Nutrition Focus: Lock Down

Lorna Edgar – specialist equine nutritionist

Lock Down

Photograph by Lydia Taylor Oli Hipwood ponies on exercise 2020

Your #StayAtHome nutrition Q&A’s answered

As I ponder my next article for Polo Times at the beginning of April, the sun is shining but, everything is cancelled and we #STAYATHOME – what totally surreal times we are living in. By the time this article is published we may have a better picture as to what we can expect of the polo season and we all have our fingers and toes tightly crossed.

In light of the current situation, I thought I’d answer some relevant questions, so with the help of some loyal and patient clients we have some Q&As.

Q: I am keeping my horses in and ‘ticking over’ – how is it best to feed them?

A: By now they should have gained condition after the winter, so whilst they are in doing set work with plenty of walking, and not really embarking on a lot of fast work, the diet should be enough to maintain condition without the need for extra energy: • Horse & Pony Cubes or Mix (high fibre) – to maintain current condition • Conditioning Cubes or Mix – to put on condition • Low starch, high fibre & oil feeds – condition without the increased starch/quick releasing energy • Balancers – low calorie option

I would anticipate feeding no more than 2 to 2½ round bowl Stubbs scoops of cubes / 2½ to 3 scoops of mix (approximately) or 3 measuring mugs of a performance or stud balancer.

You may wish to also continue ‘bulking’ the feed out with half a scoop of chaff or beet pulp which is absolutely fine as allowing them as much forage as they can eat is, of course, ideal.

Q: During such hard times I really need to watch my budget, how can I do this?

A: Absolutely – it’s natural that this a very difficult time for everyone so the budget is going to be tight, but obviously we still want to do the best by your horses, so my budgeting points would be:

• Forage is generally, the cheapest element of the diet, so let them eat as much as they can, as it will help to provide some calories to maintain condition • Turning out overnight on grass, this will save forage and bedding bills – and if they get a bit of a tummy at this stage does it really matter? • By feeding more forage you could possibly reduce your feed bill – conditioning feeds could be switched to a basic high fibre feed, for example • Cubes are very often cheaper than a mix equivalent • Bulking feeds out with chaff and beet may not be necessary – especially if out on grass or having lots of hay/haylage but for those greedy individuals keep a handful in to slow them down • Balancers can work out to be economical – measuring in mugs rather than scoops, they are nutrient dense and go a lot further If you would like some help with working out some costings please do not hesitate to contact me – details below.

Q: How do I feed if polo begins but we have to go back to lock down again?

A: So, the biggest concern is the horses having the high energy feed (often starch/ cereal based) increased to support the increased work load, BUT we now need to drop that energy in the diet so we do not increase risks of tying up. You could: • Remove some of the high energy feed and replace with a Horse & Pony Cube, for instance • Reduce the high energy feed and top up with a balancer instead • Reduce the ration to MAINTENANCE quantities as above • Keep up with electrolytes as you may well be stick and balling and doing fast work

Q: We have decided to turn our horses out until we know what is happening, what would be best for them? They had done about a month of work until turned away.

A: They really need some basic nutrition, as they may not have so long to come back into work to reach playing fitness, and one way to help that is by ensuring they are getting at least some protein, vitamins and minerals – so a balancer would be the ideal scenario, 2 to 3 mugs per day.

Or you might want to give them 1½ round bowl scoops per day of Horse & Pony Cubes, or for the absolute bare minimum some mineral blocks.

What I would say is be careful they are not in a field of lush grass, you will then be

White Crane ponies living out Photography by Jasmine Calvert-Ansari

rushing them back into work with fitness to gain, muscle to be build and fat to be lost – which really could take its toll on their body, especially those older horses or those that have had injuries.

Q: I have put my horses in the summer paddocks and the grass is amazing, this is fine, I guess?

A: EEEEEEEK! Be very careful, especially if they are not in work, as this just rings alarm bells for a big risk of laminitis.

Why not strip graze the paddock so you can at least restrict/monitor how much they are eating, or move them to fresh grass GRADUALLY, an hour or so at a time until they have eaten some of the grass down when you can then turn them out for longer periods.

Adapting the previous answer to the previous question would also be ideal – the grass will provide the calories but not a balance of proteins, vitamins and minerals.

And one yard thinking ahead, made this point…

“We are keeping our horses in for as much as the summer as possible whether they

play polo or not, leaving them out in the field to have a possible 18 months off work is not something we wanted to do – so we have them in work, they are living out, they are on their hard feed, they have shoes on, wormed, teeth done, vaccinated – all ready to go if they need to, or they can stay in for a few months of fitness, muscle development and general TLC rather than being turned away for such a long period of time.”

I hope the above points are of a bit of help, if I can help in any way please do call or email. I keep my fingers tightly crossed that by the time I am pondering over my next article we might have a light at the end of the tunnel.

In the meantime, #STAYATHOME #STAYSAFE

If you have any subjects you would like me to cover I would love to hear from you!

Contact Lorna Edgar of Baileys Horse Feeds on lorna@baileyshorsefeeds.co.uk