Re: On pasture alone?

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

> Genie Stewart-Spears geniess@accessus.net
> Can inactive horses survive on pasture alone (with regular deworming and
> dental/feet care) and remain healthy? Or do they need supplements?  How
> would you know if they needed supplements?
>

They can very well, if the pasture is of decent quality.  In some ways, the
nutrition is better than if they were on hay, grains, etc, only because
there are some vitamins (ie, vit A & E) which *green* pasture has in high
amounts, but is often deficient in commodity type diets unless otherwise
supplemented.  Exactly how well the other nutrients are supplied depends on
the individual pasture, the grasses and plants growing there, the soil,
whether the pasture has been extensively grown and harvested for hay (and
thus may be more depleted), rainfall or irrigation, the numbers of animals
grazing there and so on.  Assuming the overall quality is good, that toxic
plants aren't present (or the pasture isn't overgrazed so that horses are
more like to eat toxic plants), then good pasture is the closest thing to
nutritional magic you can get.  It certainly has all the nutrients required
for an inactive horse and goes a pretty far ways for active horses as well.
I know of a number of very active performance horses that just graze their
heads off all day long, maybe get a little extra grain or beet pulp or
whatever, access to salt and good water and do very well.

Probably the horse that's most likely to be deficient on pasture alone is
going to be either a performance horse working very hard that may or may not
also be a hard keeper, and thus deficient in energy; or a broodmare in late
gestation and lactation.  Plus rapidly growing babies, depending on the
exact quality of the pasture and the protein and minerals it provides.
Pasture may provide enough calories to keep a late gestation broodmare in
good body condition during late gestation, but usually doesn't provide
enough protein and rarely provides sufficient minerals unless otherwise
supplemented, especially calcium, phosphorus, copper, and zinc, the minerals
that she needs for herself but are also being deposited in the growing
tissues of the developing fetus.  Deficiencies in those can show up either
in deficient levels in the liver of the foal once it's on the ground, or can
show up as angular limb deformities such as contracted tendons.  And pasture
alone rarely supplies enough nutrition to support early lactation.

So IMO for an inactive horse that's on decent pasture, I would say the only
supplements required would be free choice salt.  If the pasture is deficient
in energy, you'll know because he'll be losing weight.  If it's an overall
deficiency in quality, including protein, vitamins, minerals, etc, you'll
start to see a difference in hair coat within a few months.  It'll be rough,
sort of stand away from the body (not just soft and fluffy like a good
winter coat) and in darker colored horses, it may look sort of bleached
looking at the ends, and the ends of the hair may curl up (in any color).
You may start to see changes in the quality of the hoof tissue growing down
from the coronary band.  A lot of horses that are deficient in minerals
specifically start to develop 'pica' or abnormal chewing on fences, trees,
that sort of thing.  Does it mean they know specifically what the deficiency
is, no.  But it often does indicate a deficiency of *some* sort, at least
for horses that aren't doing it because they're bored (more usual for
confined horses), out of habit, or because they're in pain.  Range cattle do
the same thing and a fair number of them die of botulism every year after
they chew on the bones of dead animals.  So if you put out individual
buckets of individual minerals, would they go to the bucket that
specifically corrected their deficiency, no.  But if you put out a general
supplement that provides a wide range of minerals, and also doesn't taste
bad (they always have salt, molasses or some sort of grain product in there
as well), then they'll eat it and correct the deficiency that way.

If you see those sort of changes in hair coat, etc, then the appropriate
supplement depends on whether or not the horse is also losing weight.  If he
is, then you need to increase both the quality of the diet and the amount of
energy being provided.  Any one of the complete horse rations would work,
but you usually need to feed five or more pounds a day to provide sufficient
vitamins and minerals.  I happen to really like Complete Advantage, but
there are others out there depending on the region.  Ace-Hi, LMF, Pennfield,
Farr, etc all have good supplement rations.  In that scenario, I like a
commercial mix much better than commodity feeds because then I know that all
the nutrients are being provided in the right amounts and ratios.  There are
lots of feed mixes produced by local mills as well, but I've always seen
some pretty poor formulations, so I tend to be a little wary of local mills,
depending on what I'm looking for.

If I plan on feeding more than five pounds, and it's not feasible for me to
get out there to feed more than once a day, then I really prefer a feed that
also has a little higher fiber content---I don't want to dump a lot grain in
front of a horse and just walk away, and the higher fiber feeds can be
safely fed in higher amounts without a problem.  I have four horses right
now on pasture that I'm supplementing, and they get a 50 lb bag of Complete
Advantage dumped in front on them once a day, and I'm very comfortable with
that.

If the horse is maintaining body weight okay, but the hair coat, etc isn't
looking quite right, then probably protein, minerals and/or vitamins are
deficient.  Either you can supply one of the feeds mentioned above, or my
preference would be one of the 'super-charged' mixes that deliver a lot of
nutrients without a ton of extra energy.  LMF has a mix that provides all
the vitamins and minerals in about a pound of grain; or Purina has a Horse
Charge that's 33% protein and is a really good supplement for horses on
pasture that you don't want to dump alot of extra feed in front of.

If everything seems okay with the horse body weight, coat quality,
energy-wise, etc, then it's still not a bad idea to provide a free choice
mineral supplement.  I know there's alot of urban legend that horses can
'balance their own rations' and I personally don't think that's true.  I've
seen way too many horses given the 'opportunity to manage their own diets'
that chose to colic or founder themselves instead.  But, horses do develop a
specific appetite for salt, and if the salt source also contains other
minerals, then they'll eat those, too.  It doesn't mean the exact amount
they eat exactly meets whatever deficit they might have, but it does at
least mean there's much less likelihood of a deficit in the first place.
So, fine by me as long as it's getting in there and the formulation is
providing the minerals in the right ratios.

Genie, bet that's way more than you really wanted to know, eh? <g>  Oh well,
hope it helps.

Susan G