dietary energy in the winter to keep warm. They do it in a couple of different ways. First, there is the heat given off as a by-product of normal metabolic processes. Secondly, there is the heat generated from microbial fermentation of forages that occurs in the hindgut during digestion.
Some horse owners believe that feeding more concentrates (because they are energy dense), will help keep the horse warmer. But this isn’t how the horse was designed. We must remember that horses are designed to eat fiber/forage. Another reason to not focus on grain for heat is that there isn’t as much heat produced as a byproduct of digestion, absorption and utilization of grains as there is from the microbial fermentation of forages.
So, you should think about increasing the amount of forage in the diet NOT GRAIN to help meet the increasing energy needs resulting from winter weather. This will result in an increase in microbial fermentation which will help keep the horse warm.
Here’s an example, if a 1000 lb horse needed 16 lbs of good-quality hay each day when the temperature was 18° F, its requirement could be expected to increase by approximately 2 – 2.5 lbs to 18 -18.5 lbs if the temperature dropped to 0° F. Note: The increased dietary energy requirement would be even greater if the horse didn’t have access to shelter.
An additional very important point to consider is the need to provide access to clean, “warm” water. There was a study that determined that the most pleasing temperature of water for a horse is 45-65 degrees. So bucket warmers, and insulated troughs are great ideas to use in the winter. If the water is ice cold, the horse will not drink as much.
There are a few reasons beyond the obvious why good water intake is so important. A horse will require a lot more water when eating dried feedstuffs like hay, compared to horses grazing on lush pasture as pasture grass has water in it. In addition, horses usually move less in the winter due to lack of exercise and confinement. Movement aides in digestion and keeps things moving through the gut. Water also helps this process. The goal should always be to maximize water consumption to help prevent the possibility of dehydration and colic.
Winter adds an extra layer of concern for your horse’s health and nutrition needs. Simple rules such as increased forage and water intake will go a long way to help insure you both survive the coldest months!
Occasionally I will post an article from one of my friends in the equine nutrition field. One of the best of the best is Dr. Marty Adams. I learn something every time I am with Marty. Here is a great article he wrote about some of the common Myths & Misconceptions in feeding your horse. Hope you learn something too 🙂
By: Dr. Marty Adams (PhD Equine Nutrition)
“Compared to most classes of livestock, there seems to be more myths and misconceptions when it comes to feeding horses. Many of these feeding myths appear to be long-held traditions that have been passed down from horse owner to horse owner. These myths or misconceptions are likely due to the fear of harming the horse, a lack of understanding of the feedstuff or the feeding practice, or thinking that the horse’s digestive system or nutrient requirements are similar to that of the human horseman. The old adage that “It’s always been done this way!” can be a powerful argument in keeping a tradition alive, in spite of scientific fact. We now have some scientific evidence that some of these “horse tales” are not true and may be harmful to the horse, so let’s review some of the most common horse feeding myths and misconceptions. Continue reading →
While I believe that following fads in equine nutrition is all too common and sometimes risky, every once in a while, something comes along that has the potential to really add to value. Coconut meal and oil is such a product.
What is it and where does it come from?
Copra meal, or Coconut meal, is a feed ingredient that is the by-product of the oil extraction from dried Coconut kernels. It comes from the white part of the Coconut, not the shell or husk. The nut is split and the kernel is removed and dried to below 6% moisture.
The dried Coconut is ground, flaked and cooked until moisture is brought down to 3%. The oil is mechanically extracted from the flakes using an expeller machine, resulting in low-colored oil and a copra cake containing about 7% oil.
Coconut meal is rarely a main ingredient in horse feed. Currently it seems to be fed primarily as a supplement in regions where Coconuts are grown and processed or where the product is easily available.
Coconut meal can be pelletized and used as a feed or be used as a protein supplement for grass-fed animals, either alone or in combination with other protein sources.
The Equine Nutrition Nerd 
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