Because the temperature drops, horses burn more energy to stay warm, subsequently their power necessities will increase. We can present our horses further power in the form of concentrates and forage. Forages are digested by the microbes in your horses massive intestine and produce more heat than concentrates. An incredible analogy is to match focus and forage to your wooden stove. Concentrates are your kindling and Forage are the logs. Ideally a horse would obtain free alternative hay throughout the winter. How much extra forage does your horse want to stay warm? Then they can regulate if they want roughly in the course of the day and night time. Some of us have easy keepers who would not do nicely on free selection hay! For these horses, we have to regulate their intake. Weigh out their hay and provide it in small hole hay nets to prolong their amount of chew time. The first thing you want to do is learn how a lot your horse weighs. Using body size plus heart girth tends to be more accurate. I recommend utilizing the next method versus a weight tape that kelpies statue only wraps round the heart girth. Using a mushy measuring tape (the type usually found in sewing kits) measure your horses heart girth and write the number of inches down. Next, measure the physique size from level of shoulder to point of hip, and write it down. Write down the HG and BL also, this will help make sure you that you are measuring at the same location each time. Ensure you write all of it right down to refer to throughout the winter. If you are a couple of inches off, more than likely you are measuring from a slightly totally different location (until you can inform by trying that your horse has obviously gained or misplaced weight). Attempt to search out landmarks. Paint horses have nice landmarks! Now that you understand how much your horse weighs, you may figure out how much hay he must eat. Your common horse in perfect weight should eat 2% of his body weight. Some laborious keepers require upwards of 2.5% of body weight. You probably have an overweight horse, you can drop all the way down to 1.5% of his body weight, however no lower than that or you may be creating an entire different set of issues! 23lb of hay per day. Max weighs 1,159lb and needs to eat 2% of his body weight. When the temperature drops under forty five levels F (together with wind chill) horses start to burn further energy to stay warm. This 45 diploma mark is known as "Vital Temperature". For each 1 degree F beneath the vital temperature, your horse will require a 1% increase in digestible energy (DE). As with everything horse associated, there are a variety of variables to this rule, resembling wind chill, rain/sleet, your horses coat thickness or for those who blanket. Consider digestible energy like your horses calorie requirement. Since horse nutrition is 90% math, lets get again to that! If I proceed with the math we would calculate your horse's DE requirements, next calculate how much further DE is needed for your current temperature, subsequent test your hay to see exactly how a lot DE it provides per pound, lastly calculate how a lot additional hay will provide the extra DE required for the current temperature. If it is 20 degrees F where our buddy Max lives he would wish an additional 2 1/2-5lb of hay. This guideline is for horses at upkeep or mild work. Additional hay will be needed in case your horse is a hard keeper, in heavy work, or on poor quality hay.
