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Well ... I can try slowly decreasing his supplements, and see what  
happens, but based on his responses when I've changed supplement  
levels before, I don't see him eating much more.  BTW - his  
"supplements" are alfalfa pellets, beet pulp and rice bran.  No grain.

If I up his supplements, he generally will leave mounds of hay thrown  
on the ground from his feeder.  If I decrease them, he will eat about  
a corresponding amount of hay, but his total consumption appears to  
be right about 17 lbs, even when there is additional hay present.

So far, he hasn't shown any metabolic problems.  If he does, I can  
always drop back down to LDs.  :)


On Feb 6, 2008, at 12:17 PM, heidi@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx wrote:

> > OK ... I must have mis-read.  I thought that figure was the total
> > amount that a horse would / could eat, and then for work, you would
> > replace part of the hay with higher-calorie supplements in order to
> > get the needed calories.  That is what I've been doing with my  
> > fellow.
>
> If a horse WON'T eat more, then you indeed have a problem--and some  
> won't.  (Again, I think this is somewhat inherent, but is also  
> hugely dependent on how they are raised.)  Then you HAVE to replace  
> some of the forage with higher-calorie feeds to meet the caloric  
> requirements of work--but you are now on a tightrope of managing  
> the needs for other things--like e-lytes.  I would submit that a  
> horse that won't eat much beyond maintenance levels of forage  
> (particularly if NOT distracted by other calorie sources) is not a  
> prime endurance prospect.
>
> The 4% level seems to be about the outer limit of what a horse CAN  
> eat, properly adapted to it, at least in my experience.  (There are  
> a few out there that might stretch that somewhat, but not by much,  
> I'll wager.)  Those that will double (or nearly double) their  
> consumption in response to increased need are the ones I want to  
> put my time and effort into as endurance horses.
>
> Heidi


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