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Horse Health

Spring can be an important time when we consider the health of a horse. Most horses were idle during the winter and now we are going to ask them to come out of hibernation and perform.

Spring vaccinations should include Eastern and Western Sleeping sickness, Tetanus, Influenza, and Rhino pneumonitis, and West Nile, as a minimum program. Consult your veterinarian about his advise on additional vaccinations. This will depend on how many and what horses your horses will come in contact with and disease problems in your area.

Teeth should be checked to see if sharp points or other problems have developed in your horse’s mouth.

A parasite control program should continue throughout the year. The frequency and products used are based on the level of parasites and opportunities your horse has to be infected. The minimum program should include a de-worming at least twice per year.

Proper hoof care can make the difference between a sound and lame horse. Hooves that are allowed to get too long can crack, spread, and change the correct angle of the hoof and pastern. Any of these situations can cause lameness that may be permanent. Hooves should be shod if they wear off faster on rocks and pavement than they are growing. Most horses don’t need shoes if they spend the majority of their time on soft ground.
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Feeding Horses

Feeding horses is sometimes more of an art than a science. Horses can be limit fed or fed free choice. Mature horses should receive at least one and a half percent of their body weight as the forage portion of their diet. Horses can be fed free choice forage as pasture or hay. If their energy, protein, mineral, or vitamin requirements are not met, a concentrate of grain mixture can be fed.

Fats or oils can be added to grain mixes to increase the energy concentration of the mixture. Currently, with low grain prices, the addition of fat or oils is not as economically feasible as when grain prices are high. Fats are more beneficial in a ration when the energy requirements of the horse are very high and large amounts of grain are being fed.

A good quality hay or pasture should be fed. This can be grass, alfalfa, or a mixture. Alfalfa is usually higher in energy, protein, minerals, and vitamins. Hay should be leafy, clean free of mold and dust, and not excessively mature. Hay can be fed as big round, big square, or little square bales. The larger bales are usually less expensive per ton but harder to handle if you don’t have the right equipment.
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Horse Nutrition

As we consider horse nutrition, we should first understand how horses are different than other kinds of animals. Their teeth are a very important part of the digestive system. As horses grind their feed to make it more digestible, their teeth may develop sharp points. These points make it painful to chew and horses will begin to swallow feed that has not been ground up enough. An annual check of their teeth by a veterinarian or an experienced horseman can determine if this is a problem. Filing or floating of the sharp points will solve this problem.

A horse has a very small stomach compared to a cow. Usually the horse’s stomach is about one tenth the size of a cow’s stomach. This is the reason that horses do best with small frequent meals. This can be done by feeding a horse two or three time per day or keep forage such as hay or pasture in front of the horse at all times. The only digestive problem horses can experience by continuous access of forage is founder or laminates. This problem is caused when horses over eat succulent new grass. This usually occurs when hungry horses are first put on new grass in the spring. Horses should be gradually introduced to lush grass. Filling them up on hay before putting them on grass can do this or gradually increasing the time the horses have access to lush grass. Ponies, mares, and “easy keeping” horses are most susceptible to this disorder.

Water is a very important nutrient. It’s consumption is influenced by level of exercise, temperature, and the amount of moisture in the ration.

Energy being fed determines the body weight and condition of the horse. Most of all of the energy requirements can be met by feeding good quality forage. Energy requirements are highest during late gestation, lactation, growth, and work.

The most common sources of supplemental energy are grains such as corn and oats. Either grain can be used but currently the cost per unit of energy from oats is twice the cost of corn. There is little value in processing oats but corn should be cracked, rolled or flaked.

Protein is needed for muscle and bone growth, milk production, fetal growth, and normal maintenance. Requirements can normally be met with good quality forage on mature horses. Growing or reproducing mares may need supplemental protein.

Quality forage usually provides adequate amounts of most minerals and vitamins but they can be added with the supplements to balance the diet.