Feed and Feeding

So I know some general principles about digestive tract anatomy and feeding management for horses, but I recently went through the exercise of calculating a more specific estimate of what Delphi is currently consuming.

Before we get the snapshot of Delphi's current menu, some basic principles:

• Horses have a peculiar digestive tract when it comes to domestic livestock and can be divided into the foregut and hindgut; the foregut accounts for ~35% of the capacity of the digestive tract--pigs' foreguts can handle up to 65% and cattle up to 90%-- so the uniqueness of horses' digestive anatomy is apparent. This relatively small stomach size makes the rate of passage of ingesta relatively fast, and larger meals pass even faster than smaller meals.

 

Anatomy of the horse digestive tract with relative sizes.Adapted from Feeding Management of the Equine (F-3973
Oklahoma Cooperative Extension Service).

• Horses should consume 10 to 12 gallons of water per day. Water buckets should be changed at least twice daily to avoid becoming stale or contaminated since horses do not readily tolerate stale or dirty water.  Providing a trace mineralized salt block designed specifically for horses ad libitum may help promote drinking and replace sodium and chloride loss from sweating.  

• A very general rule of thumb is horses should consume greater than or equal to 1% of their body weight in forage per day, and less than or equal to 1% of their body weight in concentrate. For Delphi (weighing in at ~1200 pounds) that means at least 12 pounds or more of forage (grass/hay) and no more than 12 pounds concentrate per day. Horses in moderate to heavy work have greater feed requirements than the average "rule of thumb" horse.

• We can assume that a horse grazing on adequate pasture (and supplemented with grain) will consume at least half of their daily dry matter intake from grazing. Since Delphi is out ~12 hours per day, this means she probably eats about 6 pounds of grass daily.

• In their natural state horses spend ~60% of their time eating and grazing; resting periods are rarely separated by more than three hours of non-eating behaviors.

On to Delphi's snapshot:

• Delphi's stall has two 5 gallon water buckets, and she has access to a fresh water tank ad libitum in her turnout paddock. She typically drinks more than both her buckets during the day-- at least 12 gallons per day-- probably more. She has stall access to a trace mineralized salt block for horses, a Himalayan salt lick, and receives an electrolyte supplement in her morning feeding.  So CHECK.

• Delphi gets fed a concentrate mixture of sweet feed and pellets that is approximately slightly more than 1 pound per dry quart. She eats "one scoop" (her feed scoop is 4 dry quarts) two times daily for a total of ~10 pounds concentrate daily over two feedings spaced 11 hours apart. So CHECK.

• Delphi receives two flakes of quality coastal hay three times daily, plus an extra flake mid-morning so she never has to spend more than three hours in her stall without forage in front of her. The average flake of hay is 3 to 5 pounds, so Delphi probably consumes ~21 to ~35 pounds of hay forage daily, plus the ~6 pounds of grass she eats while she's at paddock overnight.

• Delphi is definitely getting above and beyond the "rule of thumb" of "12 pounds or more" of forage, which is good since Delphi is in strenuous dressage training five or six days a week with an active show and clinic schedule. Better that she gets her extra feed requirement from forage rather than concentrate. So double CHECK.

 

Delphi and Lola doing what they do best.

Sources: North Dakota State University Department of Animal and Range Sciences, and University of Kentucky Cooperative Extension Service.

Passage

Delphi and I played at some steps of passage today in our lesson with Karen Brown. The Pumpkin is able to maintain about six to eight good steps in self carriage and on the bit. Today Karen said Delphi's hind cannon bones were parallel to the ground! How snappy!

We started the lesson schooling flying changes: in order for Delphi to jump through the change I must develop an impulsive collected canter by using more leg reinforced by whip taps as needed to create enough jump and impulsion. We schooled a couple good changes in each direction.

(We started all the "big" stuff: passage and piaffe, etceteras previously in the long lines so by the time we ask for it under saddle the horse has a glimmer of an idea of what we want.)

Unfortunately there was no camera rolling during today's lesson, but here are some stills of Delphi's first few passage steps in February 2012 (with me- Karen has schooled some steps previously) under saddle:

Karen schooling passage steps earlier 2011:

Outside Rein

Not another tired old lecture about the outside rein. This topic has become so overused in the dogma of dressage babble that one wonders if it's even useful to talk about at all.

Let me just say that for Delphi and me, especially in the challenging gate of canter, that outside rein connection is all important for a couple key reasons: 1) in the up trans from halt or walk into canter, Delphi has to be into that outside rein to maintain a balanced, through up trans; 2) to maintain an uphill balance and throughness during canter the outside rein has to be assessable and accessible. To do this I must continue cycling through asking if I can have Delphi's throatlatch both on the inside AND outside flexions, and even go so far on the outside rein to counter-flexion at times to really establish the throughness on that outside rein. And OF COURSE always remembering to GIVE (for me and Delphi at this point Karen said the give should be about 85% of the time and the "take" [or "TEST" would be the better word] the remainder) to allow self carriage.

Two older photos from the vault for illustration:

An example of what NOT to do: pulling the outside rein, with no true give in the jaw; to correct I should re-test the flexion even if I have to go all the way to counter-flexion, then give again and possibly cycle through the flexion test again followed by uberstreichen:

Here we see Delphi better into the outside rein, evidenced by a soft jaw and uberstreichen:

Thus concludes today's lecture on the Outside Rein. Thank you for tuning in.

Country boy from the Ozarks

Farm fresh and just off the trailer, meet Juno, a 16 hand buckskin Andalusian cross (double registered as both an Andalusian and Azteca) bred in Phillipsburg Missouri. His sire is the famous Andalusian stallion Kripton Seni II. His damsire is the beautiful black Andalusian stallion Genio III.

We will eagerly be watching Juno as his career develops. Congratulations to his new owner, trainer Karen Brown!





From Harper Collins Dictionary:
Juno:

n

(Astronomy & Space / Celestial Objects) Astronomy one of the largest known asteroids (approximate diameter 240 kilometres) and one of the brightest

First Love

Working with Big Gem, a nine year old ex-racehorse who is changing careers from hunter jumper to dressage, has reminded me why Thoroughbreds were my first love. Always willing and trying to say "yes," Gem can get tense but settles quickly when asked to do so. His mouth is THAT soft and lateral work is coming very easy to him. With an uphill "10" canter and just about 17 hands he is easy to sit since he is so eager to offer his back up to you.
What a dear, fun boy. I got to spend some time chatting with his owner today: she's a 72 year old retired nurse who has campaigned Gem the last few years on the hunter circuit but now wants to learn dressage both for fun and as a means to keep her awesome horse fit and sound. Well done.

Big Gem: truly a diamond that shines brighter and brighter with polishing!