feeding

It can feel like there are almost as many different types of feed as there are breeds of horses. With the wide range in price, protein percentage, and textured it can be over whelming to walk into a feed store if your unsure what your looking at to start with.

Again I point at Foxie for an example. She came to me on 14% performance feed, shown to the left here.

Lets brake down why this caused so many of her problems;

1) Saddlebreds are a hotter horse to start with like an Arabian or a Thoroughbred. higher the protein percentage more fuel your feeding into the fire, so to speak. What this means is, if you have a horse that is already up and you are feeding them anything above a 10 or 12% feed you are going to make that horse harder to handle.

                                                                2) Higher the protein the more work needed to burn off the extra                             energy. Foxie was a backyard horse that her former owner wanted to be safe around her and her children. Foxie was not given anywhere near the work load needed to burn off the feed she was getting.

If you are unsure what to feed your horse, please for your horses sake go to the feed store and be honest with the clerk about what kind of horse you have, what that horse is like ( does that horse spend most of there time just standing there or are they working horses.) is that horse easily startled or does it take all of your strength to kick them into a walk. How much do you work this horse and how hard, be honest about this. These questions are not based on what you would like to do but what you are currently doing and have been doing.

Horse quality hay and good pasture are still the most important part of a horse's diet but the type of feed can drastically change a horses mentality. As for portion and body condition I've add a chart below that is excepted and used by vets as the standard for a horses body condition.

Body Condition Scoring Chart

A. Along the neck B. Along the withers	C. Crease down back D. Tailhead	E. Ribs F. Behind the shoulder
The Ideal Body Condition Score is between 5 and 6-1/2 1. Poor Animal extremely emaciated; spinous processes, ribs, tailhead, tuber coxae (hip joints), and ischia (lower pelvic bones) projecting prominently; bone structure of withers, shoulders, and neck easily noticeable; no fatty tissue can be felt. 2. Very Thin Animal emaciated; slight fat covering over base of spinous processes, transverse processes of lumbar vertebrae feel rounded; spinous processes, ribs, tailhead, tuber coxae (hip joints) and ischia (lower pelvic bones) prominent; withers, shoulders, and neck structure faintly discernable. 3. Thin Fat buildup about halfway on spinous processes; transverse processes cannot be felt; slight fat cover over ribs; spinous processes and ribs easily discernable; tailhead prominent, but individual vertebrae cannot be identified visually; tuber coxae (hip joints), appear rounded but easily discernable; tuber ischia (lower pelvic bones) not distinguishable; withers, shoulders and neck accentuated. 4. Moderately Thin Slight ridge along back; faint outline of ribs discernible; tailhead prominence depends on conformation, fat can be felt around it; tuber coxae (hip joints) not discernable; withers, shoulders and neck not obviously thin. 5. Moderate Back is flat (no crease or ridge); ribs not visually distinguishable but easily felt; fat around tailhead beginning to feel spongy; withers appear rounded over spinous processes; shoulders and neck blend smoothly into body. 6. Moderately Fleshy May have slight crease down back; fat over ribs spongy; fat around tailhead soft; fat beginning to be deposited along the side of withers, behind shoulders, and along sides of neck. 7. Fleshy May have slight crease down back; individual ribs can be felt, but noticeable filling between ribs with fat; fat around tailhead soft; fat deposited along withers, behind shoulders,and along neck. 8. Fat Crease down back; difficult to feel ribs, fat around tailhead very soft; fat area along withers filled with fat, area behind shoulder filled with fat, noticeable thickening of neck; fat deposited along inner thighs. 9. Extremely Fat Obvious crease down back; patchy fat appearing over ribs, bulging fat around tailhead; along withers, behind shoulders and along neck, fat along inner thighs may rub together; flank filled with fat.