Nutrition

These days as our lives become increasingly hectic and spare time is hard to come by, we are often faced with the most convienient way to do things. There are various pre-mixed, quick, easy and delicious smelling feeds available for horses at the tips of our fingers, but are they what our cherished pets need?

The answer is simple. Would you feed your children fast foods as their staple diet? Hopefully not!!! So why feed you horse on fast, processed feeds.

The truth is that a natural feeding regime teamed up with natural supplements will benefit your horse beyond that of a mixture of processed feeds. After all, nature has been successful with supplying us with everything that we need to grow strong for many years. And as for convienience, natural feeds and supplements are available in abundance.

How would I know what to feed?

As an Equine Nutritionist, Sue places alot of emphasis on the nutrition of your horse when she is called out for a consultation.

Prior feeds are always considered, along with present feeds, work load, weather conditions, available pasture and the individual horse's metabolism, demeanor and any illnesses both past and present.

It is important to remember that a particular diet is not forever as there are a number of factors which will vary over time and for this reason will change your horse's diet also. If you were to relate this theory back to humans you would see that our diet often changes between seasons, various sports played throughout the year and changes in our metabolism particularly when we consider the changes in our diet from the time we are toddlers, teenagers and adults.

Supplements

When it comes to feeding supplements, it can be very confusing for some owners. Supplements may not always be listed on the packaging of some feeds and often this causes owners to double up on supplements. A good rule to remember is "more is not better."

If you are unsure, ask for help as supplementation will vary considerably depending on many factors including the age of your horse (particularly in young horses). Varying pasture will also have an affect on diet and supplements, for example many Australian soils are deficient in copper which is important in the assimilation of iron and strengthening of the immune system just to name a few. Rosehips are an excellent and safe way of supplementing copper which also have the added benefit of being high in Vitamin C, Cobalt and countless other vitamins and minerals. Garlic is also excellent and safe to feed, it is also rich in Copper and Sulphur and countless other minerals and is often fed to horses for its preventative properties fighting both fungal and bacterial infections.