Healthy as a Horse If you are new to the world of horse ownership, you are waking up to the knowledge that caring for your equine athlete requires time, dedication, and a new set of skills and knowledge. We asked Dr. Gustavo De Cillo of De Cillo Equine Clinic to give us a rundown of the basics of horse care for new horse owners.
NUTRITION There are two important components to your horse’s diet: hydration and nutrition. Both are based on the horse’s energy output and performance. “We feed the horses depending on how active their life is,” explains Dr. De Cillo. “If a horse is working at a high-performance level, like in the 8-goal league, they really require a huge amount of energy provided from their feed. A horse that plays polo once a week in the Margarita League doesn’t require as many calories. We will ask a client: What are you going to do with this horse? How often are you going to ride and for how long? That will give us good information about how much energy a horse needs, and we tailor the nutrition to those needs.” During the season, your horse’s diet will consist of good quality hay and alfalfa that is clean, dry (to prevent mold), and has high protein content. In the off-season, if you turn your horse out, they are pretty self-sustaining: they will subsist on the pasture grass with a little bit of help from hay if it gets really cold.
38 HOUSTO N P OLO C LUB
