FEEDING TIME POP QUIZ

Want to try something fun? Fix yourself a snack and take a few minutes to try this pop quiz. You don’t have to submit answers online, you don’t have to let anyone know that you are doing it, you don’t even have to write down the answers. It’s just a check on your knowledge about feeding. Ready? Here we go.

MULTIPLE CHOICE

1. What is the best way to keep your horse warm in the winter?

1. Put a blanket on him

2. Keep him inside

3. Feed him extra hay

4. Feed him corn

2. How much does a coffee can hold?

1. One pound

2. One quart

3. One meal

4. It depends

3. What makes a horse “hot?”

1. Too many carbs

2. Too much protein

3. Too much sweet feed

4. Too much fat in his diet

4. The best diet for a horse is:

1. A traditional one of oats, barley, and/or corn

2. One that addresses his nutritional needs

3. Sweet (textured) feed

4. Pellets

5. The person who is responsible for remembering the name of the feed that my horse eats is:

1. Me

2. The guy at the feed store

3. The person in charge of feeding at the barn

4. Me

6. The best advice about feeding my horse comes from:

   1. My vet and feed store

   2. My trainer and farrier

   3. The person who wins all the blue ribbons

   4. Online

TRUE OR FALSE

7. First crop hay is better for horses than second crop hay

8. You can tell how good your hay is by its smell and color

9. Hay is all a horse needs to eat

10. Bran mashes are great to give horses on a cold night

11. All senior feeds are the same

12. Ration balancers are used just like feed

13. Ration balancers and complete feeds are the same thing

14. It’s ok to create your own mix of horse feed

FILL IN THE BLANK

15. My horse eats __________pounds of hay per day.

16. My horse eats __________pounds of feed per day.

17. The name of the feed my horse eats is ___________ and it’s made by (company name) ________________.

18. The feed that I give my horse is ____________% protein, _________% fat, and ___________% fiber.

19. I evaluate my horse’s diet every (period of time) _____________ .

20. I feed the following supplements for these purposes:

SUPPLEMENT PURPOSE

So…how did you do? Give yourself a jellybean or an M&M for each correct answer.

1. To keep him warm, feed him more hay. The digestion of hay creates metabolic heat that warms a horse from the inside. Corn doesn’t. Corn provides a quick release of starch, which breaks down to sugars and can cause digestive upset if your horse isn’t used to having a large amount. I’m not going to discuss blanketing and keeping a horse inside during cold weather because each horse is an individual and your choice should be based on his age, health, living situation, etc. But whatever you do, give him more forage for warmth.

2. How much feed a coffee can holds depends on the type of feed and the size of the can. If you measure out the same VOLUME (such as four cups), then pellets are typically heavier than textured feed and both are heavier than extruded feed. But what about the size of your coffee can? A recent survey in the grocery store showed coffee cans that range from holding eight ounces OF COFFEE to forty ounces OF COFFEE. Don’t make the mistake of confusing volume with weight, and don’t assume that the density (weight per volume) is the same for all feeds. (Remember too, the density of coffee is different than the density of feed.) All of this is a long way of saying that a coffee can doesn’t equal a pound or a quart of feed. Weigh one of your horse’s meals to see what he’s really getting.

3. Genetics aside, too many unused carbs make a horse “hot” in behavior. If he isn’t getting enough exercise, he has energy to burn. Protein and fat do not make your horse hot. You can’t blame sweet or textured feed either, as some textured feeds are lower in carbs than pelleted feeds.

4. The best diet is one that addresses his nutritional needs. This could be a combination of forage and ration balancer, forage and commercial feeds, or all three. Traditional diets of oats, corn, and barley don’t provide the protein, vitamins, and minerals that he needs. Whether you choose a pelleted feed or a textured feed is based on your personal preference and your horse’s needs and palate.

5. The person who is responsible for remembering the name of your horse’s feed is YOU. It’s nice if the feed store remembers but it’s not their job. The responsibility is yours. And yes, the person feeding your horse should know the name, weight, and frequency of what your horse eats, but the responsibility is yours. To put it another way, do you expect the cashier at the grocery store to remember what kind of cereal you bought last week? Of course not! You shouldn’t expect the feed store to remember for you either.

6. Advice about feeding your horse should come from your vet and your feed store. Think of it this way: do you ask the guy behind the counter how to trim your horse’s feet? Do you ask your truck mechanic how you should deal with training issues? Each person has their area of expertise and we need them all, so make sure you are asking the correct people. If you research online, make sure you are looking at reputable sites such as feed companies or scientifically based/peer reviewed research. Fuzzy-Wuzzy-Pony Forum and Drafts-R-Us don’t count. In fact, as a general rule, I don’t even look at forums. Too many unproven opinions.

7. This is a bit of a trick question. Second crop may be better, or it may not. You won’t know unless you have your hay analyzed.

8. False. The smell and color of your hay will tell you whether or not it is musty/moldy and will show you the color but that’s it. You won’t know for sure unless you have your hay analyzed. Hay that looks green and smells sweet is more pleasant than the alternative, but you can’t determine protein, vitamins, minerals, and carbs by color or smell. You can’t tell the amount of calories by smell either.

9. Generally false in our part of the country. That’s because our hay doesn’t always contain all the nutrients that your horse needs to stay healthy. I like to compare it to eating TV dinners: they will keep you alive but it certainly isn’t balanced nutrition for the long haul. So what do you do? Add a ration balancer. And get your hay analyzed!

10. Most definitely FALSE! Feeding bran mashes on a cold night or after a hard workout may be tradition and may make you feel good, but it could make your horse’s gut feel really bad. This is because it’s a huge change in feeding routine, and the bacteria in his system don’t have time to get used to it so they are overwhelmed. Many people believe that bran has a laxative effect-and it certainly can because it upsets your horse’s delicate digestive system, but not in a good way. Feeding bran on a regular basis isn’t a good idea either because it has a lot more phosphorous than calcium. The horse needs a ratio of two parts calcium to one part phosphorous. Extra calcium generally isn’t harmful but extra phosphorous can be. What can you give your horse for a warm treat? Soaked hay pellets are a safer alternative.

11. FALSE- senior grains differ widely. Some are complete feeds, meaning that they can provide the fiber your horse needs if he can’t chew forage any more…but only if you feed according to the bag’s specifications. Other senior feeds are not complete feeds. Some are low in NSCs, but not others. Some are high in fat, some are low in fat. Read the bag and make sure you are getting what your horse needs.

12. FALSE. Ration balancers are not used just like feed, because they are not feed. They are supplements. They provide protein, vitamins, and minerals to fulfill your horse’s needs if you are feeding a forage-based diet, or you are feeding traditional grains such as oats, or you are not feeding the full amount of commercial feeds. For more information, see last month’s article on ration balancers.

13. FALSE. Ration balancers and complete feeds are not the same thing. Complete feeds are high in fiber, ration balancers are not. They are used for different purposes.

14. Not really. You can spend a lot of time researching and designing a diet for your horse, but how will you know that you are providing sufficient calories, protein, vitamins, and minerals…and that you are providing them in the correct ratios? How will you test your ingredients for quality? Will you be able to test for quality every time you make a new “batch?” What will you do if you can’t store bulk product, or you can’t get certain ingredients? It’s so much easier to use a commercial feed and let someone else worry!

15. This one could be tricky to answer if your horse has free access to a round bale. If you are feeding squares, however, you should take a moment to weigh some of those flakes and get an average weight. Multiply it by the number of flakes that you give your horse daily. Then when you get the results of your hay analysis you will have some information you can use!

16. Thru 20. Only you can answer these questions. If you don’t know, make it this week’s mission to find out. Write down your answers so that you can refer to them when you need to make changes.

How did you do? Hopefully this article has you thinking about your horse’s diet. If nothing else, I hope these three points will be your take-away:

1. Feed by weight, not volume

2. It’s your job to know what your horse eats

3. Get your hay analyzed

Next month we’ll look at the difference in senior feeds and options for your senior horse.