Just like we need to keep certain things maintained on our vehicles to attempt to avoid mechanical failure, there are a few things that horses need to be kept up on as well. Spring riding is just around the corner so in preparation for that, I have my Spring Equine Readiness Checklist to start checking off. One of those items was accomplished yesterday. Brego and Maggie went to the vet for some scheduled maintenance. They were both due for dental work. Neither one have had anything done in that department . Brego just turned 5 and hadn't needed anything until now. Maggie has also never had her teeth floated. I mistakingly thought we had her in last year but juggling the care of 6-7 horses often gets confusing, especially when I don't keep up on my records! As it turns out, they both had wolf teeth and they both needed them removed. Typically, this is completed early on in a horses life. With colts, it's done at the same time they are gelded. Brego was gelded at 6 mos so his wolf teeth weren't in at that time. Other than the pain from writing a fairly large check to have this done, both horses are recovering fine. Maggie is a little more sore as it took a fair amount of yanking and pulling with pliers ( it's not exactly a high tech procedure to remove these things)to unearth the healthy roots she had. If she goes off the groceries a little, it is going to hurt anything.
Both horses were weighed prior to the procedure to help determine the correct dose of sedative to administer. Both horses are over 1000 lbs, Maggie the heavy weight of 1084 lbs. She's only 14.1 hands. Brego is just a big horse and still growing. My vet was concerned about Maggie, especially given that Magggie is your typical easy keeper Morgan. Along with that comes the risk of her developing Insulin resistance and Cushings disease. Because of this little fact that I am well aware of, managing her feed intake is an ever evolving issue in the spring and summermonths.
It won't be too much longer before green shoots start emerging in the pasture. Other than confining Maggie, which often backfires because she gets out of every confinement if she is hungry, my vet and discussed a few options:
1) get a grazing muzzle- Not sure she would keep that on.Have never used one of these and I would worry about the safety of her getting it caught on something.
2) Confine her- We already do this. She often escapes , through electric fence, and I come home to find she has been grazing on lush green pasture for 3 hours...or more..need to invest in electric fencing suitable to hold back Tyranousaurus Rex apparently.
3) Excercise, Excercise and Ecxercise- no explanation needed.
4)Back off her off hay ration and supplement with straw (up to a 1/3 )to keep her busy and satisfied. This one was concerning to me because straw can increase a chance of impactions. My vet felt that as long as she is a good drinker and has access to temperate water in the colder months, this should not cause an issue. Maggie is generally a good drinker when she isn't being ridden and we have tank heaters so, both things are in her favor. But this leads to some other questions specific to using this as a feed for the distance discpline.
I will pose this question:
Has anyone used straw with the horses they have in endurance training?
What issues have you had , if any?
In the meantime, I guess it's time to get into research mode.
Showing posts with label Nutrition. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Nutrition. Show all posts
Sunday, February 12, 2012
Sunday, April 10, 2011
Sustainability.. Diving in Head First
It's been a topic of discussion at the dinner table now for the last several years at our house. For some reason or another, we always came back to the answer of "not this year". Usually it was the extra work involved, the extra chore, the extra time, the extra money out. There just seemed to be more reasons not to. But this year, with the cost of food and inflation now really starting to hit, it seemed , for the first time, to just make good sense..
We have committed to raising some of our own food. Last fall, we built several garden boxes in preparation for this spring. Over the last several days, we have been busy filling those garden boxes with lots of organic compost (thanks horses!), peat moss and topsoil. Neither of us are new to gardening , having both grown up with gardening, but it had been a while for both of us. We spent the winter researching and educating ourselves on how we wanted to do our garden. We now have a plan and I can hardly wait until I can start planting some veggies.
And , since we are doing the vegetable garden, we thought we may as well add a few chickens to the landscape. Following the Primal lifestyle, we consume alot of eggs.... and chicken. So, over the last few weeks we have collected a few Heirloom varieties of pullets, along with a few meat birds that will be , well, you know... We are also going to be acquiring two Welsummer hens and a rooster from a friend who is brooding them, but that will be later this summer. In the meantime, we have 2 Black Australorp, 2 Buff Orpington , 2 Americaunas, 1 Lakenvelder and for now, 6 Cornish cross with a larger order due in the coming weeks.
A few years ago, I didn't want to be bothered with the additional work it will require , especially the start up, to add and maintain a garden and build the chicken coop(70% done at this point), and then keep them healthy.
A few years ago, I didn't feel as good as I do today either. Eating and living a Primal lifestyle has changed my outlook on things.
Sustainable? Absolutely. Raising a little of our own food just makes sense.
We have committed to raising some of our own food. Last fall, we built several garden boxes in preparation for this spring. Over the last several days, we have been busy filling those garden boxes with lots of organic compost (thanks horses!), peat moss and topsoil. Neither of us are new to gardening , having both grown up with gardening, but it had been a while for both of us. We spent the winter researching and educating ourselves on how we wanted to do our garden. We now have a plan and I can hardly wait until I can start planting some veggies.
And , since we are doing the vegetable garden, we thought we may as well add a few chickens to the landscape. Following the Primal lifestyle, we consume alot of eggs.... and chicken. So, over the last few weeks we have collected a few Heirloom varieties of pullets, along with a few meat birds that will be , well, you know... We are also going to be acquiring two Welsummer hens and a rooster from a friend who is brooding them, but that will be later this summer. In the meantime, we have 2 Black Australorp, 2 Buff Orpington , 2 Americaunas, 1 Lakenvelder and for now, 6 Cornish cross with a larger order due in the coming weeks.
A few years ago, I didn't want to be bothered with the additional work it will require , especially the start up, to add and maintain a garden and build the chicken coop(70% done at this point), and then keep them healthy.
A few years ago, I didn't feel as good as I do today either. Eating and living a Primal lifestyle has changed my outlook on things.
Sustainable? Absolutely. Raising a little of our own food just makes sense.
Wednesday, June 30, 2010
Rhabdomyolysis and Selenium levels
or... maybe better known as Tying- up or Azoturia. It's one of the things that endurance riders fear. Quite some time ago, I was informed that I might run a greater risk with Maggie being prone to tying up because of her build, (heavier muscling) and was encouraged to supplement Vitamin E, Selenium and Lysine, which has shown to help lessen tying up problems.
Not being one to just do as told, I went looking for myself before I did anything. Turns out, Maggie is not really at any greater risk than any other horse for sporadic or chronic Rhabdomyolysis. Any horse, any breed, any age can run into issues with the sporadic version if they are over worked beyond their condition level or being asked to perform in hot humid weather without sufficient electorylytes. Maggie is less likely to run into what is considered the Chronic version , which is then split into two categories; PSSM (polysaccharides Storage Myopathy) which I won't get into , or RER(Recurrent Exertional Rhabdomyolysis). According to an article written by Lydia F. Gray, DVM, MA in August 2007, it states that researchers has once believed that RER was due to the build up of lactic acid in the muscles, however recent studies are showing that it may be more related to abnormal regulation of intracellular calcium that makes muscles more sensitive to contractions. As it turns out, there are three breeds that are prone to REr, which include Standardbreds, Arabians and Thoroughbreds. Maggie doesn't fit into any of these, however she is Morgan , which did influence the standard bred... so I suppose there is always the possibility. The good news is that it really has nothing to do with muscle/body build, from what I can glean.
This whole topic did make me want to be sure that , given her recent workload in the last two months , she was receiving an adequate amount of Selenium , Vitamin E and Lysine.
I also live in an area considered Selenium deficient. That means that our hay and our grass in the pasture may not be providing enough.
I found this article. In this article, it gives some very interesting information about plants and Selenium uptake. The article also indicates that the area of Montana tends to have sufficient or higher levels of Selenium, which I found a bit surprising since that was a direct contradiction to everything I have understood for several years. I kept looking and found this resource (USGS)that gives a little more accurate information . You can zoom in and click on your county to get the exact ranges of Selenium levels. Cornell has an article which states that for areas with identified deficiencies, animals should be getting between 0.1-0.3 mg/kg per day and more specifically for horses, the nutrient requirement for simple maintenance is 0.10mg/kg per day of Selenium. According to the map (USGS) link for Flathead County, Montana, the minimum is 0.101 and the maximum is 1.926 (ppm) . If I wanted to convert that to MG/LB I would need to multiply that by 0.4536 or if I wanted to convert it to Mg/Kg I would multiply by 1.
So, roll up your sleeves and lets do some math! (not my strong suit at all) I just took the upper end ppm of 1.926 x 1 which gave me 2 MG/Kg or 1.926 x 0.4536 gives me 1 MG/LB. So, if I give nothing but hay and pasture and assuming the numbers on the USGS map are correct , it seems as though the Selenium amounts my horses are receiving are just above the recommended range for maintenance of 0.10 mg/kg thus telling me that I wouldn't necessarily need to supplement Selenium. With a hard working horse, apparently there is some wiggle room upward from those numbers as the requirements may increase with workload.
As a general rule, I have used Horse Guard for years as a broad spectrum Vitamin /Mineral supplement , along with hay and some limited pasture during the summer. Horse Guard also happens to also provider 3 mg of Selenium and 4,000 IU of Vitamin E.
But how much Selenium is too much?
According to the FDA (and ofcourse their info is always a bit suspect), a horse should not be allowed to ingest more than 3 mg per day of Selenium and they go on to say that even as small amount of 2 mg over that 3 mg , a horse can develop toxicity. When I read this, I was a bit concerned. The 3 mg that Horse Guard provides, combined with anything my horses might be getting from hay and/or pasture, (remember about 1MG/LB, I was suddenly seeing that our horses might be getting approximately 4 MG/LB per day, which was possibly creeping up into the upper ends of what was a safe number???
I consulted with my vet and she felt that while the numbers on the USGS were good general guidelines, there are variations. She was aware of several hay crops in the area that have been tested and all showed that there was definitely a deficiency. I supposed I could have my hay and soil tested but in the years I have been using the same feeding program, I have never seen any symptoms of toxicity in my horses, such as hair loss, cracked hooves, dull coat, etc. For now, I'll keep with what I know works and watch for any symptoms..
I would like to hear from anyone with any other information regarding this.
Not being one to just do as told, I went looking for myself before I did anything. Turns out, Maggie is not really at any greater risk than any other horse for sporadic or chronic Rhabdomyolysis. Any horse, any breed, any age can run into issues with the sporadic version if they are over worked beyond their condition level or being asked to perform in hot humid weather without sufficient electorylytes. Maggie is less likely to run into what is considered the Chronic version , which is then split into two categories; PSSM (polysaccharides Storage Myopathy) which I won't get into , or RER(Recurrent Exertional Rhabdomyolysis). According to an article written by Lydia F. Gray, DVM, MA in August 2007, it states that researchers has once believed that RER was due to the build up of lactic acid in the muscles, however recent studies are showing that it may be more related to abnormal regulation of intracellular calcium that makes muscles more sensitive to contractions. As it turns out, there are three breeds that are prone to REr, which include Standardbreds, Arabians and Thoroughbreds. Maggie doesn't fit into any of these, however she is Morgan , which did influence the standard bred... so I suppose there is always the possibility. The good news is that it really has nothing to do with muscle/body build, from what I can glean.
This whole topic did make me want to be sure that , given her recent workload in the last two months , she was receiving an adequate amount of Selenium , Vitamin E and Lysine.
I also live in an area considered Selenium deficient. That means that our hay and our grass in the pasture may not be providing enough.
I found this article. In this article, it gives some very interesting information about plants and Selenium uptake. The article also indicates that the area of Montana tends to have sufficient or higher levels of Selenium, which I found a bit surprising since that was a direct contradiction to everything I have understood for several years. I kept looking and found this resource (USGS)that gives a little more accurate information . You can zoom in and click on your county to get the exact ranges of Selenium levels. Cornell has an article which states that for areas with identified deficiencies, animals should be getting between 0.1-0.3 mg/kg per day and more specifically for horses, the nutrient requirement for simple maintenance is 0.10mg/kg per day of Selenium. According to the map (USGS) link for Flathead County, Montana, the minimum is 0.101 and the maximum is 1.926 (ppm) . If I wanted to convert that to MG/LB I would need to multiply that by 0.4536 or if I wanted to convert it to Mg/Kg I would multiply by 1.
So, roll up your sleeves and lets do some math! (not my strong suit at all) I just took the upper end ppm of 1.926 x 1 which gave me 2 MG/Kg or 1.926 x 0.4536 gives me 1 MG/LB. So, if I give nothing but hay and pasture and assuming the numbers on the USGS map are correct , it seems as though the Selenium amounts my horses are receiving are just above the recommended range for maintenance of 0.10 mg/kg thus telling me that I wouldn't necessarily need to supplement Selenium. With a hard working horse, apparently there is some wiggle room upward from those numbers as the requirements may increase with workload.
As a general rule, I have used Horse Guard for years as a broad spectrum Vitamin /Mineral supplement , along with hay and some limited pasture during the summer. Horse Guard also happens to also provider 3 mg of Selenium and 4,000 IU of Vitamin E.
But how much Selenium is too much?
According to the FDA (and ofcourse their info is always a bit suspect), a horse should not be allowed to ingest more than 3 mg per day of Selenium and they go on to say that even as small amount of 2 mg over that 3 mg , a horse can develop toxicity. When I read this, I was a bit concerned. The 3 mg that Horse Guard provides, combined with anything my horses might be getting from hay and/or pasture, (remember about 1MG/LB, I was suddenly seeing that our horses might be getting approximately 4 MG/LB per day, which was possibly creeping up into the upper ends of what was a safe number???
I consulted with my vet and she felt that while the numbers on the USGS were good general guidelines, there are variations. She was aware of several hay crops in the area that have been tested and all showed that there was definitely a deficiency. I supposed I could have my hay and soil tested but in the years I have been using the same feeding program, I have never seen any symptoms of toxicity in my horses, such as hair loss, cracked hooves, dull coat, etc. For now, I'll keep with what I know works and watch for any symptoms..
I would like to hear from anyone with any other information regarding this.
Friday, June 26, 2009
Good Timing : Sharing My Thoughts on Nutrition and Excercise
Tamara over at In the Night Farm http://inthenightfarm.blogspot.com/2009/06/fit-to-ride-part-two.html has been doing a thought provoking series on endurance rider fitness and nutrition. It’s been fun to read her posts and the responses as well. Her decision to post on this couldn’t have had better timing for me. It’s only been in the last couple of years I had to start reevaluating my own exercise and diet routine. If you havent’ read her recent series, I suggest you do, go there now! She is an excellent writer and always does her research before her fingers hit the keyboard, which I really respect.
I realized that on one of her posts, I commented about how it would be interesting to hear what other folks did for workouts/diets, etc to stay healthy and in shape but then , I never shared my own story. (Tamara, I thought about putting this all in one of your comments but then it just got too lengthy so I hope you don't mind!)
I’ll begin by saying I am not blessed with great athletic abilities or body type for that matter. I have fought it all my life. I am genetically predisposed with slow metabolism. That fact alone has always been my #1 motivator. Pure unequivocal fear.
Most of the family members that share the same genetic pool that I happen to take after, are 250 lbs plus. Damn Italian blood.. Years ago, I promised myself I would never allow myself to get to that point. I haven't broken that promise but it would be really easy to. To add , my parents put a lot of focus on food growing up. Just like so many other people out there, I was taught to finish everything on my plate… Portion control was lost on me from the start.
Given my predisposition, I knew I would always have to stay active in some fashion. As a result, working out regularly since I was in high school allowed me to pretty much eat what I wanted and not worry too much. That had served me well, up until I hit the ripe age of 30. Then, the whole thing started to turn upside down on me. Suddenly I found that my workout routine of 20 minutes on the Eliptical a couple times a week and few weights (light) weren’t working anymore. I found myself packin it on. I suddenly couldn’t cheat like I used to with diet and exercise routine I was keeping.
Finding the motivation to workout and staying active have never been a problem for me. I love the way I feel when I am done working out. (getting there some days is hard but always worth it in the end) For me, it’s the food/diet thing. Calories in versus calories burned was now becoming a huge factor as my metabolism slows with every passing year . It's really a fact of life but can be controlled. Clearly, I had to rethink the type of foods I was choosing and become more disciplined about my eating habits. I have also had to turn up the volume with my workouts. I’ll admit, It’s been a slow process. I have good days and I have bad days. I have had my share of setbacks too ; like a foot injury, building a house, and other life events have thrown me off course in the past few years. On the other hand, turning 30 also brought me some good things as well, like wisdom. I figured out that I am stress eater and ofcourse, that is my downfall. Sweets are what I reach for in times of stress. Over the last couple of years, I have slowly figured out the mind games I need to play with myself to control those urges. Easy? No. Necessary… yes. So when the office, which is a very “food focused” environment, is celebrating a coworkers birthday with cake and other treats, I can now say no much easier and take great pleasure in watching everyone else eat it, knowing I just saved myself a lot of guilt and grief later on.
That said, with the diet changes that I have needed to make (and still working on ) the hardest part has been meal planning. I have a busy schedule and it’s so easy to grab for unhealthy meals. Incorporating the right mix of lean protein, whole grains and more vegetables into my daily meals can be a challenge. At the same time, trying to keep a husband, who is a meat and potatoes kind of guy fed also complicates matters more for me. Serving him brown rice with grilled chicken and steamed broccoli doesn’t quite do it for his gazelle like metabolism. He could eat bratwurst and beer everynight and not gain an ounce. (maybe a clogged artery or two).
So… I have to make sure meals are satisfying for him but don’t create a train wreck for me.
The answer?
Sometimes I have to cook two different meals. Sometimes, we just compromise. If he wants pasta with meat sauce , I now cook with either brown rice pasta or whole grain pasta and have him hold out part of it from the red sauce and hamburger for me. He eats his pasta with meat sauce and a green salad and I top my pasta with fresh basil, sautéed garlic in olive oil and fresh or sundried tomatoes instead, with a fresh green salad. Problem solved. ( I don't even buy or make gralic bread anymore because that is a temptation I may not have the strenght to resist!)
As far as the workouts, I am at the gym on average 3-4 times a week. I engage in 30-45 minutes of cardio , the time usually split between two machines, the elliptical, the treadmill and/or the bike. I try to stay at a high intensity. When I am on the treadmill, I usually jog for most of it or walk at an incline. Since my foot injury, running has become difficult so my dreams of being a runner may not ever come to fruition. I am not a fast runner but can manage short bursts of speed for interval training and I find that works well for me. Once my cardio is complete I have about a 20 minute strength training routine.
A couple of years ago, I worked with a personal trainer to make sure I was doing all the right things. She helped me figure out what is the best routine for me with weights especially. Turns out, while my genetics predisposes me to struggle with weight, it also predisposes a high level of strength. I can leg press 210 lbs for 3 sets of 15 without breaking a sweat. That also means, unfortunately , that I will never be one of those girls that can get away with 2 sets of 10 bicep curls at 20 lbs. Just doesn’t do it for me. I have to work a lot harder…DARN!!
I have known a lot of people that start a workout routine and do very well, make lots of gains in strength and condition but then they lose motivation and all the hard work was wasted when they return to their old ways. We all have our days when it would be easier to just go home and take a nap. So, how do I stay motivated not to slip into that roller coaster pattern? There are no easy answers but there are simple answers.....
I mentioned earlier that my motivator is the fear of ending up like so many of my family members. There are so many health risks associated with being that heavy and I have lost a few loved ones as a result. Fact is, I don't want to die from a cardiac infarction or stroke. I don't want to develop diabetes. The simple answer is health for me. It's the right thing to do to take care of this one body I was given. Additionally, I have another motivator that nearer and dearer to my heart… literally..
A few years ago, my doctor found that I have a mitral valve prolapse. It scared me at first with all the cardiac family history but with a little research, I realized it’s quite common in people. A prolapse can be mild to severe. The echo revealed that mine is more on the mild to medium side of the scale. It doesn’t cause me too much grief but I was advised that it can worsen with age. It’s not all that uncommon for people with MVP to need a valve replacement at some point. I want to keep in top cardio condition to avoid that. So, I may not have the toned body I want yet, but you can bet that I keep in top cardio health. My resting heart rate is 53-55 beats per minute and that makes me smile.
So, what motivates you to stay on course? What are some of your pearls of wisdom to planning healthy meals with a busy schedule ? I don’t know about all of you, but I can’t wait to hear what a weekly meal plan looks like for Tamara and maybe she can offer some of her time management secrets.
I realized that on one of her posts, I commented about how it would be interesting to hear what other folks did for workouts/diets, etc to stay healthy and in shape but then , I never shared my own story. (Tamara, I thought about putting this all in one of your comments but then it just got too lengthy so I hope you don't mind!)
I’ll begin by saying I am not blessed with great athletic abilities or body type for that matter. I have fought it all my life. I am genetically predisposed with slow metabolism. That fact alone has always been my #1 motivator. Pure unequivocal fear.
Most of the family members that share the same genetic pool that I happen to take after, are 250 lbs plus. Damn Italian blood.. Years ago, I promised myself I would never allow myself to get to that point. I haven't broken that promise but it would be really easy to. To add , my parents put a lot of focus on food growing up. Just like so many other people out there, I was taught to finish everything on my plate… Portion control was lost on me from the start.
Given my predisposition, I knew I would always have to stay active in some fashion. As a result, working out regularly since I was in high school allowed me to pretty much eat what I wanted and not worry too much. That had served me well, up until I hit the ripe age of 30. Then, the whole thing started to turn upside down on me. Suddenly I found that my workout routine of 20 minutes on the Eliptical a couple times a week and few weights (light) weren’t working anymore. I found myself packin it on. I suddenly couldn’t cheat like I used to with diet and exercise routine I was keeping.
Finding the motivation to workout and staying active have never been a problem for me. I love the way I feel when I am done working out. (getting there some days is hard but always worth it in the end) For me, it’s the food/diet thing. Calories in versus calories burned was now becoming a huge factor as my metabolism slows with every passing year . It's really a fact of life but can be controlled. Clearly, I had to rethink the type of foods I was choosing and become more disciplined about my eating habits. I have also had to turn up the volume with my workouts. I’ll admit, It’s been a slow process. I have good days and I have bad days. I have had my share of setbacks too ; like a foot injury, building a house, and other life events have thrown me off course in the past few years. On the other hand, turning 30 also brought me some good things as well, like wisdom. I figured out that I am stress eater and ofcourse, that is my downfall. Sweets are what I reach for in times of stress. Over the last couple of years, I have slowly figured out the mind games I need to play with myself to control those urges. Easy? No. Necessary… yes. So when the office, which is a very “food focused” environment, is celebrating a coworkers birthday with cake and other treats, I can now say no much easier and take great pleasure in watching everyone else eat it, knowing I just saved myself a lot of guilt and grief later on.
That said, with the diet changes that I have needed to make (and still working on ) the hardest part has been meal planning. I have a busy schedule and it’s so easy to grab for unhealthy meals. Incorporating the right mix of lean protein, whole grains and more vegetables into my daily meals can be a challenge. At the same time, trying to keep a husband, who is a meat and potatoes kind of guy fed also complicates matters more for me. Serving him brown rice with grilled chicken and steamed broccoli doesn’t quite do it for his gazelle like metabolism. He could eat bratwurst and beer everynight and not gain an ounce. (maybe a clogged artery or two).
So… I have to make sure meals are satisfying for him but don’t create a train wreck for me.
The answer?
Sometimes I have to cook two different meals. Sometimes, we just compromise. If he wants pasta with meat sauce , I now cook with either brown rice pasta or whole grain pasta and have him hold out part of it from the red sauce and hamburger for me. He eats his pasta with meat sauce and a green salad and I top my pasta with fresh basil, sautéed garlic in olive oil and fresh or sundried tomatoes instead, with a fresh green salad. Problem solved. ( I don't even buy or make gralic bread anymore because that is a temptation I may not have the strenght to resist!)
As far as the workouts, I am at the gym on average 3-4 times a week. I engage in 30-45 minutes of cardio , the time usually split between two machines, the elliptical, the treadmill and/or the bike. I try to stay at a high intensity. When I am on the treadmill, I usually jog for most of it or walk at an incline. Since my foot injury, running has become difficult so my dreams of being a runner may not ever come to fruition. I am not a fast runner but can manage short bursts of speed for interval training and I find that works well for me. Once my cardio is complete I have about a 20 minute strength training routine.
A couple of years ago, I worked with a personal trainer to make sure I was doing all the right things. She helped me figure out what is the best routine for me with weights especially. Turns out, while my genetics predisposes me to struggle with weight, it also predisposes a high level of strength. I can leg press 210 lbs for 3 sets of 15 without breaking a sweat. That also means, unfortunately , that I will never be one of those girls that can get away with 2 sets of 10 bicep curls at 20 lbs. Just doesn’t do it for me. I have to work a lot harder…DARN!!
I have known a lot of people that start a workout routine and do very well, make lots of gains in strength and condition but then they lose motivation and all the hard work was wasted when they return to their old ways. We all have our days when it would be easier to just go home and take a nap. So, how do I stay motivated not to slip into that roller coaster pattern? There are no easy answers but there are simple answers.....
I mentioned earlier that my motivator is the fear of ending up like so many of my family members. There are so many health risks associated with being that heavy and I have lost a few loved ones as a result. Fact is, I don't want to die from a cardiac infarction or stroke. I don't want to develop diabetes. The simple answer is health for me. It's the right thing to do to take care of this one body I was given. Additionally, I have another motivator that nearer and dearer to my heart… literally..
A few years ago, my doctor found that I have a mitral valve prolapse. It scared me at first with all the cardiac family history but with a little research, I realized it’s quite common in people. A prolapse can be mild to severe. The echo revealed that mine is more on the mild to medium side of the scale. It doesn’t cause me too much grief but I was advised that it can worsen with age. It’s not all that uncommon for people with MVP to need a valve replacement at some point. I want to keep in top cardio condition to avoid that. So, I may not have the toned body I want yet, but you can bet that I keep in top cardio health. My resting heart rate is 53-55 beats per minute and that makes me smile.
So, what motivates you to stay on course? What are some of your pearls of wisdom to planning healthy meals with a busy schedule ? I don’t know about all of you, but I can’t wait to hear what a weekly meal plan looks like for Tamara and maybe she can offer some of her time management secrets.
Saturday, March 7, 2009
Ride Season and Feeding Programs
With the conditioning season gearing up, snow storms and ice notwithstanding , it’s still time to start thinking about the feeding program for the season. While winter has loomed, our horses have been fed straight hay with the occasional beet pulp for a treat and free choice mineral/salt. Last fall, I did a fairly comprehensive review of feeding requirements in relation to digestible energy, calorie in take, etc that you can read about here. ...and I will warn you, I am bit of a nut when it comes to nutrition for my horses...
http://acerfarm.blogspot.com/2008/12/feeding-down-to-science-part-2.html
It’s easy to get lost in all of the mumbo jumbo of KCAL, DE, Calcium to Phosphorus ratio, etc , etc. In my ongoing quest with nutritional analysis, I finally narrowed it down to focusing a just a few important facts. Really, it’s pretty simple…
Low Protein levels (<13%)
Increased Fiber, Increased Fat
Starches that are easily absorbed in the small intestine.
Sufficient vitamin/minerals
salt/water
There are a lot of articles out there on feeding the endurance horse and there are a lot of blogs out there that have also done a write up of feeding the endurance horse by much more qualified persons than myself, so I won’t duplicate efforts here.
I found that during this decision making process, it was quite easy to get caught up in the myriad of choices available. Each company tries to sway the consumer by coming up with the most eye appealing packaging. The more I looked, the more questions bubbled to the surface. If I chose one brand name, then I was left to decide what the type of feed I want within that brand , such as extruded, textured, pelletized, complete or just a supplemental type feed. I also found that I consistently ran into a situation where one product would have the Fat and Fiber %’s where I wanted them, but the protein levels were way to high, or vice versa. After several head spinning trips to the feed stores, reading feed tags, comparing prices , emails and phone conversations with feed dealers, vets, and so on, it seems that I have come full circle.
As much as I did like some of the products out there and definitely would consider them in the future, I kept coming back to one thing. Whole Foods. On a personal level, when given a choice, whole foods are always better than “processed” foods with the human diet. Why should that be any different with my horses diet? With all the top name grains out on the market today, there seems to be a lot of processing going on. I am just not convinced that is necessarily a good thing. Keeping to the basics, like feeding oats, seemed to make more sense to me and frankly, makes me less nervous about digestive upset. At the same time, I have fed some of the name brand grains in the past, like Strategy, Omolene, etc and had some very good results, so I really did have to weigh all the factors.
I have decided that I will put JB whole oats (yes, whole oats, I’ll explain shortly) with beet pulp, ground flaxseed for his Omega’s and fat and then a daily multi vitamin like Horse Guard. Now, before I go much further, for those of you reading this that are fellow endurance riders, I know some of you might be cringing. I realize that oats really aren’t that popular in the endurance sport but please read on….
I found a lot of information on why oats might not be a good fit for an endurance horses and I did a little digging into this. Oats have been fed to horses for a very long time with pretty good success. As it turns out, the worst part about Oats for an endurance horse is that oats tend to create a bit of a glycogen spike 1.5 to 3 hrs after consumption, also known as the dreaded “sugar high”. They are also not as low in the protein level as endurance riders like to see, but certainly not any higher than some of the other grains out on the market. According to what I was able to research, on average, oats run somewhere in the 12-13% range in protein level. Interestingly enough, the quality of the protein is not considered excellent (adequate amino acids) As an example, if your feeding young growing horses, you may not want to feed oats alone for example to meet the nutritional needs of a growing horse. On the plus side, Oats are much less likely to cause digestive problems because of the fiber content. The part that really sold me on oats is that they have very high prececal starch digestibility, somewhere in the 80- 90%. That is the key when considering starch levels. This means that the starch is digested in the small intestine and that is exactly where it needs to be digested, as opposed to the large intestine. Corn or barley by comparison, is not well digested in the foregut. This is when a horse can run into trouble when starch leaks into the large intestine(colic, laminitis , insufficient absorption of minerals) The sugar high effect of oats I mentioned earlier really doesn’t have me overly concerned because I feel that I can manage that with my horses feeding schedule. It will be several hours before and several hours after conditioning that my horse will receive his grain. I will monitor JB’s highs and lows and adjust as needed if it does become a problem. ….And.. ofcourse, he won’t be getting oats on race days.
One other point to consider is that oats can have an imbalanced calcium to phosphorus ratio with Calcium being on the lower side. This is more of a concern when feeding a large amount of oats (over 7 lbs per day)but the recommendations to keep this in sync is to either feed some alfalfa hay or supplement. Our hay already has some alfalfa in it. JB is also supplemented with Horse Guard and he has access to a mineral/salt lick . My vet feels this is not something to be concerned about. However, I would suggest that anyone check with their vet as hay can be different depending on the area and every horse is different as well.
On another note, Oats can be much more economical for me as I can access whole oats in bulk from a local farmer. I can purchase 100# of oats for $10. The only downfall is that you have to put in a little extra work to go get the grain yourself and load the oats but I can deal!!
When I considered the alternative options of brand name grains, I will still be ahead based on price and ration needed to feed. I will likely feed JB approx 3 lbs (dry weight) of beet pulp per day to JB and adjust as needed. Rebel is a much easier keep so he will likely get less.
In addition to the oats and beet pulp, I mentioned Flax seed and Horse Guard as well. Flax seed is also something I can buy in bulk and would run me pennies a day to supplement. Flax will provide needed Fat and Omega’s. Horseguard is a vitamin /mineral supplement that I have fed for years and feel very comfortable with. It runs about .48 cents a day per horse if you buy the 28 day supply.
If I had decided to go with one of the grains available off the shelf, I probably would have chosen either LMF Gold, Ultium, or the Nutrena Empower product as a top dress with beet pulp. My vet liked the oat with beet pulp or the Empower with the beet pulp choices the best.
So, what is everyone else feeding out there in the great big world? What are your likes and dislikes of your feeding programs
http://acerfarm.blogspot.com/2008/12/feeding-down-to-science-part-2.html
It’s easy to get lost in all of the mumbo jumbo of KCAL, DE, Calcium to Phosphorus ratio, etc , etc. In my ongoing quest with nutritional analysis, I finally narrowed it down to focusing a just a few important facts. Really, it’s pretty simple…
Low Protein levels (<13%)
Increased Fiber, Increased Fat
Starches that are easily absorbed in the small intestine.
Sufficient vitamin/minerals
salt/water
There are a lot of articles out there on feeding the endurance horse and there are a lot of blogs out there that have also done a write up of feeding the endurance horse by much more qualified persons than myself, so I won’t duplicate efforts here.
I found that during this decision making process, it was quite easy to get caught up in the myriad of choices available. Each company tries to sway the consumer by coming up with the most eye appealing packaging. The more I looked, the more questions bubbled to the surface. If I chose one brand name, then I was left to decide what the type of feed I want within that brand , such as extruded, textured, pelletized, complete or just a supplemental type feed. I also found that I consistently ran into a situation where one product would have the Fat and Fiber %’s where I wanted them, but the protein levels were way to high, or vice versa. After several head spinning trips to the feed stores, reading feed tags, comparing prices , emails and phone conversations with feed dealers, vets, and so on, it seems that I have come full circle.
As much as I did like some of the products out there and definitely would consider them in the future, I kept coming back to one thing. Whole Foods. On a personal level, when given a choice, whole foods are always better than “processed” foods with the human diet. Why should that be any different with my horses diet? With all the top name grains out on the market today, there seems to be a lot of processing going on. I am just not convinced that is necessarily a good thing. Keeping to the basics, like feeding oats, seemed to make more sense to me and frankly, makes me less nervous about digestive upset. At the same time, I have fed some of the name brand grains in the past, like Strategy, Omolene, etc and had some very good results, so I really did have to weigh all the factors.
I have decided that I will put JB whole oats (yes, whole oats, I’ll explain shortly) with beet pulp, ground flaxseed for his Omega’s and fat and then a daily multi vitamin like Horse Guard. Now, before I go much further, for those of you reading this that are fellow endurance riders, I know some of you might be cringing. I realize that oats really aren’t that popular in the endurance sport but please read on….
I found a lot of information on why oats might not be a good fit for an endurance horses and I did a little digging into this. Oats have been fed to horses for a very long time with pretty good success. As it turns out, the worst part about Oats for an endurance horse is that oats tend to create a bit of a glycogen spike 1.5 to 3 hrs after consumption, also known as the dreaded “sugar high”. They are also not as low in the protein level as endurance riders like to see, but certainly not any higher than some of the other grains out on the market. According to what I was able to research, on average, oats run somewhere in the 12-13% range in protein level. Interestingly enough, the quality of the protein is not considered excellent (adequate amino acids) As an example, if your feeding young growing horses, you may not want to feed oats alone for example to meet the nutritional needs of a growing horse. On the plus side, Oats are much less likely to cause digestive problems because of the fiber content. The part that really sold me on oats is that they have very high prececal starch digestibility, somewhere in the 80- 90%. That is the key when considering starch levels. This means that the starch is digested in the small intestine and that is exactly where it needs to be digested, as opposed to the large intestine. Corn or barley by comparison, is not well digested in the foregut. This is when a horse can run into trouble when starch leaks into the large intestine(colic, laminitis , insufficient absorption of minerals) The sugar high effect of oats I mentioned earlier really doesn’t have me overly concerned because I feel that I can manage that with my horses feeding schedule. It will be several hours before and several hours after conditioning that my horse will receive his grain. I will monitor JB’s highs and lows and adjust as needed if it does become a problem. ….And.. ofcourse, he won’t be getting oats on race days.
One other point to consider is that oats can have an imbalanced calcium to phosphorus ratio with Calcium being on the lower side. This is more of a concern when feeding a large amount of oats (over 7 lbs per day)but the recommendations to keep this in sync is to either feed some alfalfa hay or supplement. Our hay already has some alfalfa in it. JB is also supplemented with Horse Guard and he has access to a mineral/salt lick . My vet feels this is not something to be concerned about. However, I would suggest that anyone check with their vet as hay can be different depending on the area and every horse is different as well.
On another note, Oats can be much more economical for me as I can access whole oats in bulk from a local farmer. I can purchase 100# of oats for $10. The only downfall is that you have to put in a little extra work to go get the grain yourself and load the oats but I can deal!!
When I considered the alternative options of brand name grains, I will still be ahead based on price and ration needed to feed. I will likely feed JB approx 3 lbs (dry weight) of beet pulp per day to JB and adjust as needed. Rebel is a much easier keep so he will likely get less.
In addition to the oats and beet pulp, I mentioned Flax seed and Horse Guard as well. Flax seed is also something I can buy in bulk and would run me pennies a day to supplement. Flax will provide needed Fat and Omega’s. Horseguard is a vitamin /mineral supplement that I have fed for years and feel very comfortable with. It runs about .48 cents a day per horse if you buy the 28 day supply.
If I had decided to go with one of the grains available off the shelf, I probably would have chosen either LMF Gold, Ultium, or the Nutrena Empower product as a top dress with beet pulp. My vet liked the oat with beet pulp or the Empower with the beet pulp choices the best.
So, what is everyone else feeding out there in the great big world? What are your likes and dislikes of your feeding programs
Monday, December 15, 2008
Feeding Down to a Science Part 2
On the December 7th post, I began the process of evaluating JB’s feed in an effort to play scientist for a bit in determining if his ration’s were on track.
I began in the last post figuring out exactly what JB needed to begin with. The process I went through to calculate his rations out is to be used as averages and is not absolutes. I had to keep in mind a few things in this process like: his current condition, his weight, appearance, energy levels, and attitude.
Several times during the course of trying to work out some of these figures, Tom would ask me why I was going through all of this. It was a valid question, seeing as how difficult it was and how the variables can change so easily regardless of what numbers I came up with.
So what motivated me to do this in depth analysis? Other than the fact that once I start something, I see it through to the end, and by getting as close as possible to seeing where JB was at with the feed he was receiving was important given some of the conditioning rides this past summer . Many times he seemed sluggish. I was never really sure if it was his energy level or the fact that he really didn't want to leave the herd. I was hoping this might reveal something more. Was his lack of enthusiam to go due to his feed not supplying enough energy level or was it just the fact that he didn't get excited about leaving home.
Here is what I found:
The last post I left off knowing two main things; the first was how much % of his body weight was he receiving in forage and concentrate combined. JB who weight roughly 850 lbs or better, is receiving 1.87 % of his body weight in forage and .28 % of his body weight in concentrate for a total of 2.87% of combined feed of his body weight. He was a bit above the recommended percentage, (2-2.5% of body weight) for his body weight but I feed him enough hay so that he has it in front of him most of the time.
The second bit of knowledge was determining what JB actually needed in daily requirements. For ease of reference I have listed this again below: again for 850 lbs
Digestible energy:19.5 mcal/day
Crude Protein: 1.7 lbs/per day
Calcium: 24 gram per day
Phosphorus: 16 grams per day
Vitamin A: 17 IU’s per day
The next step was to take his grain ration (Running Horse Cut and Slide) and his hay ration , about 22 lbs of hay per day , and calculate those items above for each, giving me his totals.
At first glance I thought getting this information for his grain and hay would fairly straight forward but as it turned out, I had to do some additional research to find the right numbers for the type of hay I feed and I had to some additional calculation to manually figure out the requirements for the grain he receives. The rep at Running horses surely thinks I have gone a little crazy.
I will start with the Hay. On the websites I was using for reference
www.ces.purdue.edu/extmedia/AS/AS-429.html did not list the types of hay that I feed. I was able to locate another site that allowed me to key in a much closer version of the hay that I feed. That site is http://nrc88nas.edu/nrh/. There is a tool on the page that you can use and fill in the feed type and the appropriate maturity levels of the hay. The tool will then calculate for you and will even allow you to customize it to your horse. The problem with this tool is that it calculates in percentages and for my purposes I needed lbs per day or grams per day. So you will have to do some additional calculations as a result.
The hay that I feed is mostly grass. I know that it has quite a bit of crested wheatgrass and some Timothy. Other than that, I can’t really say exactly what it is. In some bales there is more alfalfa. So, I had to use my best quess based on what I see in the bales. Unless I wanted to pay to have samples taken from the core of every round bale I have sitting out there, it would have to get me close enough. While it would be nice to be that accurate by testing, it wasn’t economical.
On the tool , I chose the option of Grass Hay – cool season (mid- mature) and Wheat hay ( mid to mature). JB gets approx 22 lbs of hay per day . Since I don’t know how much of that 22 lbs is grass and how much is Crested Wheat, I split the difference in my calculations, 11 lbs of each. I had to do some initial converting from Kg to lbs, and percentages to grams. For simplicity, I will give you my calculations for the lbs and grams that I have already done the conversions on. I have also shown below that I took those numbers and multiplied by the 11 lbs of each for final totals.
Grass Hay Cool Season:
Digestible Energy : 99 Mcal/lbs x 11 lbs = 10.89 Mcal (this was in Kg and had to be converted to lbs; ff you know there are 2.2 lbs in every Kg, than you can take 2.18 mcal/kg in this case, divided by the 2.2 gives you the .99 mcal/lb
Crude Protein: .146 lbs x 11 lbs= 1.61 lbs
Calcium: 32,99 grams x 11 lbs = 32.9 grams
Phosphorus: 1.32 grams x 11 lbs =1. 32 grams
Vitamin A :not available
WheatGrass Hay
Digestible Energy : .97 mcal/lbs x 11 lbs= 10.67 Mcal
Crude Protein: .113 lbs x 11 lbs= 1.24 lbs
Calcium: 15.47 grams x 11 lbs =15.4 grams
Phosphorus: .09 grams x 11 lbs = 9.9 grams
Vitamin A : not available
Vitamin A % was not available but I know that Vitamin A is lost as hay is stored. The final piece to calculating hay requirements is to calculate the total amounts of nutrients fed for the two hays fed.
HAY TOTALS
Digestible Energy: 21.56 Mcal/lbs
Crude Protein: 2.85 lbs
Calcium: 48.46 grams
Phosphorus: 11.30 grams
Vitamin A : not available
Then I compared just the nutrients JB was receiving from Hay with the nutrient requirements that he needs . His numbers came out a bit in excess and initially I was a bit concerned, however there are quite a few variables. His weight is likely more than what I calculated at, the hay types I used from the charts are Hay types on the east coast and may have different nutrient values than what I am actually feeding, and then there is nutrient loss. I also am not certain if this truly is mid to mature level feed because given our spring last year, what would typically be mid to mature might have instead been cut a bit later.
The last part of my analysis is to include the requirements I was able to determine from the grain that JB receives. Last summer I started him on Running Horse Cut and Slide. According to the feed tag, for every pound of feed he receives the daily minimum requirements found on the feed tag. For instance, the feed tag indicated 15% protein for every pound fed. If I were to feed 4 # per day, it would calculate out to .6 lbs of protein, .36 lbs of fat, etc. JB received at the height of his conditioning 2.4 lbs of this grain per day... which really isn't much and quite a bit less than the recommended amounts.
The one thing I did not have for the grain was Digestible Energy. Many feeds will not list DE on the tag and therefore you will have to use the Crude Fiber and Crude Fat percentages to determine the DE (MCal/lb) of the grain mix. I was able to find a reference on the internet on how to calculate DE if it is not on the feed tag That link is www.infovets.com/healthyhorseinfo/A575.htm
For Running Horse Cut and Slide, 14 % crude Fiber and 9 % Crude Fat, DE works out to be 1.15 Mcal/lb. At 2.4 lbs of Running Horse per day, I came up with following nutrient values on his grain ration:
Digestible Energy: 1.15 Mcal/lb x 2.4 lbs = 2.76 Mcal per day
Crude Protein : . .36 lb/day
Calcium: 10.23 grams
Phosphorus: 7.6 grams
Vitamin A: 9000 IU’s
In addition to the Hay values outlines above, combined with the grain, I can see JB is in excess on most of these items.
Digestible Energy- JB needs 19.5 Mcal/day; he is receiving total 24.32 Mcal per day with hay and grain concentrate. He is in excess of 4.82 Mcal /day
Crude Protein: JB needs 1.7 lbs per day; he is receiving 3.21 lbs per day. He is in excess of 1.51 per day.
Calcium: JB needs 24.15 gram per day; he is receiving 58.69; he is in excess of 34.54 grams per day.
Phosphorus: JB needs 16.42 grams per day, he is receiving 18.9 grams per day. He is in excess 2.48 grams per day.
Vitamin A: JB needs 17.4 IU’s (1000 IU) per day or 17,400. This was an unknown on the hay but the grain indicated 3750 IU /LB. Based on the 2.4 lbs he was receiving per day, he was getting 9000 IU’s per day. I am fairly certain he is receiving at least close to the remaining 8400 IU’s /day in his hay.
To go one step further, I want to calculate the Calcium to Phosphorus ratio; Even though JB’s intake is in excess of the requirements I know that these two minerals should more importantly be in balance with each other. Too much Phosphorus to Calcium or not meeting the minimum requirements could lead to various diseases. If I divide the calcium by the Phosphorus I come up with 1.82:1 which is an acceptable range.
What does all of this analysis tell me?
Well, in an broad sense, it tells me JB is getting plenty of what he needs. His Digestible energy is a bit high but I know that his DE requirements can increase dramatically when carrying a rider so I may not be as high as the numbers actually look. Also, he may weight more than 850 lbs which would change a few #’s. I can also see that JB may be a bit high on the protein for an endurance horses needs. That might be part of his lower than expected energy levels that he seemed to be displaying. I might opt to go to the senior feed that Running Horse offers or look at other options that would get the protein levels down without cutting back on fat levels too much. It’s possible that I may consider giving JB straight beet pulp this summer with just a touch of grain for extra flavor. Grain concentrates, like what I feed JB should be in the 7-10% range for fat levels. Running Horse is 9% per pound so it’s right in there. Fat is one of the most important feed requirements for an endurance horse because it can be metabolized for energy during aerobic trotting and cantering speeds, and helps conserve muscle glycogen (high energy sugars) during prolonged exercise. Also, aerobic metabolism of fat produces metabolic water within muscle cells, which may be of benefit to maintain cell fluid levels during exercise.It appears this “fat” topic could launch me into further research of available feeds on the market that provides adequate fat for energy but without the added protein. I’ll save that for another day. If anyone has any recommendations or suggestions on feeding the endurance horse, feel free to share. In the meantime I might put a call into my vet for more accurate feed recommendations. Turns out, she is an endurance rider
I began in the last post figuring out exactly what JB needed to begin with. The process I went through to calculate his rations out is to be used as averages and is not absolutes. I had to keep in mind a few things in this process like: his current condition, his weight, appearance, energy levels, and attitude.
Several times during the course of trying to work out some of these figures, Tom would ask me why I was going through all of this. It was a valid question, seeing as how difficult it was and how the variables can change so easily regardless of what numbers I came up with.
So what motivated me to do this in depth analysis? Other than the fact that once I start something, I see it through to the end, and by getting as close as possible to seeing where JB was at with the feed he was receiving was important given some of the conditioning rides this past summer . Many times he seemed sluggish. I was never really sure if it was his energy level or the fact that he really didn't want to leave the herd. I was hoping this might reveal something more. Was his lack of enthusiam to go due to his feed not supplying enough energy level or was it just the fact that he didn't get excited about leaving home.
Here is what I found:
The last post I left off knowing two main things; the first was how much % of his body weight was he receiving in forage and concentrate combined. JB who weight roughly 850 lbs or better, is receiving 1.87 % of his body weight in forage and .28 % of his body weight in concentrate for a total of 2.87% of combined feed of his body weight. He was a bit above the recommended percentage, (2-2.5% of body weight) for his body weight but I feed him enough hay so that he has it in front of him most of the time.
The second bit of knowledge was determining what JB actually needed in daily requirements. For ease of reference I have listed this again below: again for 850 lbs
Digestible energy:19.5 mcal/day
Crude Protein: 1.7 lbs/per day
Calcium: 24 gram per day
Phosphorus: 16 grams per day
Vitamin A: 17 IU’s per day
The next step was to take his grain ration (Running Horse Cut and Slide) and his hay ration , about 22 lbs of hay per day , and calculate those items above for each, giving me his totals.
At first glance I thought getting this information for his grain and hay would fairly straight forward but as it turned out, I had to do some additional research to find the right numbers for the type of hay I feed and I had to some additional calculation to manually figure out the requirements for the grain he receives. The rep at Running horses surely thinks I have gone a little crazy.
I will start with the Hay. On the websites I was using for reference
www.ces.purdue.edu/extmedia/AS/AS-429.html did not list the types of hay that I feed. I was able to locate another site that allowed me to key in a much closer version of the hay that I feed. That site is http://nrc88nas.edu/nrh/. There is a tool on the page that you can use and fill in the feed type and the appropriate maturity levels of the hay. The tool will then calculate for you and will even allow you to customize it to your horse. The problem with this tool is that it calculates in percentages and for my purposes I needed lbs per day or grams per day. So you will have to do some additional calculations as a result.
The hay that I feed is mostly grass. I know that it has quite a bit of crested wheatgrass and some Timothy. Other than that, I can’t really say exactly what it is. In some bales there is more alfalfa. So, I had to use my best quess based on what I see in the bales. Unless I wanted to pay to have samples taken from the core of every round bale I have sitting out there, it would have to get me close enough. While it would be nice to be that accurate by testing, it wasn’t economical.
On the tool , I chose the option of Grass Hay – cool season (mid- mature) and Wheat hay ( mid to mature). JB gets approx 22 lbs of hay per day . Since I don’t know how much of that 22 lbs is grass and how much is Crested Wheat, I split the difference in my calculations, 11 lbs of each. I had to do some initial converting from Kg to lbs, and percentages to grams. For simplicity, I will give you my calculations for the lbs and grams that I have already done the conversions on. I have also shown below that I took those numbers and multiplied by the 11 lbs of each for final totals.
Grass Hay Cool Season:
Digestible Energy : 99 Mcal/lbs x 11 lbs = 10.89 Mcal (this was in Kg and had to be converted to lbs; ff you know there are 2.2 lbs in every Kg, than you can take 2.18 mcal/kg in this case, divided by the 2.2 gives you the .99 mcal/lb
Crude Protein: .146 lbs x 11 lbs= 1.61 lbs
Calcium: 32,99 grams x 11 lbs = 32.9 grams
Phosphorus: 1.32 grams x 11 lbs =1. 32 grams
Vitamin A :not available
WheatGrass Hay
Digestible Energy : .97 mcal/lbs x 11 lbs= 10.67 Mcal
Crude Protein: .113 lbs x 11 lbs= 1.24 lbs
Calcium: 15.47 grams x 11 lbs =15.4 grams
Phosphorus: .09 grams x 11 lbs = 9.9 grams
Vitamin A : not available
Vitamin A % was not available but I know that Vitamin A is lost as hay is stored. The final piece to calculating hay requirements is to calculate the total amounts of nutrients fed for the two hays fed.
HAY TOTALS
Digestible Energy: 21.56 Mcal/lbs
Crude Protein: 2.85 lbs
Calcium: 48.46 grams
Phosphorus: 11.30 grams
Vitamin A : not available
Then I compared just the nutrients JB was receiving from Hay with the nutrient requirements that he needs . His numbers came out a bit in excess and initially I was a bit concerned, however there are quite a few variables. His weight is likely more than what I calculated at, the hay types I used from the charts are Hay types on the east coast and may have different nutrient values than what I am actually feeding, and then there is nutrient loss. I also am not certain if this truly is mid to mature level feed because given our spring last year, what would typically be mid to mature might have instead been cut a bit later.
The last part of my analysis is to include the requirements I was able to determine from the grain that JB receives. Last summer I started him on Running Horse Cut and Slide. According to the feed tag, for every pound of feed he receives the daily minimum requirements found on the feed tag. For instance, the feed tag indicated 15% protein for every pound fed. If I were to feed 4 # per day, it would calculate out to .6 lbs of protein, .36 lbs of fat, etc. JB received at the height of his conditioning 2.4 lbs of this grain per day... which really isn't much and quite a bit less than the recommended amounts.
The one thing I did not have for the grain was Digestible Energy. Many feeds will not list DE on the tag and therefore you will have to use the Crude Fiber and Crude Fat percentages to determine the DE (MCal/lb) of the grain mix. I was able to find a reference on the internet on how to calculate DE if it is not on the feed tag That link is www.infovets.com/healthyhorseinfo/A575.htm
For Running Horse Cut and Slide, 14 % crude Fiber and 9 % Crude Fat, DE works out to be 1.15 Mcal/lb. At 2.4 lbs of Running Horse per day, I came up with following nutrient values on his grain ration:
Digestible Energy: 1.15 Mcal/lb x 2.4 lbs = 2.76 Mcal per day
Crude Protein : . .36 lb/day
Calcium: 10.23 grams
Phosphorus: 7.6 grams
Vitamin A: 9000 IU’s
In addition to the Hay values outlines above, combined with the grain, I can see JB is in excess on most of these items.
Digestible Energy- JB needs 19.5 Mcal/day; he is receiving total 24.32 Mcal per day with hay and grain concentrate. He is in excess of 4.82 Mcal /day
Crude Protein: JB needs 1.7 lbs per day; he is receiving 3.21 lbs per day. He is in excess of 1.51 per day.
Calcium: JB needs 24.15 gram per day; he is receiving 58.69; he is in excess of 34.54 grams per day.
Phosphorus: JB needs 16.42 grams per day, he is receiving 18.9 grams per day. He is in excess 2.48 grams per day.
Vitamin A: JB needs 17.4 IU’s (1000 IU) per day or 17,400. This was an unknown on the hay but the grain indicated 3750 IU /LB. Based on the 2.4 lbs he was receiving per day, he was getting 9000 IU’s per day. I am fairly certain he is receiving at least close to the remaining 8400 IU’s /day in his hay.
To go one step further, I want to calculate the Calcium to Phosphorus ratio; Even though JB’s intake is in excess of the requirements I know that these two minerals should more importantly be in balance with each other. Too much Phosphorus to Calcium or not meeting the minimum requirements could lead to various diseases. If I divide the calcium by the Phosphorus I come up with 1.82:1 which is an acceptable range.
What does all of this analysis tell me?
Well, in an broad sense, it tells me JB is getting plenty of what he needs. His Digestible energy is a bit high but I know that his DE requirements can increase dramatically when carrying a rider so I may not be as high as the numbers actually look. Also, he may weight more than 850 lbs which would change a few #’s. I can also see that JB may be a bit high on the protein for an endurance horses needs. That might be part of his lower than expected energy levels that he seemed to be displaying. I might opt to go to the senior feed that Running Horse offers or look at other options that would get the protein levels down without cutting back on fat levels too much. It’s possible that I may consider giving JB straight beet pulp this summer with just a touch of grain for extra flavor. Grain concentrates, like what I feed JB should be in the 7-10% range for fat levels. Running Horse is 9% per pound so it’s right in there. Fat is one of the most important feed requirements for an endurance horse because it can be metabolized for energy during aerobic trotting and cantering speeds, and helps conserve muscle glycogen (high energy sugars) during prolonged exercise. Also, aerobic metabolism of fat produces metabolic water within muscle cells, which may be of benefit to maintain cell fluid levels during exercise.It appears this “fat” topic could launch me into further research of available feeds on the market that provides adequate fat for energy but without the added protein. I’ll save that for another day. If anyone has any recommendations or suggestions on feeding the endurance horse, feel free to share. In the meantime I might put a call into my vet for more accurate feed recommendations. Turns out, she is an endurance rider
Sunday, December 7, 2008
Nutritional Management ; Algebra 101
I mentioned in an earlier post that I was spending some time researching feed values. Well, I never imagined I would get this waist deep in the research. This weekend, my kitchen table and desk were covered in articles, downloaded material, charts, graphs, notes and formulas. Tom thinks I have stepped off the deep end for sure this time and I would probably have to agree. In fact I can’t remember that last time I had to do so much algebra and actually enjoyed it. The fact is that once you start looking, one thing leads to another that leads to another. It required quite a bit of information gathering on my part before I found what I was looking for. Then, the process of weeding out what you need and don’t need before you can even begin to try to make sense for your unique horse and situation. Since I make my living analyzing data, I was in all my glory and analyze I did.
My goal is to calculate out JB’s ration with respect to Degestible energy, crude protein, etc in order to best determine if he is getting what he needs for his work load. To begin, I had to figure out two things at least to start as a baseline:
1. How much feed is JB currently getting? ( Hay and Concentrate)
2. How much should he be getting?
The “How much “part is actually broken into two parts. The % of his body weight he receives in forage and concentrate and the actual Nutrient Requirements.
I knew a couple of things already that I would keep in mind as I go through this process.
JB weighs approx 850 lbs give or take. A horse that weight with moderate work (1-3 hrs of riding time per day) should be in the ball park of 20, 400 calories per day or for heavy work (4-5 hrs of riding time) 27,200 calories. Of course those numbers can fluctuate with the difficulty of work. If I rode JB for 2 hrs every day with most of the work out consisting of hills, he will obviously burn more than the average of 27,200 calories on a daily basis. It’s best to just use these as a ball park and let common sense lead from there.
Right now, we feed round bales and fork off feed morning and night for all the horses. Most of our horses are easy keepers. I first had to figure out how many pounds of hay each horse was receiving.
I know that on average the round bales are about 1200lbs and that one round bale lasts us 11 days worth of feeding. I feed 5 head of horses off that bale for 11 days.
1200 divided by 11= 109lbs of hay is fed out per day (am/pm)
I take 109 lbs divided by the 5 (horses)= 21.8 or lets round to 22 lbs . 22lbs is fed to each horse every day. That works out to be approx 11 lbs am and 11 lbs p.m. Now keeping in mind that the 4 geldings are fed out together and the amount of hay per horse may vary because it depends on herd rank. I know for a fact Roman and Rebel are getting more than Cassidy. As long as everyone is maintaining weight I don’t worry too much about it.
So I have #1 solved for with Hay. In addition I feed him 2.4 lbs of grain per day
Moving on to #2. I want to figure out what JB should be at. I started by calculating what % of body weight his feed is. For forage the average horse at moderate work should be between 1.0-2.0 % of its body weight.
22lbs works out to be 2.59% of 850 lbs. JB is receiving, if rounding, 2.6% of his weight (850lbs) in forage. That is a little over the recommended amounts noted above but I am not concerned because he doesn’t always clean all of it up . This number probably does fluctuate up a bit more in the summer as he spends 50-60% of his time grazing in a pasture as well. I would rather he receive more forage than concentrate anyways and as long as his condition is staying good, I am not concerned about his receiving too much forage. If I can have him in an eating situation as close as he can be to what he would do in the wild, the better off I am . Since he has a lot of area to move, he is expeding more energy as rest as well as during the time he is being ridden. It’s at this point that I feel that the formulas and numbers have to go a bit to the side and common sense has to play a role. If he’s gaining weight obviously it would tell me he is getting too much and I would cut back.
I did this same calculation for the grain as well. It is recommeneded that horses in moderate work levels be between .75-1.5% of their body weight in grain. I currently feed JB Running Horse Cut & Slide. It’s an extruded cereal grain with a beet pulp base. During the peak of his conditioning schedule this summer , he was receiving 2.4 lbs of grain per day. His work schedule was moderate to heavy.
2.4 lbs is approx .28 % of 850 lbs.
So- Final numbers reveal that his total % of forage and concentrate combined are 2.87%
Total combined intake of forage and concentrate should be in the range of 1.75-2.5 % of horses body weight. JB appears to be a bit over the recommended amount but again, JB appears to be in good flesh. It is possible that he weights more than 850 lbs as I only have a weight tape. It is probably off a bit.
This initial analysis has provided me with a baseline and a little insight as to what kind of keeper JB is. When I look at those percentages, I would expect that he would actually be a bit heavier than what he is currently maintaining. While he isn’t thin, he could stand to have a little more fat over his ribs and be just fine. This indicates to me that maybe he is not as easy of a keeper as I initially thought. Using the Condition Score System I would rate JB as a 5 for Moderate.
I will also have to keep in mind that he is a stallion and he tends to drop weight a little quicker, especially in the spring. If he is breeding this coming spring and is also maintaining a moderate to heavy conditioning program , these amounts will have to go up in order for him to continue to maintain.
The next step was to figure out exactly what JB’s daily nutrient requirements are for his level of work. There are several resources out there to help you with this. I reviewed several others out there, all of which are close to the same . I chose Purdue’s site because I liked the overall article content the best. Virginia Cooperative Extension is also another one that seemed very good as well. I used the charts provided by the Purdue Cooperative Extension. The link to Purdue is http://www.ansc.purdue.edu/extmedia/AS/AS-429.html
JB is a 6 year old that weighs approx 850 lbs, maybe a bit more than that. He is in good condition and has a lot of room to move. Using table one of the article provided above, I had to do some additional math. The table is broken down by weight of horse and the two closest categories are 880 lbs or 1000 lbs. I probably could have used the 880 lbs and made it easy on myself but being an analytical I wanted to break it down further. That way, knowing JB likely is a bit heavier than 850, I am not too concerned if my #’s come out a bit higher .
I took the 20.1 Mcal/day for the 880lb horses and divided it by 880 lbs = .023 This tells me that for this weight division there are .023 Mcals /lb. I checked this ratio for some of the other weight categories as the numbers of each nutrient value range depending on the weight of the horse. Ironically enough for the 1100 lbs horse it’s almost the same and this should get me plenty close for JB.
Next, I took 850 X .023 to calculate JB Digestible energy; this comes to 19.5 Mcals of Digestible energy.
I followed the same logic for each requirement on the chart using the numbers from the 880 lbs line to calculate for JB’s weight.
After some number crunching and tedious note taking, I finally have the Daily Requirements for JB.
JB Needs:
Digestible Energy= 19.5 Mcals per day
Crude Protein= 1.7 lbs per day
Calcium= 24.15 grams per day
Phosphorus= 16.42 grams per day
Vitamin A = 17.4 IU per day.
My next steps are to calculate what JB is actually receiving in nutrient levels for his hay and grain. I have started that process but have run into a few snags because of the hay type we are feeding. The Purdue article has a chart listing the nutrient amounts for various hays. We are feeding a blended hay which is a combination of orchard , crested wheat , timothy and even a little Alfalfa. Crested wheat is not one that the article lists. I tried calculating it using the orchard and timothy but the majority of the hay is the wheat grass .
After a lot of hunting I have found another website that has the wheat grass listed. Thus site is http://nrc88.nas.edu/nrh/ and is more of an online tool that allows you to choose from a variety of forages. The down fall is that most of the values are in percentages rather than grams or pounds. I will have to do some additional math wizardry and a math student I am not.
I am working on that next phase of the calculation.
Stay tuned !
My goal is to calculate out JB’s ration with respect to Degestible energy, crude protein, etc in order to best determine if he is getting what he needs for his work load. To begin, I had to figure out two things at least to start as a baseline:
1. How much feed is JB currently getting? ( Hay and Concentrate)
2. How much should he be getting?
The “How much “part is actually broken into two parts. The % of his body weight he receives in forage and concentrate and the actual Nutrient Requirements.
I knew a couple of things already that I would keep in mind as I go through this process.
JB weighs approx 850 lbs give or take. A horse that weight with moderate work (1-3 hrs of riding time per day) should be in the ball park of 20, 400 calories per day or for heavy work (4-5 hrs of riding time) 27,200 calories. Of course those numbers can fluctuate with the difficulty of work. If I rode JB for 2 hrs every day with most of the work out consisting of hills, he will obviously burn more than the average of 27,200 calories on a daily basis. It’s best to just use these as a ball park and let common sense lead from there.
Right now, we feed round bales and fork off feed morning and night for all the horses. Most of our horses are easy keepers. I first had to figure out how many pounds of hay each horse was receiving.
I know that on average the round bales are about 1200lbs and that one round bale lasts us 11 days worth of feeding. I feed 5 head of horses off that bale for 11 days.
1200 divided by 11= 109lbs of hay is fed out per day (am/pm)
I take 109 lbs divided by the 5 (horses)= 21.8 or lets round to 22 lbs . 22lbs is fed to each horse every day. That works out to be approx 11 lbs am and 11 lbs p.m. Now keeping in mind that the 4 geldings are fed out together and the amount of hay per horse may vary because it depends on herd rank. I know for a fact Roman and Rebel are getting more than Cassidy. As long as everyone is maintaining weight I don’t worry too much about it.
So I have #1 solved for with Hay. In addition I feed him 2.4 lbs of grain per day
Moving on to #2. I want to figure out what JB should be at. I started by calculating what % of body weight his feed is. For forage the average horse at moderate work should be between 1.0-2.0 % of its body weight.
22lbs works out to be 2.59% of 850 lbs. JB is receiving, if rounding, 2.6% of his weight (850lbs) in forage. That is a little over the recommended amounts noted above but I am not concerned because he doesn’t always clean all of it up . This number probably does fluctuate up a bit more in the summer as he spends 50-60% of his time grazing in a pasture as well. I would rather he receive more forage than concentrate anyways and as long as his condition is staying good, I am not concerned about his receiving too much forage. If I can have him in an eating situation as close as he can be to what he would do in the wild, the better off I am . Since he has a lot of area to move, he is expeding more energy as rest as well as during the time he is being ridden. It’s at this point that I feel that the formulas and numbers have to go a bit to the side and common sense has to play a role. If he’s gaining weight obviously it would tell me he is getting too much and I would cut back.
I did this same calculation for the grain as well. It is recommeneded that horses in moderate work levels be between .75-1.5% of their body weight in grain. I currently feed JB Running Horse Cut & Slide. It’s an extruded cereal grain with a beet pulp base. During the peak of his conditioning schedule this summer , he was receiving 2.4 lbs of grain per day. His work schedule was moderate to heavy.
2.4 lbs is approx .28 % of 850 lbs.
So- Final numbers reveal that his total % of forage and concentrate combined are 2.87%
Total combined intake of forage and concentrate should be in the range of 1.75-2.5 % of horses body weight. JB appears to be a bit over the recommended amount but again, JB appears to be in good flesh. It is possible that he weights more than 850 lbs as I only have a weight tape. It is probably off a bit.
This initial analysis has provided me with a baseline and a little insight as to what kind of keeper JB is. When I look at those percentages, I would expect that he would actually be a bit heavier than what he is currently maintaining. While he isn’t thin, he could stand to have a little more fat over his ribs and be just fine. This indicates to me that maybe he is not as easy of a keeper as I initially thought. Using the Condition Score System I would rate JB as a 5 for Moderate.
I will also have to keep in mind that he is a stallion and he tends to drop weight a little quicker, especially in the spring. If he is breeding this coming spring and is also maintaining a moderate to heavy conditioning program , these amounts will have to go up in order for him to continue to maintain.
The next step was to figure out exactly what JB’s daily nutrient requirements are for his level of work. There are several resources out there to help you with this. I reviewed several others out there, all of which are close to the same . I chose Purdue’s site because I liked the overall article content the best. Virginia Cooperative Extension is also another one that seemed very good as well. I used the charts provided by the Purdue Cooperative Extension. The link to Purdue is http://www.ansc.purdue.edu/extmedia/AS/AS-429.html
JB is a 6 year old that weighs approx 850 lbs, maybe a bit more than that. He is in good condition and has a lot of room to move. Using table one of the article provided above, I had to do some additional math. The table is broken down by weight of horse and the two closest categories are 880 lbs or 1000 lbs. I probably could have used the 880 lbs and made it easy on myself but being an analytical I wanted to break it down further. That way, knowing JB likely is a bit heavier than 850, I am not too concerned if my #’s come out a bit higher .
I took the 20.1 Mcal/day for the 880lb horses and divided it by 880 lbs = .023 This tells me that for this weight division there are .023 Mcals /lb. I checked this ratio for some of the other weight categories as the numbers of each nutrient value range depending on the weight of the horse. Ironically enough for the 1100 lbs horse it’s almost the same and this should get me plenty close for JB.
Next, I took 850 X .023 to calculate JB Digestible energy; this comes to 19.5 Mcals of Digestible energy.
I followed the same logic for each requirement on the chart using the numbers from the 880 lbs line to calculate for JB’s weight.
After some number crunching and tedious note taking, I finally have the Daily Requirements for JB.
JB Needs:
Digestible Energy= 19.5 Mcals per day
Crude Protein= 1.7 lbs per day
Calcium= 24.15 grams per day
Phosphorus= 16.42 grams per day
Vitamin A = 17.4 IU per day.
My next steps are to calculate what JB is actually receiving in nutrient levels for his hay and grain. I have started that process but have run into a few snags because of the hay type we are feeding. The Purdue article has a chart listing the nutrient amounts for various hays. We are feeding a blended hay which is a combination of orchard , crested wheat , timothy and even a little Alfalfa. Crested wheat is not one that the article lists. I tried calculating it using the orchard and timothy but the majority of the hay is the wheat grass .
After a lot of hunting I have found another website that has the wheat grass listed. Thus site is http://nrc88.nas.edu/nrh/ and is more of an online tool that allows you to choose from a variety of forages. The down fall is that most of the values are in percentages rather than grams or pounds. I will have to do some additional math wizardry and a math student I am not.
I am working on that next phase of the calculation.
Stay tuned !
Wednesday, December 3, 2008
Back To the Books; Equine Nutrition
I’ve got a confession to make; While on vacation, my spare minutes were spent pouring over various articles and books on feeding the endurance horse. While still in college, I was always fascinated with equine nutrition and now with endurance , it is a fairly important piece of the puzzle.While JB appears to be a relatively easy keeper, he isn't quite as easy as Rebel is (pictured above) and I want to be certain I am giving him optimal feed ratios.
Time to pick up the books again.
For the last several weeks I have been spending quite a bit of time studying equine nutrition , trying to determine the correct ratio of between fats, protein, fiber etc, the right amount Mcal for JB’s body size and the conditioning levels I hope to have him working at. I have found there are several complicated formulas out there to determine all these things. While I don’t want to get caught up in the minutia of scientific formulas, I think it’s important to have concrete understanding of what I am putting into my horse and how it fuels him. As a horse owner I want to make sure that I accurately account for the conditioning demands I place on JB this coming year, and a proper feeding program is essential.
This past year, I fed JB a cereal grain called Running Horse Cut & Slide. It came recommended by the local feed dealer and my vet. When I looked into it , I liked many things about it. I like that the energy is derived from vegetable oils rather than sugar and starch to keep the sugar spikes down. I liked that it had a beet pulp base and it was highly digestable with a good fiber percentage.
The recommended feeding amount found on the bag is broken out between work load levels as is the case on most feeds. For a horse that is in light to moderate work . the recommendation is .30 to .50 per 100 lb of weight of horse, based on the average sized horse in the range of 800-1000 lbs. JB is about 850 give or take. I took the middle of the road figure, .40, and multiplied it 8.5 (850) which gives me 3.4 lbs of feed per day. Since the protein is at 15% which is a bit higher than I need or want, I cut him back to just under 3 l lbs of feed per day. In addition he is given plenty of good grass hay (with minimal alfalfa). Doesn’t seem like much…
This is all pretty basic calculation but my next step is determine whether he is truly getting the right amount of Protein, fats, fiber, calcium , etc with that ration. Do I need to up his intake or decrease it with a light to moderate level of work, and if so how much? JB seems to have held his weight fairly well last summer with this feed but he is not a hard keeper either. Overall I think it’s probably one of the better horse feeds on the market today but I need to determine if it will provider JB with the nutrition he will need to perform his best this upcoming season.
I have copied below the breakdown of nutritive value below.
Crude Protein (min.).................................................15.00%
Lysine (min.)..............................................................0.60%
Crude Fat (min.).........................................................9.00%
Crude Fiber (max.).....................................................14.0%
Calcium (CA) (Min.)....................................................0.85%
Calcium (CA) (Max.)...................................................1.02%
Phosphorous (P) (Min.)...............................................0.70%
Copper (Min.).............................................................50 ppm
Selenium (Min.)..........................................................0.3 ppm
Zinc (Min.)..................................................................250 ppm
Vitamin A (Min.).......................................................3750 IU/IB
Ingredients: Wheat Middings, Distillers Grain With Solubles, Pearled Barley, Soybean Hulls, RIce Bran, Soybean Oil, Beet Pulp, Dicalcium Phosphate, Whole Flax, Whole Canola, Calcium Carbonate, Brewers Yeast, Salt, Yeast Extract, Dlmothionine, Calcium Propionate, L-Lysine, Choline Chloride, Threonine, Beta Carotine, Ascorbic Acid, Bentonite, Ferrous Sulfate, Zinc Methonine Complex, Zinc Oxide, Vitamin E Supplement, Niacinamide, Copper Lysine Complex, Copper Sulfate, Sodium Selenite, Managanese Methionine Complex, Manganous Oxide, Vitamine B 12 Supplement, Vitamine A Supplement, Calcium Pantothenate, Biotin, Thiamine Hydrochloride, Riboflavin, Pyridoxine Hydrochloride, Menadione Sodium Bisulfate Complex (Source of Vitamin K Activity), Ethylenediamine Dihydroiodide, Vitamine D3 Supplement, Folic Acid, Cobalt Glucoheptonate, Cobalt Carbonate
Do any of you experienced in feeding the endurance horse have any helpful hints?
By the way; I did have a good vacation overall, even though my sister and I did spend several of those days with the stomach flu and the Thanksgiving feast never did quite happen as a result.
Time to pick up the books again.
For the last several weeks I have been spending quite a bit of time studying equine nutrition , trying to determine the correct ratio of between fats, protein, fiber etc, the right amount Mcal for JB’s body size and the conditioning levels I hope to have him working at. I have found there are several complicated formulas out there to determine all these things. While I don’t want to get caught up in the minutia of scientific formulas, I think it’s important to have concrete understanding of what I am putting into my horse and how it fuels him. As a horse owner I want to make sure that I accurately account for the conditioning demands I place on JB this coming year, and a proper feeding program is essential.
This past year, I fed JB a cereal grain called Running Horse Cut & Slide. It came recommended by the local feed dealer and my vet. When I looked into it , I liked many things about it. I like that the energy is derived from vegetable oils rather than sugar and starch to keep the sugar spikes down. I liked that it had a beet pulp base and it was highly digestable with a good fiber percentage.
The recommended feeding amount found on the bag is broken out between work load levels as is the case on most feeds. For a horse that is in light to moderate work . the recommendation is .30 to .50 per 100 lb of weight of horse, based on the average sized horse in the range of 800-1000 lbs. JB is about 850 give or take. I took the middle of the road figure, .40, and multiplied it 8.5 (850) which gives me 3.4 lbs of feed per day. Since the protein is at 15% which is a bit higher than I need or want, I cut him back to just under 3 l lbs of feed per day. In addition he is given plenty of good grass hay (with minimal alfalfa). Doesn’t seem like much…
This is all pretty basic calculation but my next step is determine whether he is truly getting the right amount of Protein, fats, fiber, calcium , etc with that ration. Do I need to up his intake or decrease it with a light to moderate level of work, and if so how much? JB seems to have held his weight fairly well last summer with this feed but he is not a hard keeper either. Overall I think it’s probably one of the better horse feeds on the market today but I need to determine if it will provider JB with the nutrition he will need to perform his best this upcoming season.
I have copied below the breakdown of nutritive value below.
Crude Protein (min.).................................................15.00%
Lysine (min.)..............................................................0.60%
Crude Fat (min.).........................................................9.00%
Crude Fiber (max.).....................................................14.0%
Calcium (CA) (Min.)....................................................0.85%
Calcium (CA) (Max.)...................................................1.02%
Phosphorous (P) (Min.)...............................................0.70%
Copper (Min.).............................................................50 ppm
Selenium (Min.)..........................................................0.3 ppm
Zinc (Min.)..................................................................250 ppm
Vitamin A (Min.).......................................................3750 IU/IB
Ingredients: Wheat Middings, Distillers Grain With Solubles, Pearled Barley, Soybean Hulls, RIce Bran, Soybean Oil, Beet Pulp, Dicalcium Phosphate, Whole Flax, Whole Canola, Calcium Carbonate, Brewers Yeast, Salt, Yeast Extract, Dlmothionine, Calcium Propionate, L-Lysine, Choline Chloride, Threonine, Beta Carotine, Ascorbic Acid, Bentonite, Ferrous Sulfate, Zinc Methonine Complex, Zinc Oxide, Vitamin E Supplement, Niacinamide, Copper Lysine Complex, Copper Sulfate, Sodium Selenite, Managanese Methionine Complex, Manganous Oxide, Vitamine B 12 Supplement, Vitamine A Supplement, Calcium Pantothenate, Biotin, Thiamine Hydrochloride, Riboflavin, Pyridoxine Hydrochloride, Menadione Sodium Bisulfate Complex (Source of Vitamin K Activity), Ethylenediamine Dihydroiodide, Vitamine D3 Supplement, Folic Acid, Cobalt Glucoheptonate, Cobalt Carbonate
Do any of you experienced in feeding the endurance horse have any helpful hints?
By the way; I did have a good vacation overall, even though my sister and I did spend several of those days with the stomach flu and the Thanksgiving feast never did quite happen as a result.
We did get to go shopping a couple times, in fact we even visited the Coach purse outlet store. I watched as excited women would come and go in the store, most walking out with a big smile, a few hundred dollars lighter but happy nonetheless that they had their new fashion accutrament at what they thought was a good deal. All the while, the only thing I could think about was how many of those Renegade boots I could buy for what these women just spent on a purse; a purse that would soon be tossed into the corner of their closet with the passing of the season. (by the way, I don’t recommend going into a Coach store with a $20 Shopko clearance black leather purse strapped to your side, unless your willing to withstand to scoffs!) Unless it’s horse related, shopping is not my thing, especially for a Coach Purse!
Thursday, November 6, 2008
Coping with Cold; Feeding in the bitter cold weather
As much as I don't particularly like the cold, it's just part of the life where I live and when you have livestock, things can become more complicated in the cold. When I dream of living somewhere a bit warmer, like Arizona, Tom gently reminds me of the vast amount of lizards I would have to deal with. Well, on second thought...maybe a few months of bitter cold isn't so bad???
Surprisingly, horses ( can vary upon breed as well) can do quite well in colder climates, in fact , I have read numerous articles that they actually acclimate better to cold than to heat. While that may be true, there are a few things that we, as horse owners, have to take heed to assure they are healthy and happy when ol' man winter comes blowing in .
So what do I do? I prepare, and prepare some more. I tend to prefer to be proactive so as not to be caught unaware. Perfect planning prevents mishap...OK... maybe not all the time... but it does provide peace of mind knowing you have done all you can humanly possibly do to prevent trouble with your livestock in the winter. There is nothing worse than dealing with a colicky horse in 20 below with a wind chill factor of -20, especially if you don't have the luxury of a barn, believe me , I have been there.
In a previous post, I talked about our stock tank covers. Making sure that the tank heaters are placed in stock tanks and working properly before the first major storm blows in is one of the prevention measures we take. Some horses won't drink super cold water... and unfortunately they can't get enough hydration from the snow. A horse that won't drink is a recipe for disaster. They , just like people, need to remain well hydrated in order to help their bodies regulate internal temperatures. Installing the tank heaters is a sure way to make sure the water remains at an ambient temp suitable for drinking. The other is making sure we have plenty of hay stored to get us through....peace of mind....knowing that there are weeks when we have to feed alot heavier during the cold winter months.
That brings me to subject of feeding in the bitter cold. Nothing sounds better to me than a hot bowl of oatmeal for breakfast on a cold morning. It turns out, some horse owners follow a bi-weekly or even a more frequent practice of fixing up a hot breakfast cereal mash for their horses as well. While that certainly can’t hurt and your horses likely enjoys his hot mash, it doesn’t go far to keep your horses warm for an extended period of time. And, if your in bitter cold temps, the hot mash freezes rather quickly, sometimes before your horse can get it all down.
Many horse owners also choose to feed extra grain during cold spells in an attempt to help their horses stave off the cold. While extra grain seems logical, feeding more hay will do much more to help your horse keep warm. Here's why:
Grain is composed of starch or carbohydrates which are broken down by digestive enzymes and absorbed as sugars in the small intestine. The resulting increase in blood sugar provides energy for muscle contraction and powers most other body systems. Roughage (hay) on the other hand is composed of more complex carbohydrates that resist enzymatic digestion in the small intestine. These large molecules are passed into the large intestine and become the food for a variety of bacteria and protozoa. Ever stick your hand intro fresh grass clippings that have been setting in a pile for a few hours? Well then you know first hand that heat is a significant by product of fermentation. (hopefully your hay stack hasn’t experienced this as this would create on huge bonfire!) This same process occurs in the colon of your horse. While heat is considered a waste product when feeding a horse that is in work or lactation, it is very beneficial in maintaining body heat during periods of cold weather.
Feeding additional grain will help your horse maintain weight and give him more energy to shiver but feeding extra hay will cause additional heat production from digestion.
You can also opt to help your horse remain warm by adding a blanket. We occasionally blanket if the wind starts howling because even with all the hay they could possibly eat, their bodies can lose that heat more quickly then they can generate. Older horses are also at a higher risk and often times require clothing as they can't always generate the extra layer of body fat needed to stay warm. Overall, mother nature does a fantastic job of making sure horses are equipped to stay warm in winter but since domestic horses don't always have the opportunity to feed in the manner the horses system was designed for (eating through out the day ) we sometimes need to step in and mimick that environment as closely as possible to keep our horses warm, healthy and happy.
So this winter when one of our notorious arctic cold fronts sweeps into the valley, I will be feeding JB a little less of his usual amount of grain, and throw out an extra flake or two of hay.
Surprisingly, horses ( can vary upon breed as well) can do quite well in colder climates, in fact , I have read numerous articles that they actually acclimate better to cold than to heat. While that may be true, there are a few things that we, as horse owners, have to take heed to assure they are healthy and happy when ol' man winter comes blowing in .
So what do I do? I prepare, and prepare some more. I tend to prefer to be proactive so as not to be caught unaware. Perfect planning prevents mishap...OK... maybe not all the time... but it does provide peace of mind knowing you have done all you can humanly possibly do to prevent trouble with your livestock in the winter. There is nothing worse than dealing with a colicky horse in 20 below with a wind chill factor of -20, especially if you don't have the luxury of a barn, believe me , I have been there.
In a previous post, I talked about our stock tank covers. Making sure that the tank heaters are placed in stock tanks and working properly before the first major storm blows in is one of the prevention measures we take. Some horses won't drink super cold water... and unfortunately they can't get enough hydration from the snow. A horse that won't drink is a recipe for disaster. They , just like people, need to remain well hydrated in order to help their bodies regulate internal temperatures. Installing the tank heaters is a sure way to make sure the water remains at an ambient temp suitable for drinking. The other is making sure we have plenty of hay stored to get us through....peace of mind....knowing that there are weeks when we have to feed alot heavier during the cold winter months.
That brings me to subject of feeding in the bitter cold. Nothing sounds better to me than a hot bowl of oatmeal for breakfast on a cold morning. It turns out, some horse owners follow a bi-weekly or even a more frequent practice of fixing up a hot breakfast cereal mash for their horses as well. While that certainly can’t hurt and your horses likely enjoys his hot mash, it doesn’t go far to keep your horses warm for an extended period of time. And, if your in bitter cold temps, the hot mash freezes rather quickly, sometimes before your horse can get it all down.
Many horse owners also choose to feed extra grain during cold spells in an attempt to help their horses stave off the cold. While extra grain seems logical, feeding more hay will do much more to help your horse keep warm. Here's why:
Grain is composed of starch or carbohydrates which are broken down by digestive enzymes and absorbed as sugars in the small intestine. The resulting increase in blood sugar provides energy for muscle contraction and powers most other body systems. Roughage (hay) on the other hand is composed of more complex carbohydrates that resist enzymatic digestion in the small intestine. These large molecules are passed into the large intestine and become the food for a variety of bacteria and protozoa. Ever stick your hand intro fresh grass clippings that have been setting in a pile for a few hours? Well then you know first hand that heat is a significant by product of fermentation. (hopefully your hay stack hasn’t experienced this as this would create on huge bonfire!) This same process occurs in the colon of your horse. While heat is considered a waste product when feeding a horse that is in work or lactation, it is very beneficial in maintaining body heat during periods of cold weather.
Feeding additional grain will help your horse maintain weight and give him more energy to shiver but feeding extra hay will cause additional heat production from digestion.
You can also opt to help your horse remain warm by adding a blanket. We occasionally blanket if the wind starts howling because even with all the hay they could possibly eat, their bodies can lose that heat more quickly then they can generate. Older horses are also at a higher risk and often times require clothing as they can't always generate the extra layer of body fat needed to stay warm. Overall, mother nature does a fantastic job of making sure horses are equipped to stay warm in winter but since domestic horses don't always have the opportunity to feed in the manner the horses system was designed for (eating through out the day ) we sometimes need to step in and mimick that environment as closely as possible to keep our horses warm, healthy and happy.
So this winter when one of our notorious arctic cold fronts sweeps into the valley, I will be feeding JB a little less of his usual amount of grain, and throw out an extra flake or two of hay.
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