This spring, help your horse look and feel his best by checking “better diet” off his list. That may seem like a daunting task, so we broke it down into six key steps so you can build your horse’s ideal diet from the ground up.
BUILD YOUR HORSE A BETTER DIET
- Focus on forage
- Consider calorie requirements
- Round out the MVPs (minerals, vitamins and proteins)
- Add a dash of salt
- Balance your fats
- Provide additional supplements if needed
- Focus on forage
Considering that your horse was designed to spend about 17 hours per day roaming and grazing, it’s no surprise that the foundation of his diet should come from forage. Whether it’s fresh pasture, hay, or a combination of the two, your horse should be eating 1–2% of his body weight in forage every day (for a 1,000 lb horse, that’s 10–20 lbs daily!). The best way to mimic Mother Nature would be to provide free-choice access to hay and/or pasture all day, but every barn is different and resources are limited, so work with what you’ve got and make sure you’re meeting that 1–2% requirement. - Consider calorie requirements
If your horse can’t maintain his weight on forage alone, consider adding grains.As forage is broken down in your horse’s hindgut, one of the by-products of the digestive process is volatile fatty acids, or energy. So, if your horse is getting the recommended amount of forage, he’s also getting a major source of calories. However, some horses — “hard keepers” or those in hard work — require additional calories to maintain their ideal weight. Since forage is your horse’s natural feed source and rich in calories, adding more forage should be your first weight-gain strategy. If your horse can’t maintain his weight on forage alone, consider adding a more calorie-dense feedstuff, like grains. Because your horse was not designed to digest large amounts of non-structural carbohydrates like grains, you should aim to feed the minimum amount needed to maintain his ideal body condition score. (Not sure how to determine your horse’s body condition score? Check out SmartPak.com/BodyCondition.)
- Round out the MVPs (minerals, vitamins, proteins)
How you supply these nutrients depends on what else your horse is eating:- Hay only— While your horse’s forage supplies some protein, vitamins, and minerals, it may not be enough to fulfill his daily requirements. Do a hay analysis or forage testing to find out. In many cases, you’ll want to provide a ration balancer to complement your horse’s forage and ensure he has the protein, vitamins, and minerals he needs.
- Hay and grain—If your horse is getting a full, recommended serving of fortified grain, his protein, vitamin, and mineral needs should be met. However, as discussed above, most horses simply don’t need that much grain. If your horse isn’t getting a full serving of grain, he also isn’t getting a full serving of vitamins or minerals, and a multi-vitamin/mineral supplement can help bridge those gaps. (Not sure if your horse is getting a full serving? Visit SmartPak.com/ReadingFeedLabels to learn
how to check.)
- Add a dash of salt
Even a horse in no work needs at least one ounce of salt per day!Salt (sodium chloride) is an essential part of your horse’s diet. It supports healthy nerve and muscle function and encourages your horse to drink, helping to avoid dehydration. Even a horse in no work needs at least one ounce of salt per day, and that need increases with exercise and hot weather. Hay, pasture, and commercial feeds provide very little salt, so top-dressing meals with table salt or an electrolyte supplement can help your horse get what he needs.
- Balance your fats
Omega 3 and omega 6 fatty acids are both important to your horse’s well-being, but maintaining the correct balance between the two is critical. Omega 6 fatty acids support pro-inflammatory reactions and omega 3 fatty acids support anti-inflammatory reactions; your horse should have two to four times more omega 3s than 6s. Lack of fresh pasture and high grain diets are two reasons that the modern horse’s diet often has too many omega 6s and too few omega 3s, setting the horse up for a chronic state of inflammation. Luckily, supplementing with omega 3 fatty acids like those in SmartOmega 3&ETM Ultra is an easy way to help correct this balance and let your horse’s good health shine through.
- Provide additional supplements as needed
Put your horse’s supplements on autopilot with SmartPaks!
Once you have the foundation of your horse’s diet squared away, consider whether he needs specific supplements for proactive support or to help manage any special health issues he may have. Visit our Supplement Wizard at SmartPak.com/Wizard to get a completely custom supplement recommendation for your horse, in less than five minutes!
Please note: This article contains general dietary guidelines. If your horse has a metabolic disorder or other condition with special dietary requirements, you should work with your veterinarian to design a feeding program that addresses your horse’s unique needs.
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My Gelding is 17.3 and about 1500 lb , he’s not a hard keeper.
He is on a slow feeder for hay and has access.
He get’s daily 2 lbs of Triple Crown Complete plus 1.5 lbs Triple Crown 30% balancer.
Farriers Formula
He doesn’t sweat much. Should I still add salt? We are in Central Florida.
Thanks for your question, Mary Ann!
Per the National Research Council, the average horse in no work requires one ounce of salt per day, just to meet their minimum requirement! Horses who are in work and sweat frequently may require even more salt. Since hay, fortified grain and ration balancers are generally not significant sources of salt, your gelding may benefit from additional salt in his diet. It may be beneficial to check in with your veterinarian, a certified equine nutritionist, or a resource like FeedXL.com to review your horse’s entire diet and ensure he’s getting the salt he needs. If you feel that your horse is sweating less than he should, your vet will also be a good resource to confirm that there are no underling issues that may need to be addressed.
Two questions…
My mare was just started on SmartCombo Ultra and Smart Metabolean, are the Omega’s balanced in these supplements? She also gets about a pound of Triple Crown Lite to mix with her Smartpak.
Is free choice access to a trace mineral block ok for salt or should I still provide daily electrolytes? Same mare as mentioned above, she’s always a good drinker.
Thanks!
Thanks for both of your questions, Jennifer! SmartCombo Ultra Pellets include the support of SmartShine Ultra, which not only may support a healthy skin and coat, but also provides omega 3s to support a normal omega 3 to 6 ratio in your horse’s diet. SmartMetabo-Lean Pellets also provide some omega 3s, so providing the two together may be beneficial! However, if you are concerned about this ratio, we recommend looking at your horse’s entire diet (grain, hay, supplements) to determine if the over-all ratio is ideal. The general rule of thumb is to shoot for a ratio of 2:1 or even 4:1 omega 3s omega 6s.
While that’s great that you’re working to ensure that your horse has the minerals he needs by providing trace minerals, it’s been found that it is somewhat of a myth that horses will eat the amount of minerals that they need and then stop when they’re provided free-choice. Rather, it seems that some horses simply like the taste of salt blocks, loose minerals, etc, and some are not huge fans and that seems to dictate how much (or whether or not) they will access free-choice options. So, it is possible that a horse is getting enough salt in these scenarios, but this is very hard to know for sure. That’s why it’s sometimes ideal to top-dress your horse’s feed with the proper amount of salt for their individual situation so that you can ensure that they’re getting the right amount, every time.