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RE: [RC] Pounds of Hay - heidi

In the Eleanor Kellon article she metions that horses can get their
daily maintenance needs of chloride from 8.5 pounds of hay or 5.5 pounds
if supplemeneted with enough salt to meet their sodium needs.

Since I feed my horses between 20 and 30 pounds of hay a day (it takes
them about four days to go through about a 100+ pound bale of grass plus
the 5-8 pounds of alfalfa that he gets on top of that) I am having
trouble seeing how this would be a problem.  At endurance rides, in
addition to having a few days worth of hay in their gi tract, they will
consume more than they normally do at home.

Am I the only one who feeds this much hay to my horses?



No, kat, you are not the only one who feeds hay in such quantities--nor, I 
suspect, are you in the minority in this group.  In moderately cold winter 
weather, the average hay consumption in my free-feed grass hay groups exceeds 
30 lbs a day, and will push 40 lbs in sub-zero weather.  My competing horses 
will eat 35-40 lbs of grass hay daily as well, if they are on rigorous 
schedules or at rides.  (In fact, our horses tend to turn into voracious "feed 
vacuums" at rides...)  My alfalfa-fed groups are meal-fed this winter, and get 
a little less--25 lbs or so, depending on weather.  I have two grass hay 
"dieters" who "only" get 20-25 lbs per day, and are thus not in the free-feed 
group.

And doing the math, the consumption of e-lytes is more than ample, even knowing 
that some is lost through the GI tract and through urination, in addition to 
sweat losses.

Given this kind of feed consumption, it is little wonder that when we have 
participated in bloodwork studies, our horses have had "good numbers," even 
when competing hard.  And like you, kat, I fail to see where "a little help" 
(as Eleanor puts it) would improve their performance.

Heidi



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