Keeping Your Horse Healthy with a Proper Diet

The Last Ride Arizona talks about horse diets and keeping proper nutrition

Phoenix Horse Removal Service

When caring for a horse, providing it with the proper diet is essential. While many people think horses need grain, the reality is that they really need a diet that is based on high-quality forage. In fact, horses get most of their nutrition from the forage or roughage that they eat. Since they take in 1 to 2 percent of their body weight in hay or pasture each day, a 1,000 pound horse will eat 10 to 20 pounds of long-stem plant matter every day. The rest of the horse’s diet should focus on ensuring it is receiving the right ratio of nutrients. There are different types of grains that you can feed to your horse to ensure it receives the proper nutrients. Options include:

• Complete Feed: designed to partially or completely replace a horse’s forage, typically fed to a horse with dental problems or when quality hay is not available.
• Fortified Grain: manufactured feed that includes guaranteed levels of vitamins, protein and minerals.
• Whole Grain: cereal grain that has not been fortified with additional nutrients
• Ration Balancer: a concentrated feed designed to complete and balance a forage-only diet by providing the horse with the necessary vitamins, protein and minerals.
• Multi-Vitamin/Mineral Supplement: a powder or pellet used to fill the gaps between the minerals and vitamins provided by a forage diet.

Even with a proper diet, the day will come when your horse will pass away. When this day comes, contact The Last Ride to help remove your horse in a respectful manner.