Of the more than 300,000 horses in Ontario, we know that a great many of them can be referred to in one of these ways.

Often times these lovable pets spend most of the week happily doing what horses love to do the most; grazing and sleeping or mowing back a round bale between sleeps. Come Saturday or Sunday they’re summoned by the lure of a pail of grain to the barn to perform their duty as trail horse, or herded into a trailer to perform at the local club show.

I personally think these are the true unsung heroes of the horse world. They exist not for glory, not for ribbons, not for money or records, but simply for the sheer joy of the ride and for the unique and simple bond we continue to have with horses after all these years of human development and today’s high level of technology. It is indeed one of life’s simplest yet most profound relationships and one of the few things that link us to our less complicated past.

Before I drift off into a philosophical trance let’s remember that this column is about nutrition and feeding. The real reason why I started into discussing the lightly used horse (oh yeh, you can add that to the above list) is to insist that these horses have nutritional requirements too. I urge you not to just turn them out and expect nature to look after them, but consider that a balanced ration is essential for them as well.

Pasture

True enough, if the pasture is plentiful and kept clipped and weed free much of the horse’s needs can be met by grazing. Good fences, obstacle free fields adequate shade, lots of water and a salt block complete the picture. Well maybe in the short term, but over time deficiencies can start to cause problems. Have a look at this chart indicating the basic maintenance needs vs. what pasture and a salt block provide.

Even a good pasture is going to come up short on some key trace minerals. If the horse is a broodmare with a foal or is a hard keeper there may not be enough energy in the pasture to prevent weight loss either.

Well that’s all right, all we need to do is put a trace mineral block out there. Here’s a chart with a TM block instead of a straight salt or iodized/cobalt block.

Whoopee no more problem. But did the horse take in the ounce and a half of TM salt each day required to bring the copper and zinc levels up to minimums. It might have although that’s quite a bit of lickin’ but did anyone notice that there may not be any selenium or vitamin E in that TM salt.

Does this mean that your horse is being seriously deprived and is going to fall over from malnutrition? Well probably not.

For one thing the minerals in pasture exist in a form that makes them very digestible. Still there may not be adequate trace minerals over the long run to ensure good health especially as pastures mature and the horse’s intake drops.

Trace minerals such as zinc, copper and manganese are needed for proper body function. They are involved in enzymes that metabolize protein, fat and energy (manganese), formation of hemoglobin and bones (copper and zinc) and hair and skin health (zinc) and all are necessary for a healthy immune system. Selenium is essential for proper muscle function and a healthy immune system. Eventually even minor deficiencies can effect the horse overall health and appearance.

What should you do? Well as a minimum do provide trace mineral salt for horses on pasture. Selenium however may not be included in a free choice mineral because its use is restricted. For this reason alone and simply for insurance I suggest feeding a pasture ration completely balanced with minerals and vitamins. Most feed suppliers have products that are low energy, low use rate concentrates that won’t add a lot of unneeded calories but supply the necessary nutritional balance. Remember that these products are fairly concentrated so don’t overfeed them.

You may also want to ask if the trace minerals in the feed are in a highly available form. Unless some of the minerals are in an organic (chelated) form the availability may be quite low.

That’s it. While the pasture pet is lounging under the old oak tree you can be confident that life sustaining nutritional goodness is flowing thru it’s veins.

It might even make the old dog easier to catch on Saturday morning.