Horse Care | Horse Racing Free Tips

Ten Tips To Improve Your Adult Horse’s Diet

The University of Minnesota's Dr. Marcia Hathaway, retired professor, provided this ten-step guide to feeding the adult horse through the UMN Equine Extension program. Consult your veterinarian or nutritionist to tailor advice to your horse's specific needs and medical considerations.

Always provide unlimited access to clean, fresh water. Water is the most important nutrient your horse needs. Most 1,000-pound horses will drink 10 to 12 gallons of water daily. Horse will need more water when temperature, humidity, or activity increase. Keeping water between 45 and 65 F tends to encourage horse to drink.
Maximize the amount of forage a horse eats. Fresh (pasture) or harvested (hay) forages are the ideal energy source for horses. Most mature horses should consume 1.5 to 2.5% of their body weight in forages daily.
Minimize the amount of concentrate a horse eats. Owners frequently feed cereal grains when horses need more energy than forages can provide. To reduce the chance of colic and gastric upset, do not feed mature horses more than 0.3 to 0.4% of their body weight in cereal grains per feeding.
Meet a horse's mineral needs. If feeding a commercial grain product according to manufacturer directions, the horse is most likely receiving the correct amount of these minerals. Ration balancers are great ways to ensure horses not being fed a commercial grain product are meeting their mineral requirements. Always provide free choice salt as horses will regulate their intake of salt.
Meet a horse's vitamin needs. Horses may receive enough vitamins through natural feedstuffs, their own production, and microbial production in the gut. However, most horses should receive a vitamin supplement unless they are being fed a commercial grain product according to manufacturer directions.
Establish a balanced ration for horse: energy, protein, minerals, and vitamins. Owners and managers are strongly encouraged to work with an equine nutritionist or purchase a prepared commercial feed that is professionally balanced to meet the horse's needs. There are numerous products on the market that are tailored to specific classes of horses, including but not limited to, growing, working, idle, or pregnant horses.
Monitor a horse's body weight and body condition score (BCS). When deciding a horse's nutritional needs, it is necessary to know their body weight and body condition score. Body weight can be determined by weighing on a scale or estimated using the Healthy Horse App, weight tapes, or mathematical equations. Body condition scoring determines the amount of fat deposit under the horse's skin in certain areas and a BCS between 4 to 6 is ideal. Body weight and BCS should be tracked monthly.
Routinely care for horse's teeth. Horse's teeth continually erupt and are simultaneously ground down as they chews feedstuffs, especially forages. Sharp points occur on the teeth requiring routine filing down or “floating.”
Change feeds gradually. Replace only 20 to 25% of a horse's current feed every other day when changing hay or grain types. This will allow for a complete change over a week or more. A gradual change from one feed to another provides enough time for microbes to adapt in your horse's gut.
Feed each horse as an individual. All horses have common nutritional needs including water, energy, protein, minerals and vitamins. However, how much of each will vary with age, activity level, and physiological condition.

For more information on feeding the adult horse, visit our website.

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Study: Cover Crops Like Ryegrass Extend The Grazing Season, Meet Horses’ Nutrient Requirements

In the Midwest United States, cover crops are fall planted annuals that can provide several environmental benefits and can extend the fall grazing season for many livestock. The objectives of this study, conducted at the University of Minnesota, were to determine forage yield, nutrient composition, and horse preference of five cover crops in a horse pasture.

Annual ryegrass, winter rye, berseem clover, purple top turnip, and daikon radish were grazed by four horses. Cover crops were seeded in August and grazed by the horses in September and October. Cover crop yield and nutrient composition were sampled prior to grazing and forage samples were analyzed for digestible energy (DE), crude protein (CP), neutral detergent fiber (NDF), and nonstructural carbohydrates (NSC). Turnip and radish were separated into leaf and root components and analyzed separately.

Berseem clover produced the least amount of forage yield; however, it was also the most preferred cover crop. Although daikon radish and purple top turnip produced the highest yield, horses did not consume the leaf or root components. When fed at 2% of the horse's body weight in dry matter per day, all cover crops met or exceeded the DE and CP requirements of an adult horse at maintenance. Although there are no recommended dietary levels of NSC for a healthy, adult horse, turnip and radish roots had considerably high NSC concentrations, which may be a concern when ingested in high quantities. However, horses did not consume turnip or radish roots during this study.

Based on horse preference, berseem clover, annual ryegrass, and winter rye appear to be suitable cover crops to extend the grazing season in horse pastures. For more information on this research, the abstract can be accessed from the Journal of Equine Veterinary Science.

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The Blueberry Bulletin Presented By Equine Equipment: For Young OTTBs, The Only Constant Is Change

This is the second installment in our monthly column from editor-in-chief Natalie Voss following her journey with her 2021 Thoroughbred Makeover hopeful Underscore, fondly known as Blueberry. Read the first in this series here and learn Blueberry's origin story and the author's long-running bond with this gelding and his family here. You can find Blueberry's Facebook page here.

I spent a lot of time this winter staring at my new OTTB grazing in the field with a furrowed brow, trying to decide how I felt about his appearance. (Fortunately, Blueberry is the type of horse who easily tunes out distractions and grew used to me squinting at him with my head tilted to one side.) I can never decide if he's just a hair lighter than I want him to be or if the only real problem is that I'm too used to looking at my draft cross mare.

He has been easier to keep weight on than I would have guessed when I got him in late November, and he kept his slick coat and topline until just about January. In February, we got several rounds of ice, snow, and frigid temperatures and whatever muscle he had at the track evaporated as he was outside 24/7 and not yet under saddle. He was never thin exactly; just, as I kept telling my husband, “ratty.” He grew a scraggly, thin winter coat which also added to his somewhat bedraggled aura. We'd pulled his shoes in an effort to toughen his soles, and every time he'd take a short step over the driveway after a trim, I'd flinch even though he'd walk, trot and gallop around his paddock soundly.

Still, he was happy enough, bright-eyed, ate and drank plenty, and plodded along for our walks up and down the hilly paddock lanes. I knew, logically, he was healthy and doing well for a horse who had gone from the track to turnout at the start of a Kentucky winter. What I discovered during this period though, was that I was uncomfortable with the “ugly duckling” phase.

Blueberry encounters a crossrail on his first day at the new farm, early April

I am fortunate to have an OTTB expert in our trainer, Stephanie Calendrillo. She trains and resells off-track horses and will be headed to her third Thoroughbred Makeover this year with eventing star Dispatcher. Most of her clients' horses are also OTTBs, so she's used to managing the transition from track to arena. Don't worry about this, she told me. It's normal for a horse's body to change when he goes from track to pasture, but it'll change again when he begins under-saddle work, and it'll happen so quickly it will surprise you.

A lot of my writing on the Paulick Report is in our Horse Care section, where we try to educate readers about veterinary and management topics. Often, time is a key component to healing an injury, managing a chronic condition, or improving a horse's fitness. The unspoken aspect of this of course is that a horse isn't going to look perfect every day of their lives. As long as you're making progress toward your goal and are using good, expert guidance, an ugly duckling phase is unavoidable. Until I had Blueberry, I hadn't thought about that before. My draft mare was quite a challenge in her early days, but her issues were more behavioral than they ever were aesthetic because she has feet like hickory, is impervious to foolish outside influences like pathogens, and gets fat on air. I spend more time trying to get weight off her than on, and while she's always been round, no one has ever worried about whether she was being looked after. All I could think, looking at Blueberry's somewhat hollowed-out neck in March was, 'If I saw that horse, I'd wonder a little bit about what was going on there.'

After we moved him to Stephanie's main facility in April and began more intensive ground and under-saddle work, we were surprised at how quickly he became stronger, how fast he built up fitness at the trot and later, the canter. We added protein and rice bran oil to his diet to help him keep up with his new workload and improve his coat and skin. When he didn't shed his winter coat (even in late April) I finally had him clipped about two weeks into his new workout plan and lo, there was a slight topline there. We added front shoes, and when he'd still have the odd tender day, we added pads and his feet are growing quick and strong.

Blueberry in late May, under saddle during a schooling session at the Kentucky Horse Park

Then the spring rains came, and with them, some rain rot. I tried a little of this and that, over-the-counter lotions and soaps mainly. Then there were the hives, tiny little ones that didn't seem to itch or hurt, but which blanketed his neck and shoulders, then his back, then his rump and legs. We tried corticosteroids and antihistamines and the hives gave way to little crusty bumps like rain rot from hell. I tried new over-the-counter lotions, and it didn't seem to yield. He looked a mess, but at least a reasonably athletic mess. At last, we found the solution – baby oil to soften the scabs, which are now nearly gone, and a diluted alcohol solution on healed areas where water from baths and thunderstorms will drip, encouraging bacteria to fester (down the legs, down the rump and sides). A slick summer coat is growing in, a shiny, brilliant reddish brown – a tribute to his mother.

Even though he's improving now, I know this is a step on the journey. Stephanie tells me that OTTBs often spend a full year sometimes adjusting to new diets, routines, pasture compositions, weather, working different muscles from what they did on the track. It's not that they aren't healthy or functional during that time, just that they're going to change. He's starting to fill out into the horse I hoped I'd have one day, but I know these journeys aren't always linear. He may encounter some new need or struggle at some stage, and I now feel I can treat it as a learning process – and remember to be patient with us both.

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Bisphosphonate Use In Young Horses The Focus Of Texas A&M Study

Texas A&M researchers have created a study to evaluate off-label bisphosphonate use in horses. Originally meant to mitigate navicular pain in mature horses, off-label use of the drug in younger horses may promote bone degradation.

Though the number of equine fatalities from horse racing is decreasing, California, Kentucky, and New York have seen increased racing fatalities in 2018. Lead researcher Dr. Jessica Leatherwood says that a primary concern regarding these breakdowns is the off-label use of bisphosphonates; the study will assist in determining the effects of the drug on developing skeletons.

There is currently no scientific data exploring the effects of bisphosphonate use on young, exercising horses. The study, “Bisphosphonate Pharmacokinetics and Comprehensive Effects on Juvenile Cartilage, Bone Growth and Healing: Implications for Animal Welfare,” received a $500,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture's National Institute of Food and Agriculture. The particular bisphosphonate that will be studied is clodronate disodium, which is easy to administer and popular.

Racing commissions acknowledge the off-label use of bisphosphonates, but laboratories are unable to reliably test for the drug, limiting the ability to regulate off-label use.

Radiographs are often a key to racehorse sales, particularly in young horses where they expose skeletal health. Off-label use of bisphosphonates may mask potential flaws and cause microdamage accumulation, which could lead to breakdowns. The concern over bisphosphonate use isn't limited to racing; some sport horse disciplines are also limiting or restricting their use.

Horse and sheep models will be used in the study. As sheep are typically processed before they are two years old, they will offer insight into the potential changes in bone and biomechanical properties. The team hypothesizes that younger animals will clear the bisphosphonates more rapidly than older animals, that the drug alters bone in young, exercising horses, and that it will also have anti-inflammatory effects on the joint.

The findings could help shape new regulatory policies on bisphosphonate use in young horses.