With autumn here, horse owners need to take the time to review each horse’s diet. You have to look at how they’ve done over the summer and start planning for winter. It may require some changes in horse feed.

Where to start?

The first thing you need to do is get an idea of each horse’s weight. You don’t just want a figure in kilos though. You also need to check the fat cover. It is a good idea to do fat scoring. This will tell you whether there is excess coverage. If there is, or horses are massively overweight, your focus before winter will probably be on weight loss.

Consider grass intake

If you do need to adjust the diet for weight loss, start by adjusting grass intake. Autumn is a tricky time for grass. You can get a flurry of fresh growth here, especially if it is cool and moist. This grass can be high in carbs, so you need to be careful to limit intake.

If you have horses prone to laminitis, you need to manage grass intake carefully. It may be best to move them to an area where there isn’t any grass at all; it’s the easiest way to limit carb intake, manage their weight, and reduce the chance of laminitis.

Look at your forage

Horses will begin spending more and more time in stables as we move through autumn and into winter. As you do this, you need to provide forage to compensate for grazing. It’ll become the main part of their diet, alongside any other horse feed or supplements you use to ensure they get the right nutrients.

Good forage is vital for keeping horses happy and healthy. Most crucially, it reduces the risk of digestive problems. However, you also need to ensure that the forage will help them to maintain or lose weight. This means you have to consider different types and how you use them.

Haylage is a common choice, but has the highest amount of calories because the grass was cut earlier. So, if weight loss is the goal, it is best to avoid it.

Hay is a good alternative. The grass here is cut later, so has fewer calories. A good tip is to soak it in water to further reduce the calories.

Finally, there is straw. It has the lowest amount of calories because the grass is cut when it is mature. Helpfully, it has a higher amount of indigestible fibre too. Studies show that having 50% of forage as straw can reduce energy intake and doesn’t risk health problems like ulcers. However, you need to ensure horses have good dentition so they can chew it effectively.

Alternatives

Sadly in some cases it becomes difficult to provide good forage. Firstly, there could be availability issues. Secondly, the quality could be poor, particularly with straw. Finally, there may be conditions where soaking it is impossible due to freezing conditions.

If you do encounter any of these problems, it is best to buy horse feed products that can be an alternative. There are some great options, including feeds that combine straw and grass. Just be careful of the calories here. A balancer may be necessary.

Making diet changes

The last thing to note is most horses don’t do well with feeding changes. It is especially tricky moving to forage like straw. What you need to do is change the feed gradually. It can help ease the move.

Do you want to order horse feed?

JS Hubbuck Ltd has been helping horse owners for a long time. We stock fantastic products, including different feeds. More importantly, we have great product knowledge to help people choose the right ones for different horses. So, if you want to order, please speak to us.