Restricting Forage For The Good Doer

The most important, and often overlooked, part of the diet is forage, and it should ideally be fed ad-lib. Horses have evolved to graze for 65 - 70% of their time, they are trickle feeders. Not only will this digestible fibre provide a good source of slow-release energy (calories) and help to maintain good gut function, it will also help to keep the horse warm as the way it is digested provides a kind of internal radiator.

Horses should consume a minimum of 1.5% of their bodyweight in dry forage per day to maintain digestive health. This forage can come from grass, hay/haylage, or short chops such as chaff. Bear in mind that haylage is higher in water and lower in fibre than hay and must, therefore, be fed in larger quantities in order to provide the same level of fibre as hay.

Feeding ad lib forage is not always possible when you have a good doer as they just gain too much excess weight. This is when their forage intake needs to be restricted, alongside a low-calorie feed such as a balancer, to control the calorie level of their ration and help with their weight maintenance. It is important to remember to never feed less than 1.5% of their bodyweight in dry forage per day, even for the good doers.

If you are concerned your horse is eating their allowance too quickly, ways to slow them down can include splitting up their ration into multiple haynets and hanging them around the stable. This also encourages movement around the stable so they are not just standing and gorging in one place. Using small holed haynets can also slow them down. If you do a late night check then you could hang a second net up with the rest of their nighttime allowance, so they don’t eat it all in the first few hours of being in.

Soaking hay is a great way to reduce the calorie content without limiting the amount of fibre that your horse is receiving. We would suggest soaking hay for a minimum 60 mins in cold water or 30 mins in hot water (16 degrees or above), as research has shown that this can lead to a 40% reduction in NSC & 7% reduction in DE content of hay. It is important to remember to rinse off they hay after soaking to rinse the sugar water off. If your horse is on haylage then we would suggest swapping onto hay so it can be soaked. If your horse doesn’t start to lose weight soaking hay for an hour then you can increase the length of time it is soaked for.

It is important not to forget that grass is included in their forage allowance and can provide a lot of excess calories so may also need restricting. Ways to restrict grass intake include:

Strip grazing involves fencing off a section of their paddock and moving the fence at regular intervals to allow restricted access to fresh grass. Strip grazing can either use one or two fences that are moved. The use of a second (back fence) allows a section of the paddock that has already been grazed to recover, this involves moving the first fence to allow access to fresh grass and then moving the back fence to fence of a proportion of the already grazed paddock. A study carried out in 2020 found that strip grazing ponies limited their bodyweight gains when compared to ponies who were not strip grazed. It was also found that there was no difference in the efficiency of strip grazing with or without a back fence so this can be used as more of a pasture management technique rather than a way of further restricting calories

Grazing muzzles can be used to restrict grass intake without preventing the horse from eating. They can be used in conjunction with measures such as strip grazing if needed or can be used without having to reduce the area grazed. They can be particularly useful in situations where multiple horses are turned out together but only one needs a restricted grass intake. It is important to remember grazing muzzles should not be left on for 24 hours a day, however when the grazing muzzle is removed the horse’s access to grass, or forage should be restricted to stop them gorging once the muzzle is off.

Track systems help to encourage movement as well as restricting grass intake if needed. Track systems involve having a track running around the perimeter and/or across a field with water, hay, shelter, obstacles distributed at different points along the track to encourage movement. It is important to have wider areas to allow for socialising, rolling and lying down. The surface used for the track can vary from grass, hardcore/woodchip or a mixture of both depending on what suits your circumstances best.

Turnout paddocks allow for complete control over how much grass/forage your horse has access to. Turnout pens can use different surface types such as an all-weather surface or woodchip. This means the horse can still have turnout time out of the stable but only has access to the grass/forage you provide for them so is very useful in situations where the horse needs their calorie intake to be highly controlled.