How to Feed Your Horse Vitamins Properly
Consider the following vitamins that your horse may need., Administer the supplements.
Step-by-Step Guide
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Step 1: Consider the following vitamins that your horse may need.
Many of these vitamins (like those in human diets) are provided in their everyday foods, i.e. the standard feed/hay that your horse is receiving.
What sort of supplements your horse needs is determined by its age, activity level, whether you want to breed him/her, your horse's condition, feed given (pellet, 10/10, oats, first/second cutting hay), etc.
Your veterinarian will help you select what to add to your horse's feed (be it squirts of vegetable oil, ground orange peel, glucosamine, bute...) Vitamin A (found in Carrots, Colostrum Milk, Fresh Grass and Herbage) Vitamin B1 (Alfalfa) Vitamin B12 (Cod Liver Oil, Soybean Oil and Fresh Grass and Herbage) Vitamin B3 (Peas and Beans) Vitamin C (Carrots, Apples, Fresh Grass and Herbage) Vitamin D (Colostrum Milk, Fresh Herbage, and Sunlight) Vitamin E (Alfalfa, Cereal Germ, and Fresh Herbage) Vitamin K (Alfalfa, Fresh Grass and Herbage) Biotin (Fresh Grass and Herbage, Maize, Rose Hips, Yeast) Calcium (Alfalfa,Limestone Flour, Seaweed, Sugar Beet) Phosphorus (Bran, Dandelions Oats, Barley, and Maize) Protein (Alfalfa, Cereals, Fresh Grass and Herbage, and Linseed) Manganese and Zinc (Alfalfa, Bran, Cereals, Fresh Grass and Herbage, and Yeast) -
Step 2: Administer the supplements.
If your horse is in a stall during feeding, this is relatively easy.
If your horse isn't picky, you can just take his feed bucket, add pellets (or whatever he gets) and sprinkle the vitamins on top (give a spritz of oil, whatever,) then give him the bucket.
If your horse is slightly pickier, you can add about half of his feed, sprinkle the vitamins on top of that, then cover with the other half.
Generally, by the time he gets down to the vitamin bits, he's already too in the swing of things to stop because of the vitamins.
If your horse is being rough boarded (i.e. he's in a pasture, most often with a few other horses), you might have a bit more trouble.
It is difficult (to put it mildly) to feed only one horse in a pasture if they're all hungry, unless your horse is the dominant one.
See about what the regular feeding time is for the other horses in that pasture, and feed him then.
Let's assume then that all of the horses in a given pasture are being fed at once, and one (or more) of them need a specific set of vitamins.
Buckets should be set on fences at about six to twelve feet apart, minimum, and when feeding, you should go down the line, from the bucket closest to the feed stores to the bucket furthest away.
Generally, it's best to have in a large carry bucket enough of the feed you're using to feed all of the horses in a given pasture at the start of feeding time.
Which ever horse is waiting at the first bucket, put about half of the food he'd normally eat at meals in the bucket.
Move on to the next, put half in, and so on, watching the line of horses behind you as they settle in.
Sometimes they'll vie for buckets, claim someone else's, etc.
After a minute or so, each horse will start to settle on its bucket.
Head back to the first horse in the line's bucket, and fill your scoop with the remaining half of his food, and on top of that, sprinkle his particular vitamins for the day.
Dump in bucket, move to next.
Be aware, this has to be done relatively quickly, as horses tend to finish their feed fast.
Sometimes, the first horse in the line (generally, the largest/most dominant in that pasture) will finish the first half of his food before I get back to him, and will jockey another horse off of his bucket.
To avoid this, sometimes a zig-zag feeding approach helps
- feed the first horse, then the next, notice that the first has really settled on his bucket, go back and add the second half and vitamins, go feed the third, notice the second is settled, etc.
After a while, you'll start to know the horses' pecking order, and this will get easier, because if you know that Horse A will always win a bucket vying contest, you can just give him his full feed at once.
In these cases, you should probably still (in the scoop) put 1/2 feed in, sprinkling vitamins, then put the other 1/2 feed in
- so that the vitamins don't end up at the bottom of his bucket, uneaten, after you've dumped the scoop in there.
Detailed Guide
Many of these vitamins (like those in human diets) are provided in their everyday foods, i.e. the standard feed/hay that your horse is receiving.
What sort of supplements your horse needs is determined by its age, activity level, whether you want to breed him/her, your horse's condition, feed given (pellet, 10/10, oats, first/second cutting hay), etc.
Your veterinarian will help you select what to add to your horse's feed (be it squirts of vegetable oil, ground orange peel, glucosamine, bute...) Vitamin A (found in Carrots, Colostrum Milk, Fresh Grass and Herbage) Vitamin B1 (Alfalfa) Vitamin B12 (Cod Liver Oil, Soybean Oil and Fresh Grass and Herbage) Vitamin B3 (Peas and Beans) Vitamin C (Carrots, Apples, Fresh Grass and Herbage) Vitamin D (Colostrum Milk, Fresh Herbage, and Sunlight) Vitamin E (Alfalfa, Cereal Germ, and Fresh Herbage) Vitamin K (Alfalfa, Fresh Grass and Herbage) Biotin (Fresh Grass and Herbage, Maize, Rose Hips, Yeast) Calcium (Alfalfa,Limestone Flour, Seaweed, Sugar Beet) Phosphorus (Bran, Dandelions Oats, Barley, and Maize) Protein (Alfalfa, Cereals, Fresh Grass and Herbage, and Linseed) Manganese and Zinc (Alfalfa, Bran, Cereals, Fresh Grass and Herbage, and Yeast)
If your horse is in a stall during feeding, this is relatively easy.
If your horse isn't picky, you can just take his feed bucket, add pellets (or whatever he gets) and sprinkle the vitamins on top (give a spritz of oil, whatever,) then give him the bucket.
If your horse is slightly pickier, you can add about half of his feed, sprinkle the vitamins on top of that, then cover with the other half.
Generally, by the time he gets down to the vitamin bits, he's already too in the swing of things to stop because of the vitamins.
If your horse is being rough boarded (i.e. he's in a pasture, most often with a few other horses), you might have a bit more trouble.
It is difficult (to put it mildly) to feed only one horse in a pasture if they're all hungry, unless your horse is the dominant one.
See about what the regular feeding time is for the other horses in that pasture, and feed him then.
Let's assume then that all of the horses in a given pasture are being fed at once, and one (or more) of them need a specific set of vitamins.
Buckets should be set on fences at about six to twelve feet apart, minimum, and when feeding, you should go down the line, from the bucket closest to the feed stores to the bucket furthest away.
Generally, it's best to have in a large carry bucket enough of the feed you're using to feed all of the horses in a given pasture at the start of feeding time.
Which ever horse is waiting at the first bucket, put about half of the food he'd normally eat at meals in the bucket.
Move on to the next, put half in, and so on, watching the line of horses behind you as they settle in.
Sometimes they'll vie for buckets, claim someone else's, etc.
After a minute or so, each horse will start to settle on its bucket.
Head back to the first horse in the line's bucket, and fill your scoop with the remaining half of his food, and on top of that, sprinkle his particular vitamins for the day.
Dump in bucket, move to next.
Be aware, this has to be done relatively quickly, as horses tend to finish their feed fast.
Sometimes, the first horse in the line (generally, the largest/most dominant in that pasture) will finish the first half of his food before I get back to him, and will jockey another horse off of his bucket.
To avoid this, sometimes a zig-zag feeding approach helps
- feed the first horse, then the next, notice that the first has really settled on his bucket, go back and add the second half and vitamins, go feed the third, notice the second is settled, etc.
After a while, you'll start to know the horses' pecking order, and this will get easier, because if you know that Horse A will always win a bucket vying contest, you can just give him his full feed at once.
In these cases, you should probably still (in the scoop) put 1/2 feed in, sprinkling vitamins, then put the other 1/2 feed in
- so that the vitamins don't end up at the bottom of his bucket, uneaten, after you've dumped the scoop in there.
About the Author
Douglas Roberts
Enthusiastic about teaching organization techniques through clear, step-by-step guides.
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