First, worming is good. After you worm, have a fecal check done
to make sure that what you are using is getting the worms the
horse has. The check should be done a few days after the wormer
has had a chance to work.
Second, check Special's teeth. It may be that Special is having
a hard time eating, and what she is eating, isn't being chewed
properly.
Next, look at the over all feeding program. An endurance horse should
be getting about 3% of it's body weight in food each day. Thus a
1000 lb horse needs 30 pounds of feed. (Most endurance horses aren't
quite this big, but the numbers are easier with a round 1000:-)
A backyard horse can live happily on 2% of it's body weight.
How much does your 4 flakes of hay weigh? Get a scale and find out.
Hay, grain, and oil are are necessary. You are looking for a balance
of roughage (the hay), which keeps the guts moving, holds water, and
is the primary source for calories for most horses. The grain adds
vitamines and minerals and calories. The oils add mega calories in smaller
weights.
A study was done on top endurance horses at various rides,
including the Race of Champions among others. Over all, it was found
that the horses that complete the rides and did the best were feeding
10-15 lbs of grain, feeding 15-20 lbs hay, and adding 1 to 2 suppliments.
What you want to look at for your horse, is that if you must add a
lot of grain to the feed to keep up the weight, you may not be doing
your horse any favors. Check out your hay. Make sure it is good
quality. Add some grain. Add some oil. If you can't keep weight on
the horse look for some problems. Particularly at the start of
the ride season.
Oil can be started at about 1/4 cup per feeding. An over dose of
oil will only have the effect of running out the back end. ie, not
much of a negative side effect for the horse, but you'll know when
to decrease the oil.
You might also look at how often you are feeding your horse. Typical
is for a horse to get 2 feeding per day. You might consider feeding
three or even four times. If the horse has access to hay all day
long, the horse will typically eat some, wait a bit, eat some more,
all day long. This is the more natural way for horses. Rather than
getting a couple flakes in the morning, gone in half an hour, and
a couple of flakes at night, gone in half an hour.
-- Wendy\|/ /\ -O- /**\ /|\ /****\ /\ / \ /**\ Here there be dragons / /\ / \ /\ /\ /\ /\ /\/\/\ /\ / / \ / \ / \/\/ \/ \ /\/ \/\ /\ /\/ / / \/ \ / / \/ /\ \ / \ \ / \/ / / \/ \/ \ / \ \ / / \/ \/\ \ / \ / / \ __/__/_______/___/__\___\__________________________________________________
Wendy Milner HPDesk: wendy_milner@hp4000 Training Development Engineer HP-UX: wendy@fc.hp.com Mail Stop 46 Telnet: 229-2182 3404 E. Harmony Rd. AT&T: (970) 229-2182 Fort Collins, CO, 80525 FAX: (970) 229-4292