Hi everyone, I’m looking for some recommendations regarding feed for a horse on outdoor board that doesn’t offer daily grain. Horse is 4 and a very easy keeper so I am not worried about weight, but wonder if it would still be beneficial to have him on some sort of vitamin/mineral supplement to ensure he is getting everything he needs. They are in a large grass field with free access to hay at all times. I am consistently out at least 4 days per week so it would need to be something that doesn’t have to be fed daily. Horse is in typical work for his age, starting to school over fences lightly once per week, with a hack one day and flatting the other 2 days. Thanks in advance for your replies!
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Everything I can think of needs to be fed daily, aside from a lick tub. You could put one of those out there, but other horses will eat it also.
Do some research on whether a week’s worth of vitamins/minerals over 4 days rather than 7 is still efficacious.
If the horse is an easy keeper/does not need weight, what is it you are looking to accomplish by feeding an additive? Is there a known nutritional deficiency that you have tested for and are aware of, are your soils known to be deficient in certain minerals, etc?
If the answer is no to both, your horse will get everything he currently needs from good quality free-choice hay and access to salt and clean water. The only thing he may not have enough of is Vit E as that can only be found in adequate quantities in fresh forage, but again, if you haven’t blood-tested him for imbalances, I’d do so before adding anything you might not need.
My A/O hunter lives out 24/7. He cribs and has allergies that manifest as respiratory issues so he’s happier out. He holds his weight fine.
For years I fed the minimum amount of a ration balancer every time I was out (5-6 days/wk). He doesn’t have the best feet so I also added a hoof supplement. We have low selenium so I added that as well. And in the winter when there wasn’t any grass I added vit e, and omega 3 oil. He did well.
The last two years he developed stubborn scratches. The water at the new barn is high in iron so he needed more copper and zinc to balance.
To make my life easier I switched him to Mad Barn’s Amino Trace. He doesn’t love the taste so he gets a couple handfuls of grain with it. Cost wise I’m probably saving some money.
The majority of horses live a good life (and a healthy one) on hay, grass during the growing season and water/ salt alone. It is heavily pushed in todays world that everyone needs to feed a RB, full serving of a fortified feed or a supplement for the horses to be healthy but that just isn’t true.
Some do benefit from specific supplementation and feeding for special needs but some do just fine without. I think it makes people feel better to feed them like we feed ourselves. It won’t hurt him to feed something on the days you are out but whether or not it does him any benefit is another question.
I’d have zero qualms with feeding a VMS carried in something simple like some alfalfa pellets just on the days I was there. Figure out what he should get daily vs how often you are there and have at it.
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No forage is truly complete, so I always recommend at least a solid forage balancer, if not ration balancer, to help with that
Is there anyone who could feed at least 2 of the potential 3 days you’re not there? Nutrition really does need to be a daily thing, though 6 days a week is fine. A ration balancer - 2-3c depending on which one - would be easiest for someone else to feed. Forage balancers tends to be less tasty so usually need to be mixed with something that’s also wet down at least.
A couple posters now have mentioned concern that you wouldn’t be feeding every day. I wouldn’t be too concerned about this unless your horse has a known deficiency that you need to address.
I’m not a nutritionist, but I do have a minor in human nutrition.
Consider which vitamins/minerals are most important to your situation (ideally have your hay, soil, and water tested to answer this, along with bloodwork).
Now consider if those are fat-soluble or water soluble? Are they stored in the body? Or is the excess excreted?
If your trying to address a deficiency of a water soluble vitamin there is no point “double dosing” to try to make up for the days that you aren’t there. The body can only use and process so much in one day. Biotin is probably one of the most examples here.
In a case like this, yes, it might be best to feed everyday. But keep in mind that a healthy horse can usually synthesize enough biotin on its own.
Say you want to supplement vit E through the winter since your horse doesn’t have access to grass. Since vitamin E is stored in the body it doesn’t need to be fed everyday. The published upper limits of vitamin E are quite high, in theory you could “double dose” if you knew you wouldn’t be at the barn the next day, but that probably isn’t necessary unless your horse spends its whole life in a dry lot with poor quality hay.
In most cases you would just be supplementing vit E to help keep those stores up until the horse has access to grass again.
We could go through each and every vit/min, but I think you get the idea. Humans and wild animals don’t eat the same things in the same quantities every day.
Come up with a plan that suits you and your situation. After that plan has been in place for a few months you can reevaluate.
Keep in mind that any commercial product is just built on averages that are likely to work for most horses. If you have an otherwise healthy horse you aren’t likely to encounter any problems feeding something 4-5 days/wk vs 6-7 days/wk. Especially if the horse is just in light-moderate work.
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I would have no problem only feeding on the days you were there either, and agree that I would just feed the recommended daily amount for V+M’s.
Thank you for all the replies! I’m planning to take a look at a ration balancer and monitor how he does with that.
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