January 2, 2001

Equine Nutritionists-
Where Are You?

As a practicing veterinarian, I was called upon and paid to treat horses in an effort to minimize their suffering. After I sold my practice and reflected back on those years, it became very clear to me that over half of what I did was correcting nutritional screw-ups. I have now reflected further back and realized that in my years of schooling, I received no formal training in the area of equine nutrition.

Recently, I had a client call me and said that their horses feet were swelling and the veterinarian told him to cut back on the cubes he was feeding. This client was lead to believe that the cubes were too rich and that was the cause of the swelling. I asked him if the veterinarian asked what was in the cubes? His response was "no". He did cut back and replaced the cubes with some poor grass hay. I wasn't there but I think the fact that the horses were moved from a pasture to a concrete feedlot with no dirt area had something to do with the swelling.

Without knowing that the cubes were 40% timothy hay, how could they assume that the cubes are 'too rich'? Without knowing what was in the grain mix, how could it be assumed that the whole diet was 'too rich'? If a diet is called 'too rich', does that mean that it is too high in protein or is it too high in carbohydrates? How much is too much protein? Is protein in the hay the same as protein in the grain mix?

If you have some of the same questions who do you ask? A veterinarian that has never taken a nutrition class? A feed salesman that is in the business of selling feed? The University of Minnesota College of Agriculture or the College of Veterinary Medicine will respond to an equine nutrition inquiry with, "we do not have anyone in that area".

How many people in the feed store test your forages before recommending the type of grain mix to use to balance your horses diet? Have you ever gone to a hay auction one week and bought grassy hay and returned the next time and bought an alfalfa based hay? If your hay changes do you change your grain mix? How long does it take a horses digestive system to adjust to changes in diet?

If you do get the hay tested, what do all those numbers mean relative to your horse? If you have the grain mix tested what do those numbers mean relative to the forage that is being fed to your horse? How is what you feed affected if your horse spends most of his/her time at rest in a stall as compared to a horse that is being prepared for competition? If a horse has too much body condition what do you cut back on? If the horse needs to increase its body condition do you just add more grain mix or do you increase the grain and forage at the same rate? How would a ration differ if you are feeding a growing foal as opposed to an aged horse (it's more than just the condition of the teeth)?

I don't know who you can turn to in Minnesota to get these questions answered. There are a lot of people that are shooting from the hip. Remember the horse evolved as an animal that could survive variations in weather and what food was available. For this reason our horses have been able to survive nutritional mistakes. Most horse owners want their horse to do well not just survive. Keep in mind that just because your horse likes the change doesn't mean his/her digestive system likes the change.

Like I have indicated earlier, I know enough about nutrition to know that I need to search for nutritional experts. Sadly, I had to go outside the state to get the needed information for my complete ration cubes.

The horse industry contributes a sizable amount of money (both in retail sales and taxes) to the Minnesota economy. If you are a taxpayer in Minnesota, I would ask that you contact your legislator and request that he/she sponsor legislation that would enable the University of Minnesota to do some work for the equine industry in the area of 'equine nutrition'. Remember that squeaky wheels get the grease.

In summary, I believe that a scientifically balanced diet can improve the animals immune system therefore reducing the incidence of disease. It will also reduce the amount of colic, laminitis, poor hair coat and fluctuations in body condition. I also believe that a scientifically balanced diet will allow your horse to perform better and feel better.