First, we got to understand, as long riders we are riding a local horse. No matter what. Because only the local horse knows, what to eat and what to leave alone. Apart from that, you want a horse, that can live of the land, without needing lots of additional fuel.
But you want that horses gut to be able to handle all you are feeding. That means before you leave it should have gotten used to the greatest variety of feed, you can get your hands on for at least 2 weeks prior to take off. Best if it was able to graze on bush land and feed itself, or if you have to feed it hay, make sure it got 24/7 hay and in the biggest possible variety.
On trail, you want it to be grazing for at least 20 - 40 min., every 2-4 hours, depending, where and when you find feed, so its gut is never empty. We usually let them graze free, once we stop for our camp between 4 and 6 pm, and then have them graze inside a electric fence we set up, for the night. The size of the fenced in area depending on the amount of good feed we find, for 4 horses i can have up to 300 on 300 feet of area fenced in. With horses i don`t know, I will stake the lead horse inside the fence`the first couple nights, making sure he cannot take off. I might have to re-stake him a couple of times during the night depending on the amount of feed available. We carry with us some grain, but that is only for the situation, where we don`t find enough feed for the night. The horses have to be used to the grain at home.
If I have to hi-line, i need to be able to provide hay or other feed.
But you want that horses gut to be able to handle all you are feeding. That means before you leave it should have gotten used to the greatest variety of feed, you can get your hands on for at least 2 weeks prior to take off. Best if it was able to graze on bush land and feed itself, or if you have to feed it hay, make sure it got 24/7 hay and in the biggest possible variety.
On trail, you want it to be grazing for at least 20 - 40 min., every 2-4 hours, depending, where and when you find feed, so its gut is never empty. We usually let them graze free, once we stop for our camp between 4 and 6 pm, and then have them graze inside a electric fence we set up, for the night. The size of the fenced in area depending on the amount of good feed we find, for 4 horses i can have up to 300 on 300 feet of area fenced in. With horses i don`t know, I will stake the lead horse inside the fence`the first couple nights, making sure he cannot take off. I might have to re-stake him a couple of times during the night depending on the amount of feed available. We carry with us some grain, but that is only for the situation, where we don`t find enough feed for the night. The horses have to be used to the grain at home.
If I have to hi-line, i need to be able to provide hay or other feed.
This is and retranslated Article of Dr. Juliet M. Getty. https://gettyequinenutrition.biz/ find more interessting feeding information on her website.
I respect horses, and the way the have developed. Their unique ability to survive in their environment, feeding, resting, walking and being horses. Domestication has forced them out of their natural habitat, but horses are still horses and have not changed. Locking them up, has created mental needs and this needs are widely ignored.
Watching horses in the wild, we are amazed by their power and their majesty. Here in the wild, we see the horses the way they should be. Our domesticated horses still feel the same way, but we think they should be happy and thankful that we are feeding them 3 meals a day and locking them up in a comfortable box of 9 x 9 feet ready to be cared for by us humans.
Lets respect our horses and start thinking in a new way.
Dr. Juliet M. Getty, Ph.D. writes in her Book, that horses are still dominated by their instincts and that we can only work with but not against them. She explains the reasons for stress, that is caused by lack of feed and how this creates problems with their hoofs.
Here is what she has found out:
We think domestication has changed our horses. That is true, they are more prone to laminitis. While horses in the wild, don`t know laminitis, even though their bodies have a build in insulin resistency. How come
For Wild horses Insulin resistency means the ability to survive. During hard winter month, when feed is in low supply, the horses produce an higher blood Insulin level, for their bodies not to burn up valuable fatty but to store it as reserves. It helps them to survive.
If we reduce the feed, for our horses, exactly the same mecanism takes place.
Their survival mode kicks in and the horses starts gaining weight, by storing the fat.
All that leads to higher level of Insulin creates fat storage. Hundreds of studies on Humans and Animals have proven this to be true. Stress in Humans creates obesety. Why ? Coitsol (a Stress hormone) makes the Insulin Level going up. On the level of cells in works excactely the same way for horses.
But why is it so hard for us to understand and change things.
Maybe because it sounds like a paradoxon, feeding your horse more, will make them loos weight ?!
We know, that if you consume less carbs and less sugare, but eat more fruit and vegetables and meat in small portions over the day, you will loose weight. We also know, that if people fasting, they loose first muscle tone reduze their metabolism, in a way that causes even small amounts of calories to be stored in fat and they are gaining weight much faster than before their fast.
When our horses are to heavy, what do we do? We reduce the amount of feed from 2% to 1,5 to 1 % of the weight. And it works, your horse i loosing weight. But at the first opportunity it will feed itself into a laminitis problem.
Our horse are made to live against their instincts.
When we where kids, our system still worked. We ate till we where full and stopped. Mother told us we could have dessert, and we loved it, but the reflex stayed: we are full.
As adults, we learned food is also enjoyment, satisfying, it helps against stress, boredom, and disapointments. And the reflex gets wound down and lost.
Horses are different. They wont plunder the fridge because of disappointment, (you did not show up today) or eat double the portions, because your daughter gets married.
But when their gut is empty and they are made to wait for their feed, their ability to feed slowly will vanish, they will gulp it down, and the signal that they are full, gets overruled by their anxiety about if there will be enough. We force them into survival mode.
The gut of the horse is different from ours. It produces acids constantly. By chewing and salivating they are neutralizing this Acid. Their gut has intrance and exit at the same hight, so only intake of food can push out the digested mass.
Lets look at it logically.
Make sure your horse can move as much as possible and has free access to high quality and lean hay. Put the hay into hay nets, to force the horse to slow down feeding. Over time the metabolism of your horse will get stabilized, the insulin level will go down and it will start loosing weight. Once your horse is no longer in survival mode, it will graze and feed as it is supposed to.
Let your horse tell you what it needs.
Now your horse will gain weight before it looses it again. So have it work and make it move. But make sure your horse experiences, that hay and gras are available at all times, and that it can start trusting its instinks again. It will start loosing weight.
Dr. Juliet M. Getty
I respect horses, and the way the have developed. Their unique ability to survive in their environment, feeding, resting, walking and being horses. Domestication has forced them out of their natural habitat, but horses are still horses and have not changed. Locking them up, has created mental needs and this needs are widely ignored.
Watching horses in the wild, we are amazed by their power and their majesty. Here in the wild, we see the horses the way they should be. Our domesticated horses still feel the same way, but we think they should be happy and thankful that we are feeding them 3 meals a day and locking them up in a comfortable box of 9 x 9 feet ready to be cared for by us humans.
Lets respect our horses and start thinking in a new way.
Dr. Juliet M. Getty, Ph.D. writes in her Book, that horses are still dominated by their instincts and that we can only work with but not against them. She explains the reasons for stress, that is caused by lack of feed and how this creates problems with their hoofs.
Here is what she has found out:
We think domestication has changed our horses. That is true, they are more prone to laminitis. While horses in the wild, don`t know laminitis, even though their bodies have a build in insulin resistency. How come
For Wild horses Insulin resistency means the ability to survive. During hard winter month, when feed is in low supply, the horses produce an higher blood Insulin level, for their bodies not to burn up valuable fatty but to store it as reserves. It helps them to survive.
If we reduce the feed, for our horses, exactly the same mecanism takes place.
Their survival mode kicks in and the horses starts gaining weight, by storing the fat.
All that leads to higher level of Insulin creates fat storage. Hundreds of studies on Humans and Animals have proven this to be true. Stress in Humans creates obesety. Why ? Coitsol (a Stress hormone) makes the Insulin Level going up. On the level of cells in works excactely the same way for horses.
But why is it so hard for us to understand and change things.
Maybe because it sounds like a paradoxon, feeding your horse more, will make them loos weight ?!
We know, that if you consume less carbs and less sugare, but eat more fruit and vegetables and meat in small portions over the day, you will loose weight. We also know, that if people fasting, they loose first muscle tone reduze their metabolism, in a way that causes even small amounts of calories to be stored in fat and they are gaining weight much faster than before their fast.
When our horses are to heavy, what do we do? We reduce the amount of feed from 2% to 1,5 to 1 % of the weight. And it works, your horse i loosing weight. But at the first opportunity it will feed itself into a laminitis problem.
Our horse are made to live against their instincts.
When we where kids, our system still worked. We ate till we where full and stopped. Mother told us we could have dessert, and we loved it, but the reflex stayed: we are full.
As adults, we learned food is also enjoyment, satisfying, it helps against stress, boredom, and disapointments. And the reflex gets wound down and lost.
Horses are different. They wont plunder the fridge because of disappointment, (you did not show up today) or eat double the portions, because your daughter gets married.
But when their gut is empty and they are made to wait for their feed, their ability to feed slowly will vanish, they will gulp it down, and the signal that they are full, gets overruled by their anxiety about if there will be enough. We force them into survival mode.
The gut of the horse is different from ours. It produces acids constantly. By chewing and salivating they are neutralizing this Acid. Their gut has intrance and exit at the same hight, so only intake of food can push out the digested mass.
Lets look at it logically.
Make sure your horse can move as much as possible and has free access to high quality and lean hay. Put the hay into hay nets, to force the horse to slow down feeding. Over time the metabolism of your horse will get stabilized, the insulin level will go down and it will start loosing weight. Once your horse is no longer in survival mode, it will graze and feed as it is supposed to.
Let your horse tell you what it needs.
Now your horse will gain weight before it looses it again. So have it work and make it move. But make sure your horse experiences, that hay and gras are available at all times, and that it can start trusting its instinks again. It will start loosing weight.
Dr. Juliet M. Getty
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