We are seeing a growing trend in people telling us that they are feeding a "forage-only" diet, when, in fact, they are feeding a "forage-first" or "forage-based" diet.
This post is not necessarily directed at any particular person, nor is it intended to be critical. Instead, it is meant to be informative and factual.
A "forage-only" diet implies that you only feed your horse grass and/or hay, alfalfa or another type of legume, forage pellets/cubes, beet pulp, etc. The exception is that you will still need to supply a suitable mineral & vitamin supplement in at least a few ounces per day. If you do this and and your horse maintains an ideal body weight, then great. However, if you own a horse that cannot maintain an ideal body weight on forages only, then consider that this is not the best diet for your horse. There is no shame in that!
If; however, you say that you are feeding a forage-only diet and you are also feeding a ration balancer, Renew Gold, copra, rice bran, oil, etc., then you are NOT feeding a forage-only diet, but you are feeding a "forage-first" or "forage-based" diet. And that is OKAY too!
A "forage-first" or "forage-based" diet implies that you feed somewhere in the range of 1.5-3% of a horse's body weight in forages. But it also allows for you to feed a ration balancer, or 4-6+ lb of a commercially fortified feed, Renew Gold, rice bran, oil, copra, beet pulp, etc....
ALL horses should be fed a forage-first or forage-based diet! Contrary to what some may think, NOT all horses will be able to sustain an ideal body weight on a forage-only diet. Also, we need to stop making generalizations, like all OTTB are hard keepers and all Arabs are easy keepers. Feed the horse in front of you! Not what the breed generalities tell you should be the case!
The other issue we see with people who come to us is that they are often struggling to implement a "forage-only" diet for their horse and are challenged with maintaining an ideal body weight for their horse. On the other hand, the horse was maintained when fed a forage-first or forage-based diet and supplemented with a suitable commercially fortified feed. Instead of simplifying the diet and returning to what worked, many miss the obvious and pile on more unfortified feedstuffs or supplements to an already complicated forage-only diet consisting of grass, hay, forage pellets or cubes, beet pulp, mineral/vitamin supplements, fat supplements, etc. Why??? This kind of complicated, cobbled-together diet is what we routinely end up fixing as nutrition consultants. Keep in mind more is often just more, not necessarily better.
Take home message --Focus on feeding a "FORAGE-FIRST" diet and then supplement accordingly. For some, that means the addition of a forage balancer or a suitable mineral/vitamin supplement. For others, it will mean the addition of a suitable commercially fortified feed, which is also okay! There is NO need to overthink or over-complicate things!
Add comment
Comments