Feeding the Young Horse

I had the opportunity recently to review a feeding program for young horses with a client of Stamina Plus.

This horse owner was feeding long yearlings and two year olds grain according to the bag directions that they were buying from a feed store.

One of the horses was developing lameness problems that I diagnosed from blood work and X Rays, that was related to a nutritional problem.

The bag feed was suggesting that these horses be fed 5 pounds of grain a day. First off when performance horses are in training many times they are housed in box stalls with exercise only when they are being ridden. Stamina Plus has done extensive research into growing horse nutrition and has found that grain needs to be limited and hay the main feed.

The recommendation of Stamina Plus for growing horses is to not feed over 2 pounds of oats a day, with 2% of the horses body weight in hay ( grass alfalfa mix) along with an adequate Supplement. The amount of hay will vary on the weight, breed and exercise of each horse. Stamina Plus believes that oats is the perfect grain in that it has adequate fat, fiber and protein and has low non-structural carbohydrates.

The take home message is that over feeding grain to growing horses makes them prone to leg problems.