Sympathetic Feeding

By Katie Williams M.Sc. (Dist) B.Sc. (Hons)

If there's one thing that owning horses teaches us it's that rarely is everything perfect! This is never more apparent than during the winter months when we probably can't exercise our horses as much and they have to spend long periods of time in the stable because they can't be turned out either. Most of us are aware that this isn't an ideal situation - so why do we do it?

There are numerous reasons but one of the main problems is that we live on a tiny island with lots of people, horses and enough rain to saturate our land. This means that there are often more horses than acres and as soon as it rains, paddocks quickly become muddy swamps. Also, horses often need to be stabled to protect their health. If they are good doers or prone to laminitis for example, stabling can sometimes be the only way to stop them from becoming seriously ill.

Whatever the reason, stabling a horse inevitably alters its diet and feeding behaviour which increases the risk of digestive upsets and other problems. Improving your understanding of how the horse's digestive system works should mean that you can feed more sympathetically and hopefully keep your horse healthy.

Why is fibre so important?

The horse has evolved to function most efficiently on a high fibre diet. Horses at grass will spend at least 16 hours every day eating and because they are consuming material that is either very diluted with water (spring grass) or very fibrous (winter grass), they can afford to eat lots of it. By feeding meals of concentrates we provide a horse with lots of calories in a small volume of feed which obviously doesn’t take anywhere near as long to eat. A similar situation would be like you either eating as much celery as you want all day or only being allowed one or two cream cakes instead. Although you might prefer the cream cakes, you know that firstly you would be hungry a lot of the time and secondly, that the celery is better for you. What many horse-owners are guilty of is attributing human feelings and emotions to the horse which, to give it its technical name, is anthropomorphism! This means that because coarse mixes are much more appealing to us and yes, probably the horse too, we like to feed them to our horses because it makes us feel good. What we need to remember though is that fibre is much better for our horses and has many important functions.

Fibre Facts

• Fibre takes longer to eat than concentrates – feeding plenty of fibre allows a horse to eat like a horse
• Chewing produces saliva – fibre needs to be chewed more than concentrates which produces more saliva that helps to moisten and soften food to make it easier to swallow. If you do feed concentrates, adding some chop will help to slow horses down when they're eating to promote better digestion
• Saliva is needed to regulate the acidity of the stomach contents – as fibre requires more chewing, more saliva is produced. This helps to regulate the acidity of the stomach contents as saliva contains bicarbonate which neutralises some of the acid. Too little fibre in the diet is believed to contribute to gastric ulcers.
• Fibre is important for encouraging gut motility – humans are encouraged to consume more fibre to promote regular bowel movements and also to try and reduce the incidence of colonic cancer. The horse also needs plenty of fibre to keep everything moving though the digestive tract. Too little fibre can result in build-ups of gas which can lead to colic symptoms.
• Fibre is digested by bacteria and other micro-organisms that produce heat as they break the fibre down – the heat produced from fibre digestion helps to keep the horse warm. Feeding plenty of fibre during the winter is vital for keeping your horse snug.
• Bacteria produce energy as well as B vitamins as they break down fibre – fibre is often perceived to just be bulk but in actual fact it can make a valuable contribution to a horse's nutritional requirements.

What you need to know is how to make sure your horse is getting plenty of fibre through the winter.

Feeding forage ad. lib.

Feeding ad. lib. means that whenever you go to your horse's stable there is always forage there. Many people think that because they feed lots of hay or haylage that this is ad. lib. when it often isn't. All horses apart from good doers should be fed forage ad. lib. and if you have a good doer then make sure that you are feeding as much forage as you can without promoting weight gain. There are lots of tricks for making hay/haylage last longer such as putting it in small-holed nets or putting several haynets inside each other. The most important thing is to try and keep the period of time the gut is empty as short as possible and for good doers this means using small amounts of forage at frequent intervals. Rather than giving one big haynet in the morning and one at night, try and provide four as evenly throughout the day as possible.

Giving horses a choice

Research is beginning to provide us with more of an insight into what helps to keep stabled horses happy and what doesn’t! It is suggested that at least 15% of domesticated horses exhibit a form of stereotypic behaviour such as cribbing or weaving, and perhaps not surprisingly, the factors that can result in digestive upsets are also those associated with causing behavioural problems. Restricted food supply, limited movement and social isolation are stressors that have been shown to lead to the development of stereotypic behaviour in the horse and several other species.

Providing more than one type of forage in the stable allows horses to perform more of their natural browsing/foraging behaviour and is being recommended by researchers. You could therefore use hay and/or haylage plus a variety of chops such as Dengie Hi-Fi Senior as well as root vegetables such as carrots and swedes. The greater the contribution fibre makes to a horse’s nutritional requirements, the less concentrates are required. Therefore, try to find as good quality forage as you can and feed plenty of it.

I can't feed my horse just on fibre can I?

Many horses and ponies can extract enough energy from fibre to maintain their bodyweight as well as supporting any work they are doing; good doers may just require a vitamin and mineral supplement alongside their forage. For horses doing more work though, or that need more help to keep their weight and condition, consider using higher energy fibre sources before turning to mixes and cubes. For example, did you know that alfalfa contains just as much energy as a low energy, high fibre mix? If you have only needed to use a low energy mix or cube in the past, you may find that you could use an alfalfa chop, such as Dengie Alfa-A Original, instead. This will take your horse much longer to eat than a mix or cube thereby keeping him occupied for longer.

As oil is a slow release energy source like fibre, the two work well together to provide energy for work or weight gain. It is no wonder then that there are now feeds available that combine the two, such as Dengie Alfa-A Oil. As oil also helps to generate good coat condition and promote improved stamina, it is a particularly useful addition to the feed for horses in work over the winter.

Most horses require an alteration to their diet as the seasons change. One of the consequences of change is an increased risk of colic; a change of either the concentrate ration or forage can double the risk. Therefore, whichever feed you decide to use, the most important thing is to introduce it slowly to give the horse time to adjust to a new diet.

So, if you want to feed your horse sympathetically, the key is fibre and plenty of it. If you can go one step further and provide your horse with several different types, you should find that he is happier too, and don’t just assume that if he needs more energy you have got to use a mix or cube – there are other fibre-based options available.