Horses diet- Is this working for them?

Question
I have a 3 yr. old filly with two geldings, and I'm wondering about there diet. The geldings are about 8 and 9. They have been eating brown grass with some green thru it and a sweetfeed oat mix or some corn this season so far. Are they getting any nutrition from this?

Answer
Hi Cheyenne,

Thank you for your question.  Without formulating a ration on paper, the best way to gauge your horses plain of nutrition is by evaluating their condition.  A body condition score of 5 is suitable for all three of your horses...for cold winter months a BCS of 6 is nice to have.  A BCS of 4.5 or less is too thin.  Body condition score essentially an indicator of energy in the diet...so to lower BCS feed less energy, and to increase BCS feed more energy.  Your horses energy is coming from forages (which they should always have free choice anyway)and the sweet feed you are feeding...adjusting the feeding rate of sweet feed will manipulate body condition score.  Corn is high in energy as well but is not a good feed for horse, and so I would suggest you only feed it if it has been steam flaked or extruded.

Muscle tone is a result of the amount/quality of protein being fed.  Horses derive protein from forages, as well as some feeds.  The sweet feed mix, if designed for horses, should have sufficient protein for your horses...depending on how much you feed.  Your geldings don't need a lot of extra protein if they are not working but your filly is still growing and developing...so you may want to feed her more.  How much more she needs is hard to gauge without knowing the quality of the forage she is eating.  If you let me know what type of plants make up the pasture she is eating, I could make a more accurate guess...is it all grass, some clover, some alfalfa?

The main concern I have over your ration would be how much mineral your filly is getting.  Because she is still developing, she needs significant amounts of calcium, phosphorous, magnesium, zinc and copper.  She may get enough of these minerals from the sweet feed she is eating, if she gets enough of it.  But if you don't need to feed a lot of sweet feed to meet body condition needs, you should consider adding a pelleted mineral supplement to her diet.

Of course, all of the horses need to have access to salt on a free choice basis.  Salt blocks can provide some salt, as can the sweet feed, but I really like feeding loose salt.  You can add the salt to the grain, or put it in an outdoor free choice mineral feeder (one that keeps it sheltered from the rain or snow).

Nutrient deficiencies manifest as poor body condition, poor coat/hoof quality, poor bone density (seen as unexplained lameness) and overall un-thrifty appearance.  Keep a close eye on how they look and how they act, as a marker for how good their diet is.  A more accurate answer is only possible by formulating a ration, which requires a description of the forages being consumed, horses body weights, horses workloads, and specifics about the sweet feed you are feeding (Crude Protein, Crude Fiber, Crude Fat).  I would be happy to run the rations for you using my new ration balancing software 'Ration-X'.  If you're interested, simply send me the information and it will only take a minute to run.

I hope this helps.

Thanks, Corlena