Feeding Horses In The Winter

Feeding Horses In The Winter Most people think horses are big animals, so they cost a lot to feed, but they're wrong. Feeding horses can cost a large amount of money depending on what you feed them, but if you do things right, you can slash the cost of feeding your horse to not much more than a couple of Starbucks coffees each week, if not less

Feeding Horses In The Winter

If you are an aspiring horse rider or if you have been riding horses for some time already you have probably noticed that winter time most of the time leads to a complete change of routines for many horse owners and horses. This also leads to a change in horses diet and in this article I would like to share with you some useful information about winter feeding.

Fact is that most of the horses that are not involved in competitive horse riding disciplines and that have very light workloads spend their whole summers turned out, with diet of grass and when the winter horses such horses end up being stabled for long periods of time time and are given what is now known as 'hard feed'. Such radical changes in horse's diet can have a negative effective on horse's digestive system and not only can this affect the way the horse feels, but also how the horse looks. It is not surprise that most of the horses don't look and feel as great as they do in the summer months and one of the main causes of this is nutrient deficiency.

You see, horses have evolved to eat a mainly fibre diet, however a diet solely of grass is not always possible in the winter, which leads to nutrient deficiency. In the winter months horses simply don't get as many different vitamins, minerals and nutrients as their bodies need and this have an affect on their bodies.

What can you do to make sure that your horse does not suffer from nutrient deficiency?

If you want to make sure that your horse does not suffer from nutrient deficiency in the winter. More specifically if you want to make sure that your horse's body gets all of the necessary vitamins, minerals nutrients you should start supplementing your horse's diet with a high quality feed balancers.

When it comes to feed balancers you should look for balancers that contain these ingredients:

Linseed and soya oil - It is really important for you to look for feed balancers that contain linseed and soya oil if you want your horse to look great. Linseed and soya oil when combined with zinc promote healthy skin and glossy coat.

Iron and copper - Iron and copper are known as blood building minerals and it is really important for you to supplement your horse's diet with a product that contains elevated levels of iron and copper, because this will improve oxygen transportation within horse's body. This is particularly important if your horse's workload is heavy.

Pre and pro biotics - It is really important to supplement your horse's diet with a product that contains pre and pro biotics, because this will improve nutrient uptake.