Are You Killing Your Horse With Kindness?
Choosing Horse Feeds without Risking Your Horse's Health Horse owners around the world agree that one of the most important aspects of achieving optimal horse nutrition often comes down to cost.
Many horse owners buy a range of horse feed products in the hope and belief that they are providing their horse with all of the nutritional requirements to promote a great coat, strong healthy hooves and great body condition.
Horse feeds can be classed as "conditioners", "performers" or "maintainers".
"Conditioners and Performance" feeds are high energy horse feeds that add condition (weight) to the animal.
They do this by delivering a large amount of energy into the horses system to build bulk and to fuel its energy requirements.
Horses that are in work will require a performance based feed that can provide the animal with extra energy to burn for fuel.
High energy can be described as being high NSC.
Put simply; a diet with a high NSC is similar to having a high GI diet for humans.
This high NSC diet is successful in creating an energy spike but there will be the inevitable energy slump soon after.
This can create a myriad of metabolic problems for the horse such as tying up, laminitis and even equine diabetes.
The Solution? Just as humans perform better with a low GI diet; horses require a low NSC feed to deliver even amounts of energy over a prolonged period in order to avoid the metabolic problems a spike can incur.
Many high NSC diets will succeed in adding extra weight but the by-product of excess energy is that horses often become "hot" and this proves a negative experience for many owners.
Horse feeds that are high in energy causing metabolic spikes can be closely linked to laminitis, colic and tying up.
This type of horse feed can be effective if the exercise level does not increase or decrease.
A reduction in exercise can mean a surplus of excess energy in the horse diet, which will result in the horses digestive system being overloaded and unable to burn the excess energy.
Here, a metabolic problem may occur such as those mentioned above.
Alternatively, an increase in exercise means that the horse does not have adequate energy stores and can be more susceptible to exhaustion, muscle soreness and fatigue.
It is effectively used as both a conditioner, as a performance feed and as a maintainer.
Feeding a product like copra will not cause horses to have the excessive High NSC energy "fizziness" that other high energy horse feeds provide.
A product like Copra can be fed with medium quality hay and will provide optimum horse nutrition.
This means that horse food bills are reduced dramatically while results are improved substantially.
All of this from one horse feed without the risk to your horse's health.
Many horse owners buy a range of horse feed products in the hope and belief that they are providing their horse with all of the nutritional requirements to promote a great coat, strong healthy hooves and great body condition.
Horse feeds can be classed as "conditioners", "performers" or "maintainers".
"Conditioners and Performance" feeds are high energy horse feeds that add condition (weight) to the animal.
They do this by delivering a large amount of energy into the horses system to build bulk and to fuel its energy requirements.
Horses that are in work will require a performance based feed that can provide the animal with extra energy to burn for fuel.
High energy can be described as being high NSC.
Put simply; a diet with a high NSC is similar to having a high GI diet for humans.
This high NSC diet is successful in creating an energy spike but there will be the inevitable energy slump soon after.
This can create a myriad of metabolic problems for the horse such as tying up, laminitis and even equine diabetes.
The Solution? Just as humans perform better with a low GI diet; horses require a low NSC feed to deliver even amounts of energy over a prolonged period in order to avoid the metabolic problems a spike can incur.
Many high NSC diets will succeed in adding extra weight but the by-product of excess energy is that horses often become "hot" and this proves a negative experience for many owners.
Horse feeds that are high in energy causing metabolic spikes can be closely linked to laminitis, colic and tying up.
- Conditioners/Performance feeds are High Energy (High NSC) and can result In "hot" temperament as well as increased risk of metabolic illnesses
This type of horse feed can be effective if the exercise level does not increase or decrease.
A reduction in exercise can mean a surplus of excess energy in the horse diet, which will result in the horses digestive system being overloaded and unable to burn the excess energy.
Here, a metabolic problem may occur such as those mentioned above.
Alternatively, an increase in exercise means that the horse does not have adequate energy stores and can be more susceptible to exhaustion, muscle soreness and fatigue.
- Maintainers fed for energy can result in fatigue/exhaustion or metabolic illness if exercise level increases or decreases without changing the diet as well
It is effectively used as both a conditioner, as a performance feed and as a maintainer.
Feeding a product like copra will not cause horses to have the excessive High NSC energy "fizziness" that other high energy horse feeds provide.
A product like Copra can be fed with medium quality hay and will provide optimum horse nutrition.
This means that horse food bills are reduced dramatically while results are improved substantially.
All of this from one horse feed without the risk to your horse's health.
