Feeding
Hay to Horses and Ponies
 High quality hay
can be an excellent source of nutrition for
-including protein and calcium - for horses and
ponies and is a very palatable feed.
There are many types of hay harvested from grasses including
alfalfa, timothy, clover and rye. Many people advise that
Alfalfa hay is the best kind of hay to feed a horse.
Horses and ponies in their natural environment
are grazing animals - they spend many hours a day eating grass.
When horses are stabled, or grazing is limited,
they need a substitute for the grass they would have naturally
eaten. Hay , the most common subsitute- is a
mixture of grasses dried until only about 18% of the moisture
remains.
The most nutritious hay is that cut before the
seed heads have fully matured.
Grass and hay provide your horse or pony with
the large amounts of fibre he needs keep his gut healthy and digestive
system functioning properly. They should be the predominant type
of feed in a horse's diet.
If your horse or pony is stabled making hay available all the
times can help to prevent vices such as weaving and crib biting
as it prevents boredom and encourages his natural
foraging habits.
Most horses will self-regulate the amount of
hay that they eat. But some will need their hay restricted to
prevent them becoming overweight.
Many people will soak
their horse's hay before feeding to remove dust and
spores which can cause coughing.
Unfortunatley this can reduce the nutritional value of hay, as
up to 70% of water- soluble carbohydrates and 20% of protein is
lost during this process.
If your horse develops a cough
when fed dry hay it may be worth considering switching to HorseHage,
Haylage or a similar equine product. |
