Hi Duncan, I did mention I thought this was pretty conservative too.
This wasn't My personal rule of thumb, just what I was taught in equine
nutrition classes. The original source was Robert Bray, Ph.D from Cal
Poly and Bob Mowrey, Ph.D from North Caroline State. They also cited
Harold Hintz, Ph.D, from Cornell.
I
> just went downstairs and weighed an apple. It weighs 1/2 lb - i.e. feeding a single
> apple to a horse that does not regularly consume apples violates this rule.
The "rule" applied to grains and soluble carbohydrates, not apples. I
think I did also mention that feeding a fairly small amount of
anything wasn't a big deal, but I wouldn't go feeding a huge amount of
anything new all at once, would you? :->
I am not
> arguing here that feed changes shouldn't be made over time, I am quibbling about the
> numbers. There are also two types of changes. Totally changing the type of feed, e.g.
> switching from hay to pellets requires a slower change than a change in quantity.
But, Duncan, nutritionally there's no difference between feeding flake
hay and pelleted or cubed hay. If you take a flake of 15% protein
alfalfa and take half of that flake and chop it up with a meat cleaver,
is it any less 15% protein hay just because it's in smaller pieces? I
think the only time switching from flake hay to processed forms would be
a problem would be if you had a horse that gobbles pellets without
chewing, which is easily solved by putting a couple of big rocks in his
feeder.
The
> mix of gut bacteria in the horse need time to adapt. Changing quantity (within
> reason) is not a big a problem.
I guess there are just different ideas of what's reasonable (and again,
I was just passing along what's published in the industry). This is
certainly a good example of knowing your horse---if you already know he
can tolerate reasonably substantial increases in feed, fine. Some
horses do, some don't---I have one of each in my guys. I would agree
with you that increasing feed in a horse that's already been getting
"some" isn't as big a deal as it is for a horse that's never been fed
grain before.
There are actually good reasons for changing food quantity rapidly in
some
> circumstances. For example, adding extra hay in extreme weather conditions. Halving
> grain ratio when a working horse is given a day off (to prevent tying up) is another
> example.
I agree with you, but then, increasing HAY is different from increasing
GRAIN. A great deal of the carbohydrates available from hay come
from fermentation in the cecum, so there's isn't a great big slug
of carbos hitting the system all at once. Most of the carbos from
grain are soluble carbohydrates and are easily and fairly quickly
absorbed in the small intestine, so increasing the amount of
structural carbohydrates isn't the same as increasing the ration of
soluble carbohydrates, because the rate of digestion and absorption and
therefore the effect upon glucose levels is different. Would you agree?
Also, "increasing" is different from "introducing" a feed for the first
time. A horse getting hay, say bermuda, already has the bug population
in place to digest bermuda, and increasing his ration isn't that big
deal. But if you had a horse that was getting, say bermuda again, and
had been eating bermuda all his life and now you want to add a really
rich alfalfa, I think all of a sudden throwing twenty pounds of alfalfa
over the fence is not such a great idea.
Also, halving a horse's grain isn't the same thing as doubling a horse's
grain ration. If the horse is used to getting six pounds of grain, and
one day he only gets three, fine, no problem other than if he's like my
guys, he's going to be still shouting at you where's the rest of his
breakfast? <g>. That's a different scenario from a horse that is used
to getting three and suddenly has six in front of him. Again, think of
it in exercise terms. You have a horse that is used to going out and
working for thirty miles. One day you decided you're feeling lazy and
only do fifteen. Not a big deal, right? What if you have a horse
that's used to doing fifteen miles on his regular workout. Does that
mean he's automatically ready to go out and do THIRTY? Do you see the
difference?
>
> With regard to the "Sunday Night Smorgasboard", I would not be concerned with what
> probably amounts to a lb of dry matter.
I wouldn't either. I would be a little more concerned if it was five or
six or ten pounds (and I've seen some pretty impressive buckets of grain
at rides). I'm not saying that feeding bran mashes (or whatever) only
at a ride is a major catastrophe, my only point was that digestion
efficiency and nutrient absorption is going to be higher, and risk of
upset tummy and/or founder is going to be lower, if the horse is used to
getting even a minimal amount of those food stuffs on a regular basis at
home. But, as I mentioned in my earlier post, an apple here and a
carrot there isn't a big deal at all. My horses don't have grazing
available to them at home, but I sure do encourage it during a ride if
they have a chance to grab a bite here and there. But, again, that's
different from allowing them to graze an unlimited amount of time when
they're not used to it. It's not that New Things are taboo, it's just
that More is Not Always Better. Moderation and common sense in all
things, eh? :->
See ya,
Susan Evans