Question: How long is it safe for horses to go without forage, especially when being fed a mostly hay diet?
Answer: While horses do not need 24-7-365 access to forage (hay or pasture), they do need enough forage to ensure their nutritional requirements are met and that they have enough forage to maintain stomach and gastrointestinal tract health. Ideally, horses should go no longer than 4 hours between forage meals and be fed on a consistent schedule. However, it's hard to predict when, or if, an extended time period without forage will cause health issues like colic and ulcers.
Horses evolved to eat small, frequent meals and most wild horses spend 12 to 18 hours each day grazing lower quality forages. Domesticated horses tend to be meal fed two to three times a day, unless they have continuous access to a round bale or pasture. Meal fed horses tend go longer periods of time without forage. While meal fed horses' nutritional requirements are being met, this schedule may not be ideal for their stomach and gastrointestinal tract health. On the other hand, horses with continuous access to forage tend to gain excessive amounts of weight, especially in the absence of exercise, and many owners do not have the means to provide continuous access to forage.
There are always time, labor, management, and other constraints that impact how and when horses are fed. To balance meeting nutritional requirements and optimizing stomach and gastrointestinal tract health with not overfeeding or exhausting labor resources, many owners have started feeding hay from slow-feed hay nets. University of Minnesota research found that slow-feed hay nets slow the rate of forage intake, which increases the amount of time it takes a horse to consume a hay meal. Feeding a portion of the diet that includes more mature forages that are higher in fiber will also help slow forage consumption.
Additionally, having horses on a regular schedule is key for reducing the incidences of digestive problems. In addition to slowing the rate of forage intake and maintaining a consistent schedule, feeding small amounts of alfalfa can help reduce the incidence of ulcers. Feeding some hay before grain can help decrease the chance of colic. Finally, before making any dietary changes, talk to an equine nutritionist and/or your veterinarian and make changes slowly over a two-week period.
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The post How Much Time Should A Horse Have Between Hay Meals? appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.
