Nutrition is critical for a holistic horse health program. That means getting the best nutrition available for your horse. When evaluating the cost of your horse’s feed you have to consider quality over price. Taking everything into consideration it costs about the same to manage a horse either conventionally or holistically, but I’ve found that holistically managed horses are much healthier overall, which means fewer chronic problems and more days of riding time. In fact, conventionally managed horses have about 7 times the number of sick days as holistically managed horses. It can cost more on a day to day basis to manage your horse holistically, but means less cost in the long haul. Here are some things to consider in a holistic horse feeding program to get the most “bang for your buck”.
What to Feed a Horse: Grass Hay for Horses
With a holistic horse health feeding program, I prefer to focus on grass hay for horses. With the price of grass hay for horses so high and the availability so unpredictable, I have been looking more and more at bagged hay for horses. I have fed alfalfa cubes, timothy balance cubes, chopped timothy hay and fortified timothy/orchard grass fortified hay. I have also fed an extruded feed for horses that is primarily alfalfa. I like the bagged hay for horses because there is almost no waste. I also keep a round bale so my horses still get long stemmed grass hay for horses to munch on. Luckily, none of mine are overweight and I think this is because I meet their micro nutrient requirements with my natural feed supplements so they are not hungry all the time. If I had a horse that insisted on overeating, even with good feed supplements, I would use the hay nets with small holes to limit intake. I am looking at the bagged hay for horses because it stretches my hay supply and I feel the lack of waste covers the extra cost. It is also easy to get and store.
What to Feed a Horse: Horse’s Feed
Feeds may list adequate protein, fat, vitamin and mineral levels but if the ingredients are not high quality they may not be absorbed or assimilated well by your horse. Formulated feed supplements for horses are often less effective than nutrient dense whole foods, such as blue green algae. Herbs can be very good for horses but quality can vary greatly so choose your suppliers carefully. If you have to feed twice as much of a product to get the same nutritional value it needs to cost half as much. When you do feed formulated, bagged feed rations, you will usually be best served to stay with well known companies that have a good reputation and research departments. Feed small amounts of these feeds and supplement with quality herbs and whole foods. The best way to know if your holistic horse health nutritional program is correct is to look at the vitality of your horse. Quality feed for horses is always worth the extra cost.
What to Feed a Horse: Supporting Digestion
I notice when I give the whole food type feed supplements such as these packets of blue green algae, probiotics and enzymes, I can feed much less in the way of a grain product. I like this because I feel a horse’s feed should be mainly forage. I also don’t like the synthetic and inorganic feed supplements in grain type feeds.
One of the best ways to get the maximum amount of nutrition from your horse’s feed and supplements is to improve your horse’s digestion. After all, what’s the point of spending a lot of money on good quality feed and supplements if your horse can’t absorb it? If only half of the supplements ingested are absorbed by the body, you might as well be throwing the other half in the trash!
One way you can help improve your horse’s digestion and improve absorption is to give him enzymes. This insures that your horse can break down and absorb the maximum nutrition from what he eats. You can see the brand I prefer here. These have been shown to survive longer in the digestive system than many other types of enzymes on the market.
Long after eating or taking nutritional supplements, your horse’s body continues the digestive process. To maximize nutritional absorption during the digestive process, he needs to have healthy bacteria in his gut. These bacteria, known as probiotics (literally meaning “for life”) live in the gut and help your horse further break down anything he eats. You can help populate your horse’s gut with these bacteria by adding probiotic supplements such as acidophilus and bifidus to his diet.
Getting the most out of your horse’s feed just makes sense financially and health-wise for your horse. Do a little research on your horse’s feed, make sure he is getting the best you can get for the money, add whole foods and digestive support and you’ll be on your way to having a happier, healthier horse.
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Photo Credit: http://pinterest.com/eighttwelve/beautiful-horses/
