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Underweight Horses -
" No matter what I feed the beast, he looks like a wooden chair with a sheet draped over it. "

The problem of the thin horse is often complicated by the fact that increasing the grain ration results in a fidgety horse that is difficult to handle. A large intake of a starch based feed causes a rapid conversion to glucose in the bloodstream. It is thought that the glycemic response (the measure of glucose and insulin) affects hormones influencing mood or behaviour. The solution is to increase the calorie intake without more grain.

Take for example a 1200 pound Thoroughbred type gelding on the following ration

Feed #1 15 pounds of moderate energy mixed hay @ 1.0 Mcalorie/pound = 15 Mcalories
Feed #2 12 pounds of a starch based grain mix @ 1.39 Mcal/pound = 16.68 Mcalories

The total of 31.68/day is not enough to keep weight on this horse. The following graph indicated where the energy is coming from in this ration. This is key because we want to avoid adding more energy from a starch based grain mix if we can avoid it.

This ration using a starch based grain mix has almost half of the energy coming from grain and protein sources. Less than half (47.4%) comes from the fibre (hay) portion of the ration.

Now let’s try and increase the energy density without increasing the amount of starch based grain fed.

Feed #1 -15 pounds of hay @ 1.0 Mcal/lb. = 15 Mcal/day
Feed #2 12 pounds of Phase lll plus 1 pound of Flax Appeal = 19.82 Mcal/day

This ration has a total of 34.82 Mcalories/day, almost 10% more than the original ration. But what affect have we had on where the calories come from?

By adding Flax Appeal and changing the grain to Phase lll we have decreased the percentage of energy coming from grain from 48% to 27.1 This is possible because part of the energy in Phase lll comes from highly digestible “super” fibres and from a higher fat formula. With Flax Appeal added, almost 3 times as much energy comes from fat sources compared to starch based grain ration.

A safer calmer ration that will put on weight without the risky side affects.

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Overweight Horses - " He's too dammed fat"

A horse that is too fat needs two things; exercise and fewer calories. Despite needing less feed however the fat horse still needs a balanced ration. Cutting out the grain, especially high starch grain mixes will reduce the overall calorie intake. A mineral/vitamin supplement like All Phase 20 will ensure that the ration is adequately balanced.

All Phase 20 should be fed at a rate of 1-2 pounds per day depending on whether the horse is a mature or a horse that is still growing.

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