Many horse owners have the misunderstanding that horses should have 1% of body weight of forage daily, then another 1% or more of other ‘stuff’ from bags. This belief comes from one of the most common quotes in horse nutrition, “Horses need at least 1% of body weight of forage daily.” Unfortunately for horses, people forget about the ‘at least’ part of the quote and assume they should feed exactly 1% of forage.

This misunderstanding is further perpetuated because horse feed and supplement manufacturers market their individual products, but no-one, until we created FORAGE FIRST, has really focused on the importance of forage in horse rations. And, people who sell baled hay don’t buy the $6,000.00-per-page, full-color ads in Equus magazine and can’t compete with the feed and supplement manufacturers in the business of marketing.

Mature horses can easily consume 3% of their body weight of forage each day. This is a daily ration of 30 pounds of hay or 100 pounds of pasture grass for each 1,000 pound horse. Of course, some horses easily become overweight and can’t have free access to forages. But, in most situations, we need to recommend at least 2-3% of body weight as forage or as much as is needed to meet their protein, energy and fiber needs before going to supplements or feeds. This means many mature idle horses need good-quality hay and a high-quality vitamin/mineral supplement with other supplements only as needed and NO PLAIN GRAINS.

In FORAGE FIRST programs, that means forage plus GROSTRONG Minerals in granular, block or QuadBLOCK form, and a little MOORGLO or HEALTHY GLO™ for their specific nutrients and to improve coat and hoof quality. Our Specialized Premium Blends (contain stabilized rice bran and Omegaflax™) and Fortified Feeds are based on digestible fibers, are balanced for protein and energy and are fortified with GROSTRONG vitamins and minerals. They are formulated for feeding rates up to 6 pounds per day using the latest scientific information and are packaged for convenience of feeding for busy horse owners. They are meant to complement forage-based rations.

Since maximizing forage is a foreign concept to many horse people, we are often asked questions like the following about perceived disadvantages of forage-based rations:

Q. “Won’t my horses get ‘hay bellies’ from FORAGE FIRST rations?”

A. FORAGE FIRST rations do not cause hay bellies. But, hay bellies can be the result of several management issues, including:

1) Feeding too much indigestible fiber, in other words, feeding hay that is too mature when cut and contains too much lignin fiber. Horses need early cut, immature hay. If good hays are difficult to find or are expensive, part of the hay can be replaced with processed forages (FORAGE FIRST Hay Cubes) or concentrates made with soybean hulls or beet pulp (JUNIORGLO, SENIORGLO, POWERGLO, GROSTRONG Ultra-Fiber, Patriot Pelleted Performance Horse Feeds) because they have less indigestible fiber than hays.

2) Not having a good parasite control program. For all horses with ‘pot bellies,’ but especially young horses, make sure they are dewormed regularly – refer to your veterinarian for deworming recommendations.

3) Not feeding enough protein and balanced vitamins and minerals for optimum growth and fiber digestion, which results in fiber being retained longer in the digestive tract. All horses under 18 months of age need a processed source of high-quality protein, since they are inefficient at removing protein from forages (JUNIORGLO 19%, Patriot 36% Concentrate, GROSTRONG Mintrate 33%, Show Boost 25%, PRO-VITA-MIN 20 Tubs, Patriot Junior 16%, SENIORGLO 15%).

4) Not making sure horses get sufficient exercise. Exercise strengthens the abdominal muscles, making horses look trimmer through the belly area.

Q. How can horses at the top levels of competition possibly win on forage-based rations?
 
A. All of our ambassadors and many of our customers perform and win at the top levels of their sports. In fact, horses on forage-based rations tend to be healthier, so they often are able to be shown longer than horses fed large amounts of grain and little forage.

A great example of this is “Feeding To Win With Less Grain’’ by Mike Flarida, which can be found on our web site in the Ambassador Section.


Other benefits of FORAGE FIRST rations include horses with a clearer focus when first ridden, less ride-down time required, and less chance of injury during warm-ups. These benefits occur because horses fed forage-based rations don’t have the typical ‘sugar high’ attitude seen in horses fed high-grain rations and sweet feeds.

For modern horse owners, a better rule than the One Percent Rule is: Provide as much as possible of your horse’s protein, energy and fiber requirements from good-quality forage. In fact, for all practical purposes, we now have a Three Percent Rule, not a One Percent Rule.

For More Information e-mail at AN.EquineHelp@adm.com

or call toll free
EQUINE NUTRITION HELPLINE
1-800-680-8254
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ADM Alliance Nutrition, Inc. 1000 North 30th Street P.O. Box C1 Quincy, IL USA 62305-3155