29 August 2008 09:59
My 14.3hh horse is nearly 11, and in winter is fed Happy Hoof Chaff, Speedibeet, Spillers High Fibre Cubes, mint and garlic. I’m unsure of what to feed him this spring – last year he got too much sugar, and was too much to handle. I don’t want a repeat this year.
Answer
By Your Horse
Nutritionist Lizzie Drury replies:
It is not unusual for some horses and ponies to become over-excitable during spring and early summer. Changes from the long winter routine, and the new high-energy spring grass, can dramatically exaggerate a horse’s natural temperament.
If your horse has a naturally excitable temperament, then you need to choose feeds that are unlikely to exaggerate this. High fibre feeds such as hay, high fibre cubes and sugar beet are digested in the large intestine by the huge microbial population. The process is slow and the release of energy is slow. These feeds are usually described as being non-heating.
I would suggest that your current diet is perfectly acceptable for an excitable pony through the summer and that there would be no advantage in changing to a cooling mix.
You will need to make sure that you are feeding sufficient quantities of High Fibre Cubes to meet his vitamin and mineral requirements. I recommend that he gets 1.5 to 2kg a day.
Any less than this and you will need to add a broad-spectrum vitamin and mineral supplement to his feed.