Re: Nutrition

["Susan Garlinghouse" <suendavid@worldnet.att.net>]

> Some info. please, ref. feeding a 2 yr old Arab gelding.  I want to give
him
> every opportunity to grow to his fullest potential.  Thanks,
>
> Karen


Best thing you can do for him is not overfeed him.  Give him all the top
quality grass hay he can eat without getting obese.  Smile nicely and ignore
all the people that will be telling you you MUST feed youngsters alfalfa,
none of them know a damn thing about nutrition if they do.  Provide a few
pounds of a top quality feed/grain mix that includes a vitamin.mineral pack
already in it---Omolene or such.  It can be a growing horse ration, but
doesn't have to be, as at two years old, he's completed 97% of his long bone
growth already.  Don't add additional vitamins on top of that, more is not
better and generally a whole lot worse.  If he gets fat on 3-4 pounds of
grain a day (that's roughly a large coffee can once a day), then omit the
grain, and switch to one of the beet pulp based feeds like Complete
Advantage.  Just feed him a few handfuls and mix in one dose of ONE complete
vit-min mix, such as Grand-Vite or Select.  Buy additional buckets of
supplements and vitamins as though anything beyond that first bucket is
increasingly a Bad Thing.  Put out a salt block of plain white salt.  Make
sure his water is so clean and fresh you wouldn't mind taking a drink there
yourself.  Best thing of all, try to find fresh green pasture, the closest
thing to nutritional magic there is, and turn him out into it.

Good luck.

Susan G