The health risks associated with obesity in humans are also very much present in horses and ponies. Overweight horses and ponies can develop a laundry list of health problems if they don’t consume a proper diet and maintain a healthy weight.
Horses require 1.5 – 2 percent of their body weight each day in food. Much of this should be forage consumption, as sweet, textured feeds and feeds with cereal grains such as oats and corn can be very high in sugars and starches, and enable a horse to pack on pounds quickly.
Some horses can maintain or gain weight under conditions where other horses will lose weight. These are known as easy keepers.
“Such horses are less demanding on the budget, but feeding an easy keeper presents a different nutritional challenge,” says Southern States Equine Nutritionist Dr. Marty Adams, PhD. “The challenge of maintaining the easy keeper is to meet the nutritional requirements—besides calories—while managing to avoid obesity,” he adds.
Some believe that cutting out feed altogether is the way to solve a horse’s obesity issue. However, doing so can prevent a horse from gaining the essential vitamins
and minerals it needs daily—such as fats and proteins—that it does not get from consuming forages alone. Often times, the quality of hay a horse consumes in forages can lead to nutrient deficiencies, so supplementing a good quality feed can be quite beneficial to the prolonged health of a horse.
Choosing a low starch, low sugar ration balancer feed like Legends CarbCare Balancer Pellet is ideal for easy keepers, ponies and miniature horses who can maintain an optimum weight off of a low caloric intake. It’s also ideal for horses and ponies whose primary diet is comprised of forages – namely grass and hay.
“Legends CarbCare Balancer Pellet provides a concentrated source of nutrition for horses requiring less calories. It is scientifically formulated to provide optimum nutrition for easy keeper horse breeds, ponies and miniature horses,” explains Dr. Adams.
Legends CarbCare Balancer Pellet is designed to be fed at the rate of 0.01% of body weight daily. For example, one pound of feed per day would meet the nutrient requirements for a horse weighing 1,000 pounds.
If you own an overweight easy keeper, or a horse that spends their day consuming only forages, check out Legends CarbCare Balancer Pellet the next time you are at your local Southern States Cooperative location.
Southern States Cooperative has grown to become one of the nation’s largest farm and agriculture supply companies. With over 1,200 retail outlets spread across 23 states, they provide a wide range of farm and home supplies, including livestock feed, pet food, fertilizer, seed, animal health supplies and petroleum products. Farmer-owned since 1923, the Richmond, Virginia-based cooperative has more than 200,000 farmer-members. For more information on horse feeds and other products available at Southern States, visit www.southernstates.com.
