Because the temperature drops, horses burn extra power to remain heat, due to this fact their power necessities will increase. We will provide our horses further vitality within the type of concentrates and forage. Forages are digested by the microbes in your horses large intestine and produce extra heat than concentrates. An incredible analogy is to check concentrate and forage to your wooden stove. Concentrates are your kindling and Forage are the logs. Ideally a horse would receive free selection hay throughout the winter. How much additional forage does your horse want to stay heat? Then they'll regulate if they want kind of through the day and night. Some of us have easy keepers who wouldn't do properly on free choice hay! For these horses, we have to regulate their intake. Weigh out their hay and supply it in small gap hay nets to prolong their amount of chew time. The first thing that you must do is find out how a lot your horse weighs. Utilizing body size plus heart girth tends to be more correct. I recommend using the following methodology versus a weight tape that solely wraps around the heart girth. Utilizing a comfortable measuring tape (the sort typically present in sewing kits) measure your horses heart girth and write the number of inches down. Next, measure the physique size from point of shoulder to point of hip, and write it down. Write down the HG and BL additionally, it will help make sure you that you're measuring at the identical location every time. Be sure to write all of it right down to consult with throughout the winter. In case you are a number of inches off, probably you're measuring from a slightly totally different location (except you'll be able to inform by looking that your horse has clearly gained or misplaced weight). Try to search out landmarks. Paint horses have nice landmarks! Now that you know how much your horse weighs, you may figure out how much hay he needs to eat. Your average horse in splendid weight should consume 2% of his body weight. Some exhausting keepers require upwards of 2.5% of physique weight. When you've got an overweight horse, you possibly can drop down to 1.5% of his body weight, however no less than that or you may be creating a whole other set of issues! 23lb of hay per day. Max weighs 1,159lb and needs to eat 2% of his physique weight. When the temperature drops below horse head sculpture 45 degrees F (together with wind chill) horses start to burn extra vitality to remain warm. This forty five degree mark is known as "Important Temperature". For every 1 diploma F beneath the vital temperature, your horse would require a 1% enhance in digestible vitality (DE). As with all the things horse associated, there are a variety of variables to this rule, corresponding to wind chill, rain/sleet, your horses coat thickness or should you blanket. Consider digestible energy like your horses calorie requirement. Since horse nutrition is 90% math, lets get back to that! If I continue with the math we might calculate your horse's DE requirements, subsequent calculate how much additional DE is required for your current temperature, next take a look at your hay to see precisely how much DE it offers per pound, lastly calculate how a lot extra hay will provide the extra DE required for the current temperature. If it's 20 degrees F where our buddy Max lives he would need a further 2 1/2-5lb of hay. This guideline is for horses at upkeep or gentle work. Additional hay might be needed in case your horse is a tough keeper, in heavy work, or on poor high quality hay.