Managing your horse's diet for Winter

Autumn is now well and truly upon us and as the leaves start to fall and the temperature begins to drop; many of us turn our thoughts towards winter feeding. Being proactive is undoubtedly the best strategy but this doesn’t necessarily mean we should be reaching for higher calorie feeds. In fact, results from this year’s National Equine Health Survey show that the incidence of obesity has more than doubled in the last year.

If your horse is a good-doer don’t be tempted to increase his feed just because the weather is changing; particularly if he has come out summer carrying excess weight. Winter provides a natural opportunity to lose weight, particularly for natives and allowing good-doers to slim down as nature intended helps to prevent excess weight gain in the following spring.

Even in winter months, many good-doers will continue to maintain weight well or in some cases too well on forage alone. When this is the case, a balancer is the ideal way to ensure that vitamin, mineral and protein requirements are met, without feeding excess calories.

Where possible, opt for soaked hay rather than haylage. Although haylage is not automatically ‘richer’ as commonly thought, soaking hay helps to reduce the sugar content and of course, less sugar means less calories! Dividing hay between several, double-netted small-holed haylage nets may also help to extend foraging behaviour and make reduced rations last longer. Forage should never be restricted to less than 1.5% of bodyweight per day without veterinary supervision. For a 500kg horse, this equates to 7.5kg per day although if your horse has access to grazing, it will of course be impossible to measure exactly how much he is actually eating. As a guide, feed no less than 50% of your horse’s minimum daily ration if stabled for 12 hours, remembering that this may need to be increased depending on his condition and grazing.

Grazing muzzles have been proven to reduce grass intake by 80% on average, regardless of the season and if necessary, can be used in winter months too. Provided there is sufficient grass covering, good-doers may only need additional hay when it is very cold or if there is snow on the ground, so try to avoid turning overweight horses out with those who need ad-lib hay.

Maintaining a healthy body condition plays a key role in supporting your horse or pony’s general health and well-being. Weekly weigh taping, preferably at the same time of day can help to you to keep track of gradual changes in bodyweight. However weight is just a number, so try to combine this with regular body condition scoring, aiming for a score of 5 on a 1-9 scale. Having said this, allowing good-doers to enter spring at a leaner score of 4.5 is generally acceptable provided that they are otherwise fit and healthy.

Energy vs. calories: is there a difference?

Many owners come to me looking for a feed that will provide more energy without more calories and this common conundrum is one which often causes confusion. So once and for all, let us lay the myths to rest and uncover the truth. Is there a difference between energy and calories and is it really possible to feed more of one without the other?

The simple answer on both counts is no!  Whilst people often tend to use the term ‘energy’ when referring to work or behaviour and ‘calories’ when referring to the horse’s weight, they are not two separate entities (think ‘tomayto/ tomahto’!). Put simply, energy is extracted from nutrients and the amount you feed affects the horse’s weight. Feed too little and he will lose weight, feed too much and he will gain weight. The horse’s energy requirements take into account the energy he requires to simply stay alive and the energy needed to work (which is often over estimated). Regardless of whether a feed is classified as ‘heating or non-heating’, ‘low calorie or high calorie’, feeding more energy than the horse needs/ burns is more than likely to result in excess weight gain.

In many cases, lethargy or a lack of ‘sparkle/ oomph’ is not diet related and therefore simply changing or increasing feed is unlikely to be the solution. Instead, ask yourself if your horse’s weight, temperament or fitness could be responsible. Decreasing weight and/ or increasing fitness, is sometimes all it takes to improve the horse’s natural energy levels. However for sudden, severe and/ or uncharacteristic lethargy, seek veterinary advice to rule out any underlying medical conditions.

Changing the type (rather than the quantity) of energy fed may result in a more energetic performance, but this method only works in some and horses and even then, is not without its pitfalls. High starch, cereal based feeds are not suitable for laminitics and may also encourage more rapid weight gain compared to fibre and oil based feeds. Considering their potentially increased risk laminitis, it could be argued that such feeds may not ideal for any pony, native or good-doer.

As an alternative to changing your feed, you may have considered an ‘energy supplement’ and for some horses, this can prove an effective way of encouraging a more energetic and focussed performance. However, it is often wise to avoid the iron based/ high iron supplements. Horses are rarely deficient iron and in fact, there is not scientific reason to suggest that oversupplying iron will improve energy levels. Iron is also one of the few minerals which can be harmful if over fed.

Despite what you may have been told (or what we might sometimes wish for), energy and calories are exactly the same thing. If your horse is in good or overweight condition, it's not advisable to increase the amount of energy you feed him, regardless of his ridden performance or enthusiasm.

Ribs: to see or not to see, that is the question...

In recent years the media has been filled with messages about obesity and this message and indeed the problem, is one that affects our equine population too. Although many of the horse owners that I speak to seem aware of the problems associated with excess weight gain, we are still seeing large numbers of overweight horses and because of this, sometimes find that the perception of ‘ideal’ is skewed.

Body Condition Scoring (BCS) is an objective and effective way of assessing if and where the horse is carrying body fat and in many respects, is of greater importance than the horse’s actual weight. The 1-9 scale assesses 6 main areas which should be scored individually before calculating an average. For leisure horses, a score of 5 (described as ‘moderate’), is considered ideal. A ‘perfect 5’ is defined as:

·         No crest, neck blends smoothly into the body

·         Shoulder blends smoothly into the body, no fat pads behind the shoulder

·         Withers ‘defined’ but smoothly rounded

·         Back level, no fat pads behind the ‘saddle area’

·         Ribs can be easily felt but not seen

·         Fat around the tailhead beginning to feel spongy

However when using the BCS system, there a few important considerations, one of which is the horse’s breed and another being the natural cycle of seasonal weight loss/ gain. For example on a TB horse, you can often see a faint outline of the last two ribs (particularly when they turn), even when they are at an ‘optimum weight’ or in ‘ideal condition’.

Ponies and other native breeds evolved to gain weight in spring and summer and lose it again over the winter, ready for the return of better grazing in the following spring.  Allowing natives to slim down and enter spring a little on the ‘lean’ side as nature intended (perhaps a score of 4.5), helps to prevent excess weight gain.  Provided that the horse or pony is otherwise fit and healthy, seeing ribs is not automatically something that we should be concerned about, even for natives! In addition to whether or not you can see the horse’s ribs, consider other areas on the BCS chart as well as factors such as general health and fitness, skin and coat condition and hoof quality/ health. Whilst ‘ideal condition’ and seeing ribs can go hand in hand, owners of such horses can sometimes be faced with conflicting advice from other liveries, particularly if there are several overweight horses on the yard.

Like people, horses come in different shapes and sizes and for natives particularly, the natural cycle losing and gaining weight is very important. This considered, is being able to see your horse’s ribs a problem? Not always!  

Equine Metabolic Syndrome (EMS): Is it just another label?

EMS or just an incredibly good doer?

An increasing number of horse owners are contacting me for advice regarding Equine Metabolic Syndrome (EMS); a condition which seems widely open to confusion or misinterpretation. So, what is EMS and what does it or should really mean when it comes to feeding our horses?

The term EMS was first adopted in 2002 after some similarities were drawn between horses and the human ‘metabolic syndrome’. In humans, metabolic syndrome is a set of diagnostic criteria that identifies individuals at high risk of disease associated with Insulin Resistance, primarily type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease. In horses, EMS is defined as the collective presentation of 1) insulin resistance 2) obesity or regional adiposity (fat) 3) previous or current laminitis. However since first adopted, the term EMS and the criteria for its diagnosis has often caused confusion, which may explain why it seems open to overuse and misinterpretation. There seems to be some agreement that this syndrome has yet to be rigorously defined and that currently, there is no widely accepted definition or set of clinical diagnostic criteria.

EMS is not a disease and is considerably different to the human metabolic syndrome. Despite popular belief diabetes in horses is extremely rare and is likely that there have only been a handful of genuine cases to date. Horses and ponies that have not had, or that are not currently suffering from laminitis, do not fit in with the current criteria for EMS and therefore should not be described as such. In addition, not all laminitics have EMS and this syndrome should not be automatically used as an ‘excuse’ or ‘explanation’ for obesity. There is a concern amongst some that overuse of the term EMS may mean that the true cause or risks of obesity and laminitis could be overlooked. EMS cannot be confirmed without comprehensive veterinary diagnosis and more research into this area is still required. In fact, some nutritionists question whether the term EMS should be used at all at this stage; feeling that the limited research and confusion surrounding this ‘syndrome’ may lead to excessively restrictive or liberal management depending on whether or not EMS is ‘diagnosed’ when in fact, focus should be on identifying and managing the risk factors associated with laminitis.

Nutritional management of EMS, as with any laminitis prone animal should focus on:

·         Providing a diet low in non-structural carbohydrate (NSC – starch, sugar and fructan)

·         Restricting or possibly removing grazing

·         Feeding soaked hay (12-16 hours & ideally in tepid water) or a low calorie hay replacer approved by The Laminitis Trust. Alternatively, consider having your forage analysed

·         Managing weight – aim for a body condition score of 5 out of 9 and remember that it is normal and perfectly healthy for ponies/ natives to lose some weight over the winter before the arrival of better grass in the spring

·         Maintaining regular exercise programme

·         Providing a balanced diet, including suitable levels of vitamins, minerals and quality protein – a feed balancer is the ideal way to provide a balanced diet without excess calories

·         Providing enough fibre – do not restrict forage to less than 1.5% of bodyweight (7.5kg per day for a 500kg horse) unless under veterinary supervision

Laminitis is a serious condition, the risk or occurrence of which should certainly not be taken lightly. However, is simply being able to understand, identify and manage the risk factors associated with laminitis more important and potentially safer than imposing a label of EMS? Some would agree so.