BloodHorse is celebrating the 50th anniversary of Secretariat's Triple Crown season by tapping Lenny Shulman's wonderful look back at each of his 1973 races on the calendar dates of those events. Shulman's series helped celebrate the 40th anniversary in BloodHorse Magazine.
Month: August 2023
Fiber Content Crucial For Adequate Pasture Alternatives
Some horse owners opt to feed their horses alfalfa pellets in place of forage in their horse's diet, but is this appropriate? Dr. Karen Davidson, of Purina Animal Nutrition, tells The Horse that while many horses ingest long-stemmed forage in addition to grain meals, most horses can remain healthy by eating completely pelleted rations or pelleted hay as long as the rations provide the appropriate type and amount of fiber.
Forage a horse ingests in the form of hay, grass, chopped hay, hay pellets, hay cubes, or complete pelleted feed should be at minimum 1 pound of dry matter per 100 pounds of weight. In many cases, horses should eat 1.5 to 2.5 pounds of dry matter forage per 100 pounds of body weight. Exactly how much forage a horse should eat will depend on multiple factors, including the horse's activity level and metabolism, as well as forage quality.
Dry matter content varies widely between forage sources. Pasture often has a higher moisture content, often between 15 and 30 percent, meaning a horse must ingest 30 to 60 pounds of pasture grass. Baled hay that is cured should be 85 to 90 percent dry matter and consumed at 11 to 12 pounds per day. Hay pellets or cubes and complete feeds often are closer to 90 percent dry matter, so should be fed at about 11 pounds per day.
When pasture is of poor quality or isn't available, horses require additional forage. Long-stemmed hay is ideal as it takes horses more time to ingest than pelleted forages, but pelleted hay is also an adequate choice. In cases where long-stemmed hay is not available, is expensive, or if the horse is unable to adequately chew or digest long-stemmed hay, pelleted hay may be the better choice.
Pelleted forages are ingested more quickly so they should be divided into three or four meals per day. Spreading out the pellets on the ground or placing them in a feeder that had obstacles in it can also delay rapid pellet ingestion.
There are limited studies on the effect of eating pelleted forage on dentition. It has been reported that eating pelleted forage encourages the development of sharp cups and reduces the directions in which a horse chews. Regardless of what type of forage the horse is eating, all horses need routine dental care; horses eating pelleted forages may need more-frequent exams than horses eating long-stemmed hay.
Pelleted hay can provide adequate fiber to replace hay or pasture when fed properly.
Read more at The Horse.
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2023 Clement L. Hirsch Stakes at a Glance
West Coast Grade 1 stakes take on added importance in years when the Breeders’ Cup is contested in California. So, with the World Championships slated for Santa Anita Park on Nov. 3-4, the Clement L.
Big-Race Showdown: Selections for the Whitney and Clement L. Hirsch Stakes
For the seventh year in a row, America’s Best Racing is challenging some of the brightest minds in horse betting to come up with their top three picks for key races every weekend leading up to the 2023 Triple Crown and then continuing through the 2023 Breeders’ Cup World Championships. The handicappers face off in what we like to call the “Big Race Showdown.”
