Over
the last year I have written several blogs about feeding; Feeding,
Feed
Types, Special
Feeding and
Watering. Today and next week I'm talking about what is in our horse's feed.
Food
and water are vital to life. Food
provides energy which is needed for growth, tissue repair and the maintenance
of life! There are 3 main sources of
energy:
Carbohydrates
These
should be the main source of energy for a horse and should form two-thirds of
his food intake. Carbohydrates provide
the energy for all cell processes and basic functions eg: breathing and for
muscle contraction. Carbohydrates are
found in vegetable tissue so; plants, grass (hay) and grains.
Carbohydrates
comes in 3 different types; Starch, Sugar and Fibre.
Starch
is where most energy is stored in plants and is digested in the small intestine
of the horse. Any starch (carbohydrate)
not used for energy will be stored in the liver and muscles in a form known as
glycogen - this can then be converted to sugars.
Sugars
are simple forms of carbohydrate and these too are digested in the small
intestine. Glucose is the preferred source of energy for most body tissues and
it is the only type of energy that Red Blood Cells and the medulla of
the Kidney can use.
Sugar
and starch are both soluble carbohydrates - built up of molecules of glucose (a
simple sugar). Sugar and starch are
broken down by digestive enzymes into glucose before it can be absorbed through the
walls. See my Digestive
System blog.
Fibre,
this consists of cellulose and lignin.
Fibre stimulates gut action and so without it a horse cannot digest his
food! Cellulose contributes to the
strength which allows grasses to stand upright.
It is an insoluble carbohydrate which means that it cannot be broken
down by enzymes as the sugar and starch are.
Instead cellulose is broken down in the large colon and caecum by
bacteria this produces volatile fatty acids which the horse can use to produce
energy . As plants get older - grass
becomes more 'stemmy' the lignin content
increases - lignin is indigestible by the enzymes or bacteria!
Excess
carbohydrate ie: carbohydrate that is not used for energy, will be stored as
fat in the body! However, not enough
will cause the horse to break down it's body reserves to supply the energy they
need.
Protein
This
is the source of growth, repair, replacement and development of cells. Protein makes up a large percentage of muscle
tissue.
Proteins
are made up of chains of building blocks called amino acids, there are about 20
different amino acids, which can be linked together in any order and contain
hundreds of amino acids. The huge
variety of amino acids mean that there are also many different types of
proteins eg: hair, enzymes and meat.
Horses
are able to make some of these amino acids, the others must be taken in through
their food. Plants and micro-organisms
can synthesise all amino acids. Any
amino acids that the horse cannot synthesise (make) themselves are called
essential amino acids. If a protein has
lots of these essential amino acids then it is said to have 'high biological
value' and would be a valuable addition to a horse's diet! Peas,
Beans and Alfalfa are some of the feeds high in protein.
It is
worth noting that if one of the essential amino acids is low in a horse's diet
it will affect the balance and therefore limit the use of all the other amino
acids in the diet! This will lead to a
protein deficiency which leads to poor condition, poor muscle development and
stunted growth in youngsters.
Excess
protein in the diet causes the excess amino acids to be broken down in the
liver and the resultant energy is stored as fat.
Fat
Fat is
a highly concentrated source of energy and horses can easily digest it. However horse's diets usually contain no more
than 4% fat! Fat is important for growth
and maintenance of cell membranes, it helps maintain body temperature,
metabolism of cholesterol, for energy and stamina. Fats and oils can be found in Linseed.
Alternatively
adding oil to a horse's diet will provide much higher calories than other
feedstuffs. Therefore this is a useful
addition for endurance horses or eventers.
It also helps add weight on to horses when needed. Chesney has been having oil added to his feed
for a number of months as I try to build him back up.
Food
also provides Vitamins and Minerals and
I will cover these in next week's blog.
Have you seen this week's vlog 'One Day in January' on my You Tube channel.
Horse Life
and Love. Please check it out and SUBSCRIBE.
You can also follow me on Facebook and
Instagram for updates on Chesney, Basil, Tommy and Daisy.
Until next time!
Jo
I
think I am stuck in a schooling rut again! Although, Basil has really begun to
work in a good round shape and is soft and his bend is improving our movements
are getting a bit repetitive. In walk
and trot he feels really light in the hand and works beautifully. There is still a way to go with our canter
work though!
We
have been doing plenty of serpentines
.... which I always enjoy. These are so much improved in trot when Basil
is working more on the bit. We have more
control and work at a better pace in a nice rhythm. 20 m circles are a staple in all paces!
As is
changing the rein on the diagonal!
I
quite like using these half circles to change the rein too.
We
have also been doing lots of leg yield, both towards and away from the track.
This is also definitely improving.
We do
need to continue working on our transitions but I decided it was time to dig
out the book again!
This
exercise can be done in walk, trot and canter.
You can walk the 10 metre circle then change the rein as you move to the
larger circle and do this in trot. You
can then change the rein back to do the 10 metre circle again in walk! Alternatively you can do the 10 metre in trot
and the 20 metre in canter.
Basil
and I are still working on balance to be able to trot 10 metre circles but it
is getting better!
This
exercise is good for practising your turns as on the square you really have to
ride the corners and not just drift around them as we often tend to do! This exercise is best to perfect in walk
first so that your horse understands you before progressing up to trot!
We
will see how we get on with these over the next few weeks!
Did you see yesterday's vlog 'One Day in July' on my You Tube channel?
Horse Life
and Love. Please check it out and SUBSCRIBE.
You can also follow me on Facebook and
Instagram for updates on Chesney, Basil, Tommy and Daisy.
A few
weeks ago I bought one of these 'safety' cutters as I have had a pen knife for
a long time. The pen knife is really not
that safe so I treated myself!
Obviously,
with 3 horses I get through quite a bit of hay and in the winter when it is
dark and dingy I am always rushing about trying to get things done
quickly. So, like many people I want an
efficient way of quickly cutting the baler twine around the bales.
When I
first tried this cutter I was disappointed, it didn't seem very sharp and
wouldn't cut. However, I soon discovered
that if you have it at the right angle it cuts well, nearly better than the pen
knife.
It is
a much safer option and with the clip at the end can be attached to something
to keep it safe. This isn't something I
do at the moment. I may have to attach
it to something bigger for the winter though as I can imagine it could easily
disappear in amongst the hay if I am in a rush one morning!
Look out tomorrow for another vlog on my You Tube channel. Horse Life and Love
Please check it out and SUBSCRIBE.
You can also follow me on Facebook and
Instagram for updates on Chesney, Basil, Tommy and Daisy.
Until next time!
Jo
If you
asked me this question my initial answer would be that they have good
memories. If I think about this further
it is more complex. Domesticated horses
are expected to perform many different tasks, from lifting their feet to have
them picked out to performing dressage movements! On a day to day basis we expect them to
remember how to be led, how to stand tied up, what a wheelbarrow is etc.....
These
memories are based on types of learning.
Other types of memories such as those learnt from cruel treatment can be
remembered and affect a horse for many years, even after the treatment has
stopped. Tommy has learnt to be
frightened of people because they cause him pain, slowly he is learning that
people can be kind and allowing them near does have rewards.
This
can carry over to learning about cars, vans, lorries, motorbikes etcetera on
the road. Basil obviously learnt early
in his life that they are not scary, nothing has happened to teach him
otherwise and so he remembers that they are fine and is really good on the
road.
To
train a horse we practice and repeat the lesson until the horse remembers, this
can be done in a variety of different ways.
We are still relying on the horse to remember! Chesney has had his feet picked out in the
same order and in the same way for most of his life. This means that if I go into his stable with
the skip he has his first foot in the air before I place the skip on the floor!
Nowadays
we work towards developing good memories for the horse - so using positive
reinforcement to help them learn, rather than using punishment (negative
reinforcement) if they don't do as we ask. Building
pleasant associations eg: if you let me catch you then will you get a carrot,
generally work more effectively than building unpleasant associations eg: if
you don't go forward I will beat you!
It is
also now more widely accepted that it is better to work with a horse's natural
behavioural traits and that each horse is an individual. They will all have different abilities for
learning - just as humans do. So to help
a horse learn properly and to retain the information he needs motivating ie:
rewarding. For many horses this
motivation can be food, some enjoy a neck scratch and others a kind word.
Chesney
is actually motivated by the voice more than anything else, he knows if your
tone is cross or if it is soothing or if you are praising him. Basil is more difficult to work out but I
think he likes to have time to eat in peace.
So after I ride he either goes back in the field or has a nice haynet! Tommy likes food (which is often true of
rescue cases) but also seems to really enjoy a neck rub as a reward. I am also finding that he is very aware of
your tone of voice - like Chesney!
Horses,
like humans also learn more easily at a younger age. Early learning will affect their future
training and highly emotional horses can be more difficult to train.
Have you seen last weeks' video 'What I'm Feeding and Horsey Clips'
Horse Life
and Love. Please check it out and SUBSCRIBE.
You can also follow me on Facebook and
Instagram for updates on Chesney, Basil, Tommy and Daisy.
Until next time!
Jo
