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Food supplements for horses

There are a number of considerations when giving supplements to horses. For example, what kind of foodstuffs are available, their personal preferences and so on. The following table summarises some of these main considerations:

Personal preference  likes and dislikes, catering for picky eaters, intolerance to certain foods etc—all can occur in horses just like in humans

Economy  cost effective diets, moneys available, how much time you have to feed

Availability of  seasonal variations, droughts, floods, the area that foodstuffs the horses reside in all decide what is available for horses to eat at certain times of the year  for example, there is quite often a shortage of lucerne hay at the end of winter and for part of spring, until the weather improves enough to be able to make hay

Pasture and the time of  lush feed, drought, paddock preparation and spelling year of paddocks to allow feed to recover, burning off paddocks at the end of a season to get rid of the weeds and dead grasses, soil types and areas, etc, all influence the quality of the feed available, and how much you need to give the horses in supplementary feeding  when stabled horses are turned out for a period of time each day to graze when the pasture is good, it is amazing how much quality feed they can actually consume in that period of time

The photo below shows a mare and her foal living in a very poor paddock in the middle of a very harsh summer drought. But they are both in good condition as the owner is feeding them four times a day.

The photo below shows the lush natural pasture in these paddocks is so long and thick that we can hardly see the fence! Horses in these paddocks would probably not need additional feeding. They would probably need watching for obesity and foundering!

The photo below shows a paddock that has been burnt off on purpose to kill dead grass and weeds at the beginning of spring. This is an excellent idea and it also helps the soil. The owner intends to plough and resow with summer grasses for his band of mares and foals.