Decomplexicating Equine Nutrition Part 02 of 12 – The Basics of Sugar, Fat and Proteins ( Moved to community.thehorsesadvocate.com )
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[…] The Basics of Sugar, Fat and Proteins – Decomplexicating Equine Nutrition Part 2 of 12February 2, … […]
Thank you for your great articles. Do you prefer certain grasses and certain grass hay? My mare likes 2nd cut orchard grass. Do you suggest alfafa cubes when a horse can’t chew hay in winter? ( my gelding’s teeth were floated with an electric tool at about age 29, biggest mistake ever! ) He is getting 9 lbs.of senior feed every day at 2 hr intervals via an auto feeder because his teeth were ruined. It can only dispense dry pellets and i worry grass pellets are too hard to chew. I do feed some hay cubes and chopped hay in am and pm for long stem forage. Alfafa is only packaged type available which i dont like for horses. For years i fed mostly hay and pasture so it was very affordable. Now it’s so expensive, it’s hurting me financially. Any suggestions would be appreciated. Thank you.
We have Padock Paradise, “track system” setup for our six , two donkeys, mule and 3 horse. I put small piles “a flake or two throughout our quarter mile track. The donkeys were over wieght when we first got them and now a year later they both look great. The movement that this apraoch creats made all the difference for use. Best wishes for you and yours. http://paddockparadise.net/en/start/
I feed no grains fruits, or any such sugar laden foods. The hay is tested at Equi-Analytical before purchasing to insure low starch and sugar, 10% or less. Typically these hays rate very low in nutrition or have faults such as low phosphorus or high iron. My nutritionist checks what needs to be added for a horse to be at balanced health coupled with weight loss and suggests supplements for me to add to her feed. I mix those supplements with hay cubes and a cup of alfalfa pellets, both soaked. For some reason I can’t seem to find a hay which helps her to drop weight. I look for prairie hay, bermuda, and teff. We live in Kansas.
My mare is out 24/7 on 1 acre of dormant bermuda with some cool season grasses interspersed that I can’t seem to get rid of. She also eats from a 1.25″ hole slow feeder net 24/7. Truthfully tho, in order for her to drop weight, I let the net go empty often, thinking she still has dormant pasture on which to graze. Currently she’s fed 25-28 pounds of purchased hay, unless the cold is so bitter that I definitely don’t want her net to go empty. No blanket either and not stalled, but has a shelter with an automatic waterer.
The bulk of her hay is purchased. My pasture tho, is sprayed regularly with glyphosate, 2,4,D, and for foxtail I use Prowl H2O, a pre-emergent. I’m almost positive none of this is good for her, but I want you to know all the information I can muster up.
She is fifteen this year and I’ve spent bunches of bucks for the last 5-7 years attempting to help her lose weight without restricting hay. She looks fair now 14.3 and 1148#. Too much in my opinion. Her ribs are easily felt, but because of winter coat, I’m unsure if they are visible. She could probably stand to lose another 150#. When the pasture greens up, I’ll most likely need to take her off turnout and return her to her 30×60 dry lot to keep her off the grass.
At my age, 76, she is not ridden much. I’ve always thought that’s the ingredient missing in her care. She was born on my place. She has been a single horse since her dam died in 2011. Hubby doesn’t want me to incur another expense to add a buddy for her. Limited income you know.
I can’t figure out why this is so hard and unsuccessful.. 😟
Thank you for such a complete description! So this is what I see: she has access to hay and pasture with some supplements mixed after analysis. I would like for you to discuss this with your vet because I see some holes in it.
First – glyphosate damages the energy production cycle of bacteria. While basically OK for human cells, it damages and destroys the good gut microbes which digest cellulose turning that into the efficient fuel of fat. Instead your horse is making more glucose from what is being fed even though the starch content is measured low. I would like to know how the cellulose is being digested by the challenged gut bacteria (glyphosate) and whether the glucose molecules of cellulose are being made available for transport into the horse. This would lead to insulin resistance, mitochondrial overload and increased fat storage and prevention of fat mobilization.
Second – where is the protein? If you did the calculations would there be between 0.5 and 1.0 g per lb of protein being ingested? Is is from multiple sources to provide a variety of amino acids? Is the gut inflamed or on any medication that is preventing absorption of these proteins? All of these things will be covered in future articles but 1 observation here. Horses on a high protein diet (0.75 g/lb BW) along with reduction in gut inflammation (all grass diet) lose their pot belly, increase their top line and no longer are constantly hungry (“Hoovers”). For more info go to the blog on this site: https://theequinepractice.com/protein/
How would a vet check for cellulose digestion? Should I take in a sample of manure? This past fall she tested negative for insulin resistance. I suppose I should discontinue spraying glyphosate unless maybe spot spraying for grassy undesirable weeds. But what of the 2,4,D and Prowl H2O (Pendimethalin)?
Protein: the nutritionist has recently added three different protein supplements for as many Amino acid sources as possible to her daily food. I believe she wants her protein to be at or above .80.
I do think she is much better than earlier this year. Her belly is better but still when walking away from me the belly is fairly prominent in swinging side to side.
Your latest on gut microbes is highly interesting to me and I wonder if that is part of her problem and how to remedy that.
I find your articles wonderfully informative! Maybe through more suggestions of yours I can figure out how to get my mare in good shape.
Sinking in and thinking I am on the RIGHT path because of you.