When we’re talking about feeding horses, two terms come up frequently. We tend to categorize horses as hard keepers or easy keepers. The horses who seem to gain weight by looking at food or who don’t have any food-related issues earn the name “easy keeper” and we’re all grateful that they are. The term “hard keeper” is reserved for horses that don’t maintain weight well, are picky eaters, or don’t settle well to eat. If you have a hard keeper, you’ve probably spent hours fretting about your horse’s eating habits while your friends with easy keepers get a good night’s sleep.

We’re going to look at both types. If you have an easy keeper, you can allow yourself a smug smile, but keep reading. Easy keepers are easy…until they aren’t. Your horse is ageing, and at some point, your happy-go-lucky feeding routine may need to change. If your horse falls into the difficult category, this month’s article will hopefully give you some helpful ideas.

PART ONE—HARD KEEPERS

Horses that are hard keepers are characterized by what they don’t do. Either they don’t eat well, or they eat but don’t maintain their condition well. For either issue there are many possible causes and a lot of overlap.

HEALTH ISSUES: Horses with ulcers may walk away from their bucket, act colicky, or not clean up everything. Colicky horses may do the same or may not eat at all. Horses with tooth problems also display inattentiveness to their feed, and there may be a bad odor coming from their mouth. They may have sores caused by sharp points, or smooth teeth, or missing teeth. These are issues to address with your vet and equine dentist, sooner rather than later. If you suspect colic, it’s always advisable to call your vet, even if it seems like a mild case. The vet may not need to come out but at least you are on his or her radar if things get worse.

Parasites can steal a lot of nutrients from your horse. We used to think that horses didn’t get tapeworms, but now we know that they can. Tapeworms aren’t revealed in a fecal sample, but you may notice the small white eggs on your horse’s tail. Other parasites can be detected by fecal sample. Even if you follow a deworming routine, it’s advisable to have a fecal sample done by your vet at least once a year so that you can target the parasites with the appropriate dewormer. Parasites all have unique life cycles, so it is helpful to do some research and talk with your vet before you deworm.

If your horse eats the appropriate amount of feed and forage but has trouble maintaining weight, this is a topic for discussion with your vet as well. There may be metabolic issues that are affecting his body’s ability to utilize feed, and you wouldn’t necessarily know just by looking at him. Blood tests may be in order. It is also possible that your horse has allergies to ingredients in his feed. This can be harder to resolve. Your vet may want to talk about allergy testing and limited ingredient testing. You may be able to do some of this on your own, such as withholding feeds with suspect ingredients and gauging his reaction. It can be a long process to figure out if and which ingredients may be causing problems.

PHYSICAL FACTORS: Take a good look at your horse’s feeding environment. Is he trying to fit his large head into a small bucket? Is he a nervous horse who doesn’t like tucking his head into a corner feeder and leaving his back exposed? Is he low in herd status and driven away by other horses? Is there something bothering him while he eats? In summer, the wildflowers in my paddock grow taller than my mini. He becomes very nervous because bees and other flying (and stinging) insects love the wildflowers, but they don’t love him. We now keep his paddock mowed short (and plant things in other locations for the pollinators.)

INSUFFICIENT CALORIES: There are people who overfeed and people who underfeed. It’s easy do both at the same time in your barn because horses are individuals. The first thing you should do is look at the information on your feed bag. Every product made by a quality company will give you feeding directions in line with the activity level and age of your horse. Note that the feeding rate is in pounds, NOT COFFEE CANS OR SCOOPS. Remember that this is a target point. Your horse’s metabolism is unique, so you may need to feed more or less than recommended …but be very careful here! If the bag suggests feeding five pounds a day and your horses is still not gaining weight on eight pounds, he isn’t on the right feed. You should take a look at a higher calorie feed or considering adding additional fat. If you are feeding less than the recommended amount, bump it up. (Remember that anytime you are feeding below the bag’s specifications, he isn’t getting enough vitamins and minerals unless you are supplementing.)

Beware of assuming that all the horses in your barn can be fed the same amount or the same feed. Again, they are all individuals. I don’t usually tell personal stories in this article, but perhaps this will help to show this point. A friend who has “air ferns” acquired a new horse of a different breed. The horse started losing weight, and she asked what to do. We reviewed her feeding routine and realized that, although she was feeding the ponies appropriately, the horse needed much more feed than she thought! She started feeding according to the bag specifications and the horse started gaining weight.

OWNER INTERFERENCE: I know this can be a sensitive topic. We love our horses, we want to do well by them, but we can be our own biggest problem. Again, a couple personal stories might show this best.

One boarder had a love/hate relationship with food herself, and her horse was not a good eater. The owner would check each morning to see how much he had left in his bucket and would bring him in from pasture to finish his breakfast while she hovered over him. Not surprisingly, he wanted no part of such intense scrutiny, especially while his buddies were outside. At night, if she was at the barn during feeding time, she would hang around to see if he finished up. The horse wasn’t skinny, but he was a lean build, and obviously was making use of his pasture. The owner went on vacation for a week and after five days the horse started eating normally. Then she returned. Within 24 hours, the horse was back to his old routine of not finishing his feed.

Now I’m not suggesting that horses punish us by not eating or by playing food games. I do think, however, that they pick up on our attitude toward their eating. If you were a prey animal, would you feel comfortable eating while a predator watches you? And yes, we are predators. Our posture, our eyes, our attitudes all convey this to horses. (This owner also wore heavy eyeliner. I always wondered if that bothered her horse too.) Sometimes the best thing you can do is drop the feed in the bucket and then leave him alone.

Another hard keeper came with a companion pony. The horse was skinny, the pony was so fat that I worried about him foundering on my watch. We separated them, and pony went in the turnout with the mini. Mini proceeded to devise ways to keep pony away from the hay pile by climbing into the round bale feeder and swiveling his rump around as pony tried to pull hay out. A very effective diet routine- pony got less hay and had to move around more to get it! Mini was very pleased with his new trick, as it got lots of attention from the humans.

The horse was a different story though. She was very insecure with or without pony. She was on a commercial feed, timothy pellets and beet pulp, several vitamin supplements, several kinds of herbs, and thyroid medication. It took close to ten minutes to set up her meals. She wouldn’t eat more than a mouthful every couple minutes and it took hours for her to eat a substantial portion She very seldom finished it all.

Most concerning was the fact that the owner didn’t have good reasons for what he was doing. Granted, the horse needed the thyroid medication, but the other supplements were not being used correctly. The horse was getting a cup of timothy pellets and a cup of wet beet pulp. Both are things that should be fed by the pound, not the cup. The owner thought that he was providing some variety to the horse; he wasn’t using them as a forage source. At that low rate they weren’t providing many calories either. They were just taking up room in the bucket that could have been used for a high-calorie feed. The herbs were very strongly scented, and the horse would do her best to pick around them. The commercial feed wasn’t being fed to specifications, so the horse wasn’t getting enough calories from it. What she was getting was…overwhelmed.

First, the owner had to be convinced to go back to basics. Basics meant the commercial feed and the thyroid medication. Then we worked on increasing the amount of commercial feed. The horse was too nervous to finish her feed in the morning, so we slowly added a mid-day meal. She didn’t always finish it, but she was taking in more calories overall. We started slowly adding in the vitamin supplements and backed off when she stopped eating them.

I would love to say that everything fell into place, the horse gained weight, and the owner was happy. Unfortunately for the horse, the owner moved her to a different barn and she colicked and had to be euthanized. It is possible that she had other health problems as well, but we never got far enough to explore those possibilities.

HOW TO HELP YOUR HARD KEEPER: Take some time to observe your horse. Is he frustrated because he can’t access his food? Does he leave it and come back? Does he pay more attention to what is going on around him? Does he pick out some ingredients and leave others? Will he eat better from your hand? Does he eat better or worse when you are present?

Rule out any health issues by having a vet exam and mention what you’ve noticed about his eating habits. If you can’t find any medical reasons, move on to physical changes. Make sure he can comfortably eat from his bucket or pan without straining his neck or restricting his jaws. If he can’t see over the top of his bucket, that may make him nervous. Check your feed buckets and pans. Do they smell bad? Your horse’s sense of smell is on par with a dog’s and much better than ours, so replace that bucket if you suspect it’s off-putting to him. Give him time by himself to eat if you suspect that he is being bullied. At first, he may not like being separated from his buddies, but he will likely adjust over time. If you can, consider feeding him more frequently. Keep forage in front of him as much as you can. Have your hay analyzed so that you know how many calories he is getting from his hay. It’s very common for horses to lose weight in the winter because they are using more calories to keep warm, but no one thought to increase the amount of hay they are eating. Remember too that hay is a “keep warm” food and that your horse will generate more metabolic heat by breaking down the fiber than from eating high-energy sources such as corn. (Get your hay tested. Did I mention that before?)

Dental problems are common. As horses age, they may lose the ability to properly chew forage. Complete feeds can help you keep him healthy and happy. Have your horse’s teeth checked at least once a year, twice is better. It is well worth the cost of a visit when you consider the money you will save in maintaining your horse’s health and in not wasting feed.

I can’t say this enough…weigh your feed and hay! Know for sure how much you are giving your horse. I talked with one person who told me that her horse was getting a half-scoop two times per day.” How big a scoop?” I asked. The answer was “regular.” That didn’t tell me much, so I asked, “a one-quart scoop, or a three-quart, or a five-quart?” Silence. I suggested that she measure out a typical meal and weigh it. Five minutes later I had a call from a different person who assured me she was using a one-pound scoop (bought at the gardening store) for measuring. When she weighed the amount of feed that it held, she was surprised to realize that it held two pounds!

Finally, some horses just are lean due to their metabolism, breed, or personality. Keep records of everything that you try, make sure that you are offering a forage-first diet if he can eat it, and that you are offering vitamins and minerals and the appropriate number of calories. Try different feed companies to see if something piques his interest. Try textured, extruded, and pelleted. Some horses, like some people, prefer more texture in their food. It can take a long time to find the right solution, but your horse will thank you for it.