Tips for caring for your horse in Spring

By Isabel Stewart BSc (Hons) - SPILLERS® Nutritionist 

As the winter turns into spring, we can start to look forward to the warmer weather and riding after work or school. With this in mind it is particularly important to pay attention to your horses condition and diet, as you may need to make adjustments to meet his changing nutritional needs.

  • As the weather gets warmer the grass starts to grow and will become a more important part of your horse’s diet. Good grass has an energy content of 12MJ per kg of dry matter which is equivalent of a medium energy competition feed. It is for this reason that you should adjust your horse’s diet to take into account the spring grass growth.
  • As the nutritional quality of grass improves you may need to change to a lower energy/calorie diet such as SPILLERS® Horse and Pony Cubes, SPILLERS® Cool Mix, SPILLERS® Meadow® Herb or even SPILLERS® High Fibre Cubes to ensure that your horse does not put on too much weight or become too full of energy.
  • As the weather improves you may want to turn your horse or pony out all the time in which case you may not need to use hay or haylage as the grass will provide most requirements. BE WARNED if your pony is overweight, then strict management may be necessary. In these cases restricted grazing is essential either by strip grazing, stabling or using a grazing muzzle. If this action is taken an alternative fibre may need to be offered SPILLERS® HAPPY HOOF ® or SPILLERS® High Fibre Cubes are an ideal choice, as they are high fibre low starch and low in calories ideal for the “good doing” horse or pony.
  • If your horse is a very good doer and you need to reduce your compound feed to lower than the recommended amount, you will need to supply a vitamin and mineral supplement such as EQUIVITE® Original. Given at 50 -100g per day it will make up for any short fall in micronutrients.

If you have any doubts about what to feed your horse or pony in the Spring, please contact the SPILLERS® Care-Line on 01908 226626 or fill in the Care-Line enquiry form.

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