Because the temperature drops, horses burn more power to remain heat, therefore their power requirements will increase. We can present our horses further energy within the type of concentrates and forage. Forages are digested by the microbes in your horses large intestine and produce extra heat than concentrates. An important analogy is to compare concentrate and forage to your wood stove. Concentrates are your kindling and Forage are the logs. Ideally a horse would receive free alternative hay all through the winter. How a lot further forage does your horse need to stay warm? Then they'll regulate in the event that they need kind of during the day and night. A few of us have easy keepers who wouldn't do well on free alternative hay! For these horses, we have to regulate their intake. Weigh out their hay and provide it in small hole hay nets to prolong their quantity of chew time. The very first thing you want to do is find out how a lot your horse weighs. Utilizing physique size plus coronary heart girth tends to be more correct. I recommend using the next methodology versus a weight tape that only wraps around the heart girth. Utilizing a mushy measuring tape (the sort typically found in sewing kits) measure your horses heart girth and write the number of inches down. Subsequent, measure the body size from level of shoulder to level of hip, and write it down. Write down the HG and BL additionally, it will help make sure you that you're measuring at the same location every time. Be sure you write it all all the way down to discuss with throughout the winter. If you are just a few inches off, most definitely you are measuring from a barely different location (until you may inform by looking that your horse has obviously gained or lost weight). Strive to find landmarks. Paint horses have great landmarks! Now that you know the way much your horse weighs, you can determine how a lot hay he must eat. Your common horse in superb weight should eat 2% of his body weight. Some hard keepers require upwards of 2.5% of body weight. When you've got an overweight horse, you possibly can drop right down to 1.5% of his physique weight, however no less than that or you will be creating a complete different set of issues! 23lb of hay per day. Max weighs 1,159lb and needs to eat 2% of his physique weight. When the temperature drops below 45 levels F (together with wind chill) horses start to burn additional vitality to remain heat. This 45 degree mark is called "Critical Temperature". For every 1 degree F beneath the crucial temperature, your horse will require a 1% increase in digestible energy (DE). As with everything horse related, there are numerous variables to this rule, comparable to wind chill, rain/sleet, your horses coat thickness or for those who blanket. Think of digestible power like your horses calorie requirement. Since horse nutrition is 90% math, lets get again to that! If I continue with the math we would calculate your horse's DE necessities, next calculate how much additional DE is required in your present temperature, next test your hay to see exactly how much DE it gives per pound, lastly calculate how a lot additional hay will provide the extra DE required for the present temperature. If it is 20 levels F the place our buddy Max lives he would need a further 2 1/2-5lb of hay. This guideline is for jade horse statue horses at upkeep or mild work. Further hay will probably be wanted in case your horse is a hard keeper, in heavy work, or on poor high quality hay.
