Friday, June 22, 2012

Horse Supplements And The Ways To Display Adoration For Your Senior Horse

By Mark Givens


Horse supplements tell your older horse that you love him. It's full of all the dietary needs that he may require. Aside from vitamins, there are still other ways to show your love for your beloved pet. As a general rule, a horse demands 2 to 2 pounds of feed for every one hundred pounds of bodyweight. (You can purchase a weight tape to calculate just how much your horse weighs.) For example, an average 1000 lb horse would need 20 to 25 pounds of feed each day. The majority of that should be hay except if your old horse is consuming total feed pellets instead.

How much food a horse requires is determined by such things as size, type, age, as well as activity. In cold weather, a horse living outside wants more food just to stay warm. Good sense and ongoing awareness of your horse's wellness and body state should tell you if you must make changes. In the winter months, don't just rely on looking - feel under that winter coat. An older horse can lose condition quickly. If you are unsure about how much to give the animal, ask the vet for advice. Alfalfa hay is a great feed. It's tasty, high in roughage, and possesses a high percentage of protein when compared to meadow hay.

The greater protein content is exactly what an older horse needs. Vegetable oil is yet another great add-on to the diet plan. These natural oils are extremely high in calories and horses are well designed to digesting them. 1 or 2 glasses of oil each day is a great dietary supplement, but add it to the diet plan steadily, as you would any kind of feed change. Nicely balanced pelletised or extruded feeds may also be a valuable source, since the processing cooks the feed, helping to make it more digestible for the older horse. It's very tasty and its higher protein content makes it an ideal selection for older horses. Some pelletised or extruded feeds are developed for more mature horses.

They are prone to have higher amounts of protein and fat. Because of the better digestibility, it's likely your old horse will do better on an extruded or pelletised feed than a traditional sweetfeed or coolfeed mix. If you do plan feeding grain, make it as digestible as you possibly can. Crush it, prepare it; and go for those that are digested faster, avoiding options such as corn. There are many options, also: the pulp of sugar beet and rice-based feeds can all add useful, effortlessly digestible calories to your elderly horse's diet. Put in a general vitamin and mineral supplement at the suggested amount to make sure the horse is getting all necessary trace elements.

Depending upon the state of your horses teeth, you may want to convert the feed into a slurry or mash. Whatever feed regime you adopt, ensure the food smells good, is dust-free, and offers a lot of effortlessly digestible fibre. Fresh water is a crucial part of your horse's diet. Horses drink from five to ten gallons each day. Clean water must be offered at all times except when the horse is really hot from work. While horses can survive on snow during the cold months, it's far from ideal. The horse's body has to melt plenty of snow to get enough water, thus wasting body heat.

Horse supplements will help the senior horse. An old horse, whose body is not as efficient as it was once, can't afford to waste the energy. A horse not getting sufficient water is more liable to impaction colic. An inexpensive stock tank heater could keep the water ice-free. A mineralized salt block must be available free-choice. You can also purchase a number of other vitamin, mineral and herbal medicines. Talk to your doctor.




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