Feed requirements and body condition

Two horses in neighbouring stables do not have the same needs. Understanding what makes them vary, then checking by eye and by hand that the ration suits: that is what this page is about.

In the exam programme

Explain how a horse’s feed requirements vary with the factors to be taken into account.Common module B
Assess a horse’s body condition (overweight, too thin).Common module B

In Galop 4 you saw what a horse eats: forage, concentrates, minerals and water. Its requirements — for energy, protein, minerals, vitamins and water — come in two parts. Maintenance requirements keep it alive without losing or gaining weight: breathing, digesting, keeping warm, moving about the field. Production requirements come on top as soon as it produces something: work, a foal, milk, growth.

Remember

Total requirements = maintenance + production. An adult gelding at rest only has its maintenance to cover; a mare feeding a foal has huge production requirements.

Factor	What changes
Weight	Maintenance requirements rise with weight: a 600 kg horse eats more than a 300 kg pony.
Work	The longer and harder the work, the more energy it takes: good hay is often enough for a riding-school horse in light work, not for a competition horse. Work makes a horse sweat, so it needs more salt.
Age	A young horse needs protein and minerals to build bone and muscle; an old horse chews and digests less well and needs feed that is easy to chew.
Breeding	A mare’s requirements rise in the last three months of pregnancy, then sharply while she is feeding her foal: a riding mare in milk can need about twice as much energy as at rest.
Climate	In cold weather a horse spends energy keeping warm, and it is digesting forage that warms it. In great heat it drinks more: from 20 to 60 litres a day depending on the work and the ration.
Way of life	At grass, the grass covers much of the requirements in spring, far less in winter. In a stable, everything depends on what the horse is given.
The individual	Breed, sex, temperament and health all count: some hardy ponies get fat on fresh air, while a nervous horse burns more.

What makes requirements vary

Any change of ration is made gradually, over several days, to give the bacteria of the hind gut time to adapt. On rest days, cut the concentrates: forgetting to is the classic cause of azoturia. Working out an exact ration comes in Galop 7.

Assessing body condition

Body condition measures a horse’s fat reserves. It is scored on a scale from 1 (very thin) to 5 (obese), refined in quarter or half points, combining the eye and the hand, by feeling the horse: the eye alone easily mistakes muscle for fat, and a winter coat is deceptive.

1 — Poor
2 — Lean
3 — Good
4 — Fat
5 — Obese

Where to look and feel

Neck: the crest
Withers
Along the back
Hindquarters
Tail head
Ribs, under the saddle flap: the main site
Behind the shoulder

Fig. 6.3Body condition from 1 to 5, and the areas to check

PrepareA calm horse, held in a headcollar by a helper on flat ground, head and body straight. You and the helper stay on the same side.
LookFrom the side, then from behind: the top line of the neck (the crest), the withers, the line of the back, the ribs, the hindquarters, the tailhead.
FeelWith a flat hand, roll the skin over the ribs where the saddle flap lies — the main site — then behind the shoulder, on the crest, the withers and the tailhead. Judge how thick and how firm the fat is.
ScoreGive each site a score, then take the average. Repeat every month for a working horse: it is the trend that counts.

Score	What you see and feel
1 — very thin	Ribs, spine and points of the hips stand out; withers bony; a hollow behind the shoulder.
2 — lean	Ribs visible or barely covered, line of the back marked, angular hindquarters.
3 — good	Ribs not visible but easy to feel, rounded hindquarters, crest slightly rounded.
4 — fat	Ribs hard to feel, withers and shoulder well covered, line of the back and points of the hips buried.
5 — obese	Ribs impossible to feel under a “mattress” of fat, a very cresty neck, a gutter down the middle of the rump, rolls of fat round the tailhead.

A guide to the scale

The ideal score depends on the horse and its work: about 3 for a pony, 3 to 3.5 for a dressage horse or show jumper, 2 to 2.5 for an eventer or an endurance horse. Too fat, a horse risks laminitis; too thin, it lacks reserves. Adjust the ration and the work — after having the teeth, the worm burden and the horse’s health checked.

A word from the instructor

“He’s just big-boned,” say the owners of a horse that scores 4.5. At Galop 6, your hands are allowed to be more honest than your manners.

Ekidemy

The Galops^®, from the first step to Galop 7