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nutrient intake, but you must remember that your horse is too fat. The
horse may exhibit a lack of energy, very little stamina and may be
hypersensitive and display a resistance to work although they will
remain sound. The reason for these symptoms is because of the trace
vitamins and minerals including zinc, copper, selenium, Vitamin E and
thiamin. Now consider what happens when you give a horse “diet” feed at a rate of
three to four pounds per day. All the horses’ nutrient requirements are
not being satisfied with this intake. To prevent over consumption in
hungry horses salt should not longer be fed free choice but rather mixed
in with the feed at a rate of at least one ounce per day.
To effectively and safely change weight it will require more than
adjusted feed. A owner can be successful at getting a horse to drop a
few pounds If they feed only a pound of a highly fortified feed each day
while reducing grazing time and cutting back on the horses hay intake.
However, when the owner switches from a highly fortified feed to a
“diet” feed the horse will be getting a lower caloric grain concentrate
while at the same time being able to meet all the horses’ vitamin and
mineral requirements. It is actually more important to meet a horse’s
vitamin and mineral requirements than it is to try and reduce a horses
overall weight.
The “diet” feeds are designed to meet the horses desire to eat grain
while not giving them the excess calories and making sure the proper
intake of vitamin and minerals is met. Moderation is the operative word
when it comes to putting a horse on a diet. Always take your time when
trying to get a horse to lose weight. A horse will be hard to live with
if you force them to lose weight and this can even lead to metabolic
problems. Simply stick with a program if you notice your horse is losing
weight after about a month since this means the program is working.
Although what should you do if you horse is still too overweight. For
example, say your horse still has a body condition of eight. It may be a
good idea to remove the horses access to pasture and turn them out in a
dry lot with nothing but access to free choice water. You will
successfully remove enough calories with this diet, but you should
always make sure you maintain a proper balance of the necessary vitamins
and minerals.
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