Weight control is one of the most important issues facing many horse owners. Fat, lazy horses are simply unhealthy horses and they are more likely to live a shorter life than their in shape brethren. How do you control a horse’s weight, while still providing him with the right amount of food and vitamins? It is a delicate balance between healthy and obese, but these are a few ways to walk that line.
In spring and the early summer, horse owners must make sure to limit the amount of time that their horses spend grazing. During these times, the grass in your pasture will grow at its fastest rate. If left unattended, horses will take advantage of the overgrown grass and fill themselves up. It may seem like quite a task to keep a horse from grazing, but there are some techniques which you can use. For starters, you might want to use a grazing muscle in order to stop the amount of grass that the horse can eat. Be sure to remove the muzzle when the horse is in his stall, though.
This might seem like an obvious one, but many horse owners overlook calorie intake. You must make sure to keep all high calorie aspects out of the horse’s diet. Among those things that are high calorie items are corn oil, flaxseed oil, and rice bran. These items also have a very high fat content, which is never good for the horse. If you want to control the horse’s weight, you must control the number of calories that he brings in every day.
Most professionals will tell you that you need to provide the horse with at least .5% of its body weight in food every day. This is done in order to make sure that the horse gets plenty of nutrients and vitamins. Sometimes, this guideline can cause your horse to get fat, though. For horses that do not get a lot of activity, this rate of food will be too high and calorie intake will soar to a point where the horse gains more weight.
If you want to truly improve your horse’s fitness, then a training program is necessary. Horses are much like people in that they must be conditioned, though. If your horse has no been put through many exercises, then you must take it slow. As you slowly build the horse’s exercise program, calorie reduction and better overall health is sure to follow.
Many of the common hays that people use have a high number of calories. Alfalfa and clover, for example, have more calories per pound than regular grass hay. If you want to control the horse’s weight, outfit him with high fiber hay that has fewer calories.
It is difficult to control a horse’s weight, but these steps must be taken if you want the horse to be healthy and operate at a high level. Focus on limiting the horse’s diet while improving its fitness. Improving the horse’s fitness might take a while, but it will be well worth the time in the end.
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Source: ArticleTrader.com
