EQUINE EATING ESSENTIALS

Considerations for best feeding practices to maintain horse health.

By Chrissy Fly

Horses, often the backbone of daily ranch operations, require careful attention to maintain their optimal condition. At the 2023 Cattle Raisers Convention & Expo in Fort Worth, Texas A&M AgriLife Extension horse specialists Dr. Chelsie Huseman and Dr. Jennifer Zoller shared valuable considerations for feeding horses to ensure their vitality.

Peak Condition

According to Zoller and Huseman, the goal of any feeding program is to get each animal to a desired condition for maximum health and performance.

Understanding a horse’s body condition is crucial to determining the appropriate feeding practices. A reliable assessment of a horse’s overall health and weight is body condition score, which rates animals on a scale of 1 to 9 based on fat cover, with 5 being the optimum condition.

“It’s really important that we evaluate body condition score and try to keep our horses at this body condition score five,” Zoller recommended.

The best way to evaluate an animal’s body condition score, she explains, is by observing with sight and touch.

On a horse, the six key areas to watch and monitor for fat cover are as follows:

• Top of neck

• Either side of withers

• Down the back

• Either side of the tailhead

• Behind the elbow

• Over the ribs

When a horse begins to lose or gain weight, the ribs tend to be the first visible area of changing fat cover. Visible ribs indicate insufficient energy intake, necessitating an increase or change in feed.

On the other hand, overweight horses can experience metabolic problems similar to humans, like diabetes, and from an economic standpoint, it becomes an unnecessary drain on resources.

“If I’m paying for feed and I’m maintaining [horses] at a high body condition score, I’m pouring money down the drain and actually doing detriments to my animals,” Zoller said.

Feeding Factors At Play

To achieve desired body condition in every animal, the Texas A&M equine experts outlined how hierarchy dynamics, grouped feeding and feed composition all play a part in feeding strategy.

First, understanding instinctual herd dynamics and hierarchy within the herd is essential for managing feeding behavior.

“Horses operate in a herd that creates a hierarchy,” Huseman explained. “In the wild, there is a boss horse, or a dominant horse, and then there are others who individually fall in line. Every horse has a place.”

Huseman added the dominant horse will protect the herd, test new water sources and find the best grazing spots, but humans control those factors in a domestic environment. When feeding grouped horses, this inherent hierarchy can significantly affect how horses share and access feed.

Dominant horses tend to monopolize feed resources, potentially depriving subordinate horses of adequate nutrition. To ensure all horses receive adequate feed, Huseman suggested providing sufficient space for each horse during feeding.

This can be achieved by allowing 4 to 6 feet of bunk space per horse, or providing extra feed pans for individual feeding. If the dominant horse refuses to share, alternative feeding arrangements or schedules should be considered.

The next challenge of feeding in a group comes down to maintenance requirements, usually determined by age and activity. Grouping animals together based on energy needs is the most efficient way to tailor feeding programs.

To further demonstrate, Zoller provided an example of feeding a herd consisting of maintenance animals (light work on occasion); working horses; a weanling; and a retirement-aged animal.

In this instance, she recommended grouping the maintenance and working horses together, especially through winter when they have the same maintenance requirement. Placing the weanling and aged horse together and creating a creep feed situation allows the growing weanling to access the type of feed it needs, while the older horse can receive the supplements it needs.

Feed type and quality come next.

Zoller recommended every nutrition program start with long-stem roughage, whether that be grass hay, alfalfa or pasture.

Horses should consume a minimum of 1% of their body weight in pounds of roughage each day, and those on pastures naturally consume 2-3% of their body weight daily.

Additionally, a balanced diet should include fats and starches, or sugar, for bursts of energy. While a base level of starch is beneficial, too much can disrupt the pH level in the hindgut and can lead to colic or founder.

Horses often receive starch through grain, but new, spring grass is especially rich in sugar and starch. To avoid excess carbohydrate consumption when first turning animals out to pasture, Huseman recommended a phased approach, starting with 15-minute grazing periods and gradually increasing the duration by 15 minutes every day up to five hours before allowing horses to graze freely.

For horses on grain diets, Huseman encouraged a twoweek gradual introduction to feed changes to allow the horse’s stomach and system to adjust properly. Her rule of thumb is to not exceed a grain meal size greater than 0.5-0.75% of the animal’s body weight. Or, a 1,000-pound horse would receive about 5 pounds of grain in one meal.

Pointing back to the importance of recognizing hierarchy, Huseman said too much grain fed in one setting can prove detrimental to gut health.

For example, feeding 8 pounds of grain each to two animals pastured together may mean the dominant animal eats all 16 pounds at once — making something like gastric rupture plausible.

“It’s our job as managers to make sure that you’re feeding starches at the recommended amount and to not overload their system,” Zoller said.

She also shared that grazing horses and cattle together can benefit both species, if done appropriately.

Both grazers have different internal parasites, and when pastured together, can help break the parasite lifecycle for each. Additionally, their distinct grazing patterns contribute to more uniform grazing on pasture — horses spot graze, whereas cattle graze more uniformly.

However, Zoller reminded managers to “make sure that anything that you put out for those animals is safe for both species,” as certain additives used in cattle feed, such as ionophores, can be toxic to horses.

Through body condition scoring, tailored feeding approaches and careful management of feed transitions, horse owners can ensure animals receive the optimal nutrition while promoting overall health and well-being.

At Cactus Feeders The Cattle Come First, and Our Cattle Feeding Customers are the Core of Our Business

Get to know the individuals who make Cactus Feeders a success.

Cactus Feedyard

Matthew Turney, Manager

Cactus, TX office: (806) 966-5151 cell: (806) 282-7077

Centerfire Feedyard

Rusty Jackson, Manager

Ulysses, KS office: (620) 356-2010 cell: (806) 773-9457

Frontier Feedyard

Ross Kelso, Manager

Spearman, TX office: (806) 882-4251 cell: (806) 662-4741

Stratford Feedyard

Pistol Audrain, Manager Stratford, TX office: (806) 396-5501 cell: (806) 753-7133

At Cactus, our Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP) makes each employee an owner of the company. They think like owners and take care of the cattle like owners. That’s the secret to what has made Cactus Feeders a success, and that will continue to make us successful tomorrow.

Southwest Feedyard

Kacey Graham, Manager

Hereford, TX office: (806) 364-0693 cell: (806) 316-8799

Hale Center Feedyard

David Watts, Manager

Hale Center, TX office: (806) 879-2104 cell: (806) 202-0209

Ulysses Feedyard

Adam Gerrond, Manager

Ulysses, KS office: (620) 356-1750 cell:(806) 390-9034