Tips On Spring Time Feeding For Horses

Spring is one of the most beautiful times of the
year; the grass is growing, the trees are
blooming, and summer is one the way. For horse
owners, spring can sometimes be a sigh of
relief. The days of what seems like feeding
bales of hay are over as the spring pastures
again become available. Unfortunately, despite
its beauty and welcomed growth, spring holds
risks for all horses regardless of weight, age,
and breeding.

Especially during early spring, it can be
extremely important to your horse's health to
use extreme caution when it comes to grazing
habits. The process of spring grass growing is a
beautiful cycle, but if caution isn't heeded, can
be harmful to your horse. As science would have
it, the earliest grasses to grow will work hard
to ensure that sunlight is converted to food;
using photosynthesis the grass emerges as a
fructan, or plant sugar, to make sure that
growth will continue for the rest of spring and
summer. Depending on location, night time
temperatures in the spring can still get to 40
degrees Fahrenheit or lower. When this happens,
the grass has to store its energy in order to
continue growth; this means that the grass will
store more sugar than usual, meaning that the
sugar levels in the grass will be at their
highest.

Horses, like people, need to have a enough, but
not too much sugar in their diet. Horses should
be slowly introduced to new spring grass to
avoid foundering. Horse owners should use
strategic planning to make sure their horse
isn't at risk. Although it may be tempting to
let your horse eat its fill of the grass, doing
so can be very detrimental. Once a horse
founders, he's damaged for life.

When introducing your horse to new spring
grass, try to do so on days where the
temperature has not been below 40 degrees as the
sugar levels in the grass will be lower. The
safest way to transition your horse to spring
grass is to do so in 20 minute increments. The
time can be gradually increased until your horse
is at his or her ideal grazing time.

When it comes to feeding your horse concentrate
in the spring, you may want to make slight
adjustments to complement the spring grasses. If
your horse is a hard keeper, you'll want to be
careful not to cut back on its concentrates,
however, be advised that if your horse is on a
high protein energy feed, the sugar in the
grasses may combine in his system to create a
fire breathing dragon; in which case you may
want to consider a lower protein feed until the
sugar in the grasses decreases. For an easy
keeper, you may want to cut back on feed rations
as the spring grasses will provide an additional
food source.

Remember that the key to balancing your horse's
diet is attention to detail and making any
changes gradually; making hasty changes to your
horse can be extremely detrimental.

If during the spring, you see any alarming
symptoms of founder, gas colic, or laminitis,
contact your veterinarian immediately.

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Another factor to concider not mentioned in the
article is to have a forage analysis conducted.
This will give you an exact indication on the
mineral quality of your forage. Resourced
http://www.dodsonandhorrell.com

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