Words by Luisa Wood – Farmlands Equine Nutritionist
A large proportion of horses kept in New Zealand are used for light work including pleasure riding, hacking, pony club and low-level competition. While workloads may not be high, nutrient requirements still need to be met and careful consideration is required to provide a balanced diet for what is often a very much-loved family pet.
Understanding nutritional needs
Compared to high performance sport horses or racehorses, horses in light work have significantly different nutritional needs. Their diet should aim to provide enough calories to support their activity levels while maintaining their body condition at an optimum level.
While requirements for protein, trace minerals and vitamins aren’t high, it is important for general health and disease prevention that these are met daily. Nutritional requirements are met through three primary components of the diet, which include forage, concentrates, and supplements.
Forage: the foundation of the diet
Forage, such as hay, pasture and fibre products like chaff, should make up the bulk of the diet for all horses and is essential for maintaining digestive health. Minimum forage intake required is 1 percent of the horse’s body weight daily, with optimum intakes of 1.5 to 2 percent. A constant intake of forage is important, and while pasture is often the most convenient way of providing forage daily, supplementary hay or ensiled forages like baleage and haylage will be required if pasture is ever in short supply at certain times of the year. Dry matter content of forages is also important to consider, and higher levels of ensiled forages or rich pasture with high water content will be required to meet optimum daily forage intakes.
Concentrates: supplementing forage
While forage is the foundation, some horses may require additional concentrates to meet their energy needs and maintain optimum body condition. Most horses in light work won’t require significant amounts of concentrates unless they are particularly ‘poor doers’ and struggle to hold condition well. Concentrates can include grains, commercial feeds, or a mix of both. Commercial feeds from credible companies can be a convenient way of feeding, as they often provide all required calories, protein and nutrients required daily.
Therefore, selecting the correct feed and providing it at the correct amount daily can help to take a lot of the guess work out of feeding. Suitable feeds for horses and ponies in light work are low energy, lower protein feeds such as McMillan Cool Feed, NRM Horse and Pony or NRM Coolade. Some horses can be intolerant to grains due to behaviour or health concerns such as metabolic conditions or laminitis. In this instance, low starch feed options that have been formulated with fibre and fat as the main sources of calories, such as McMillan Grain Free or NRM Low GI Sport, are recommended.
Many horses in light work can be classified as ‘good doers’, meaning they gain weight easily and are often at body condition scores higher than optimum. While these horses don’t require additional calories from hard feed, it is important to still meet requirements for all essential nutrients. In this case the best option for these horses is to provide a concentrated balancer pellet to meet nutrient requirements such as NRM Equine Balancer, or a balanced vitamin and mineral supplement such as McMillan Multi Minerals.
Balancing the diet with supplements
If a formulated feed or balancer pellet is provided at the correct levels daily, additional vitamin and mineral supplementation will not be required. Regarding supplements, salt should be provided daily through a plain free choice salt block or salt added to feeds, and a balanced electrolyte is recommended on days the horse works to replace nutrients lost through sweat.
Other supplements are only required to target specific areas of health, such as hoof and coat quality, joint health and digestive issues. It is important to only select products from credible companies that have research to support the ingredients they contain.
Monitoring body condition
Regularly monitoring the horse’s body condition is crucial to ensure they are neither underweight nor overweight. The Body Condition Score (BCS) system is a useful tool for this purpose and horses in light work should ideally have a BCS of 3 on the 0-5 point scale. Where certain breeds such as Thoroughbreds and Arabians can be prone to be lighter and more difficult to increase body condition, it is more common for ponies and horses in light work to hold excess condition and be above optimum levels.
In these cases, management to decrease body condition is essential to avoid the numerous equine health conditions associated with being overweight including joint problems and metabolic conditions such as laminitis. Dietary management includes restriction from rich pasture, providing low calories forage sources such as older hay, and providing minimum hard feed through concentrated feeds like NRM Equine Balancer. Adjustments to the diet should be made based on the horse’s condition, workload, and any changes in forage quality.
Hydration: often overlooked
Adequate hydration is vital for all horses and fresh, clean water should be available at all times. Horses typically drink 20-30 litres of water per day, but this can increase with higher temperatures or increased activity levels. Ensuring they have access to water can prevent dehydration and support overall health.
All about balance
Feeding pony club horses and horses in light work is about finding the right balance. By focusing on high-quality forage, supplementing with concentrates as needed, and ensuring they receive essential vitamins and minerals, you can maintain their health and performance. Regular monitoring and adjustments based on their condition and workload will help keep these horses in optimal shape all year round. For assistance with navigating the significant amount of feeds and supplements available in the market and designing a diet that suits the individual horse and the owner, consult with a qualified equine nutritionist.