A natural diet
Nutrition is one of the most important elements to get right, especially when you want your horse to live more naturally. A horse’s gut is an environment that requires an appropriate balance for it to be able to provide the right fuel for energy and warmth. A wild horse will travel many miles every day in search of a variety of forage and, often, it’s of low nutritional value. The gut is designed to extract nutrition from the most fibrous and awkward of plant matter. By doing this, it’s working at its best and common conditions like colic, gastric ulcers and laminitis are less likely to occur. Other ailments, such as arthritis, recurrent airway obstruction (RAO), pituitary pars intermedia dysfunction (PPID; also known as Cushing’s disease), and equine metabolic syndrome (EMS) are a lower risk too. “The best way to emulate this in a domestic environment is to consider the type of forage that makes up the majority of your horse’s diet,” says Lauren. “Look to provide a mouldand dust-free meadow hay with a variety of species of grass that are less sugar and starch dense. “If possible, grass and hay that contains rye grass should be avoided as it can produce and store huge amounts of sugars compared to other hay types.” These sugars unbalance the delicate gut micro-organisms and that’s when health issues start to occur. Unfortunately, many modern pastures are comprised of rye as it’s fast growing and hardy.
Don’t limit forage
As well as grazing, a horse will browse from hedges and shrubs and reach up to trees. But many horses, especially when stabled, are fed from a haynet at shoulder height, which isn’t a natural position for prolonged feeding. Consider feeding from the floor or using a slow feeder — these are devices you can feed hay from that slow down the speed at which your horse eats his forage ration. Both methods encourage him to eat with his head and neck lowered, which is important for a number of reasons, including maintaining a healthy respiratory tract, even teeth wear and mimicking a natural eating position. Avoid letting your horse run out of forage. Providing him with ad-lib hay (essentially, he never runs out of forage to eat) is so important. Even when your horse isn’t eating, his gut produces acid, and if the gut doesn’t have forage mixed with saliva in it to process, the squamous lining on the upper part of the stomach will be damaged by this acid, causing gastric ulcers. Chewing is important, too, because it produces saliva, which also acts as an acid buffer.
A wild horse will travel many miles every day in search of a variety of forage and, often, it’s of low nutritional value
Variety is key
Feeding a variety of plants and herbs plays a major part in your horse being able to maintain a healthy gut environment. Try to introduce these into your horse’s daily browse offerings, but give him the choice of what he wants to eat. Be mindful that mixing them into feeds doesn’t give him the option to pick and choose what he wants or needs. There’s a variety of plants that are hugely beneficial. Many are considered weeds, but they will greatly benefit your horse. If they’re not available in your field, consider growing some of the following: yarrow, dog rose (rosehips), camomile, cow parsley, milk thistle, nettle, cleavers and willow. (For an in depth look at herbs check out Your Horse’s spring issue, page 80. You can order a back issue by calling 01858 438884.)