May 1, 2002

It's the Diet Stupid

To the horse it's the diet and not the economy 

I recently delivered a load of hay to a large horse stable and training facility. The owner is a great lady. This trip was especially exciting for me. She had recently undergone surgery that required physical therapy. I haven't seen her that cheery and excited about life since I have known her.

The surgery was apparently successful but the best part was that the physical therapist had recommended changes in her diet. She went on to tell how she had lost weight, her clothes fit better, she was lifting weights and she just plain felt better. I could understand the physical therapy but my curious nature knew it had to be more. I then asked her what diet changes she had made?

She hadn't eaten bread since November and she was on a high protein diet. She was eating less carbohydrates and fats. She told me that her therapist told her she needed protein to build muscle and that fats and carbohydrates where contributing to her fatty tissue. With this change in diet, she could build muscle while loosing excess fat. The extra exercise helped in the muscle development.

Those of you that have read my past articles know what my next question will be. Why don't you feed a high protein alfalfa diet to your horses? Why don't you reduce the cereal grain portion of your horses diet? A diet of grass requires cereal grains for protein and energy to maintain the horses condition.

My client is feeling great and I am feeling even better after hearing her story.

My sister is an eating consultant. Her clients come to her to improve their eating habits. They hope to reduce fatty tissue and increase muscle tissue. She accomplishes this through eating habits and exercise. She is a living example of her successful program. She keeps me around (round) for a feeling of job security. I do what most of my horse clients do and eat what to me tastes good rather than the great ladies proper diet.

My horse clients will feed the horse what they think they will like rather than what is good for them. Always remember, I have a choice as to what I eat but your horse may know better what they should eat but we box them in stalls and force feed what we think they will like. Please rely on a good nutritionist to develop a diet to force feed your horse rather than a candy salesman .

About one week after the great ladies story, a very good cattle feeding friend from Amboy told me he had changed the diet of the heifer replacements he was raising for a large dairy in southern Minnesota. As a cattle feeder, he was very good at putting weight on cattle fast and with lots of fat. The cattle were only in the lot for about 6 months. The short stay allowed him to do things that would hurt the animal's long term health. Foot problems did not usually occur with this 6 months stay. A high carbohydrate diet (corn and soybean meal) created lots of fat to give the meat flavor but in the 6 months wouldn't create long term health problems.

He has now changed his operation from one that fattened cattle for slaughter to a replacement heifer program that requires him to raise animals that will be a part of the dairy farmers herd for many years.

He told me that he changed his ration last year to a good quality alfalfa and a soy fiber diet. The animals had better muscling and are now calving easier because of less fatty tissue. I'm sure that if he did a blood profile test he would find that the results would prove a much healthier animal. It's too early to tell but so far we are speculating that these high protein diets will lead to dairy cows that will last longer in the herd. An animal that is feeling better will also perform better.

What can you as the reader learn from this article? The next time you see me I will be more confident in my conversation that a well managed horse will do much better on a high protein alfalfa diet.

My challenge to you is, academically, what nutrients are in a grass diet that would make it a better source of forage than alfalfa?