The Horse:Your Guide To Equine Health Care provides monthly equine health care information to horse owners, breeders, veterinarians, barn/farm managers, trainer/riding instructors, and others involved in the hands-on care of the horse.
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36 TheHorse.com THE HORSE February 2016 I f ever there were a case of too many choices, deciding what to feed your horse might just be it. Between the wide array of feeds and nutritional supplements available and the feeding ad- vice from fellow boarders, the farrier, the veterinarian, and your riding instructor, picking products and rations can easily become an overwhelming decision made by committee. When did feeding horses become so complex? And whom should you trust to help you make feed-related decisions for your horses? Recently, a pair of researchers exam- ined the perceptions and practices of equine nutrition in America (TheHorse. com/35400). They concentrated on three main areas: the status of equine nutrition in the United States, the veterinarian's role in guiding decisions about equine nutrition, and whether nutritional educa- tion is meeting veterinarians' needs. They determined that both veterinarians and owners need more equine nutrition education. But is the industry moving for- ward to improve veterinarian and owner nutrition knowledge? Let's see where we stand. The State of Equine Nutrition Overwhelming data suggests that we've been doing a less-than-stellar job feeding our horses for a while now. Case in point: In 1994 researchers evaluated the diets of 50 pleasure-type horses in North Carolina and found that 62% of the rations exceeded what the National Research Council, or NRC, had set as daily nutrient requirements for mature pleasure horses in four or more nutrient categories, including digestible energy and crude protein. Two separate surveys of Thoroughbred and Standardbred racehorse trainers on how they fed their horses showed the same. Why this rampant overfeeding of nutrients? Results from one 2009 survey suggest that some owners are making uneducated grain choices; 46 of 67 (69%) New England owners reported choosing a complete feed for reasons such as "a complete feed is a good complement to hay" and "the horse does not like to eat hay." A global survey of more than 6,000 horse owners participating in a 2013 on- line equine nutrition course revealed that 71% measured concentrate by volume (a scoop or a coffee can, for instance), hand- ful, or eye rather than by weight; almost three-quarters of New England horse owners in the survey mentioned earlier also failed to measure by weight. Then there's the issue of forage, which is the basis of a horse's diet. The 1994 sur- vey found that just one-third of horses ac- tually received the amount of hay per day the owners thought they were feeding, while another third were overfed and the final third underfed. Further, more than half of the New England owners surveyed estimated their horse's hay intake was less than the 2% of its body weight (which is what the NRC recommends). All these factors play a role in horses' nutrient over- and underabundances. Improper diets can also contribute to the development of diseases such as equine metabolic syndrome, laminitis, insulin resistance, and obesity. "Nu- tritional practices are resulting in an epidemic of overfed, malnourished horses that have a trough full of health-related nutrition issues, and the majority of our management systems are nothing short of archaic," says Jayne Roberts, MSc, an equine nutrition consultant based in Queensland, Australia. "The fact that many horses do not even have their basic behavioral needs met of forage, social contact, and movement is a reflection of how far we have to go to shift welfare- compromising paradigms." NUTRITION KRISTEN M. JANICKI, MS, PAS TheHorse.com/Nutrition Weights and Measures PAM MACKENZIE Assessing nutritional practices and perceptions in the United States One study revealed that 71% of horse owners don't measure feed by weight. Another study found that 62% of horses are being overfed.