Question
I have a seven-year-old mare that is turned out 24/7. I ride her five days a week, between 45 and 60 minutes each day, usually working on low-level dressage and mid-level jumping. She’s moderately thin now, one step below optimal condition, and about 1,000 lb (450 kg). Her diet includes 7.5 lb (3.4 kg) high-fat feed (12% protein, 12% fat), 0.5 lb (0.2 kg) flax-based supplement (25% fat), and 0.5 lb (0.2 kg) balancer pellet (30% protein). I free-feed a mixed hay, but she’s not interested in it; she will stand and watch her pasturemate eat it, though. I’d like to try to build her topline, but she’s a nervous type and excess energy, I feel, will only make her more anxious. Recommendations, please.
Answer
When discussing what feedstuffs have the potential to make a horse more reactive or hot, starch content of the diet is typically evaluated, followed by an assessment of total calorie intake, as both high-starch diets and excessive calories have been shown to increase excitable behavior in certain horses.
Your mare’s current diet is appropriate for both weight gain and channeling calm energy, as the main energy sources are highly digestible fats and fibers. A strategic combination of diet and exercise is needed for building and improving topline. Offering good-quality protein sources and ample dietary calories are key. The diet you’re feeding provides high-quality protein, even before the addition of the balancer pellet.
While the total number of calories you’re providing your mare is adequate, the number of calories she is consuming is likely not. As you said, she isn’t an enthusiastic hay-eater, so she may be missing out on a significant number of calories that most horses receive from the forage portion of the diet.
Do you have a way of assessing how much forage (pasture/hay) she consumes normally? Horses have an innate requirement for fiber, typically provided in the form of forage, which needs to be satisfied to maintain both digestive and overall health of the horse. You may have to experiment with different forages. If the mixed hay isn’t to her liking, as you indicated, you might choose an all-grass hay or pure legume. Perhaps forage pellets or cubes would interest her. Horses that do not readily consume their forage portion are at greater risk for developing digestive health issues and require additional daily protection.
Hard keepers and nervous horses often benefit from receiving a daily digestive health supplement, like RiteTrac. (Horse owners in Australia should look for these research-proven products.) RiteTrac provides support for both the foregut and hindgut, as it contains fast-acting antacids, gastric-coating agents, and EquiShure, the only product available that delivers an active buffer directly to the hindgut. EquiShure supplementation helps maximize fiber digestion and minimize the incidence of digestive problems by ensuring the hindgut microbial population remains stable. The presence of digestive upset, even subtle changes, can result in weight loss, poor performance, and unthriftiness.
After assessing the amount of hay the mare receives and her weight gain since this diet was started, if you decide to increase the amount of sweet feed, I would suggest reducing or eliminating the amount of balancer pellet offered because you will then be oversupplying vitamins and minerals. You could incorporate oil or stabilized rice bran into the diet to boost calorie consumption as well.
