Feed and Nutrition with Will Friday

How much do you worry about the quality of feed and nutrition of your horse?  I confess, I let my horses get a little "extra" fat this last winter.  It wasn't until I took Scratch in for a routine dental and vaccination and we got on the scale.  He was 1,014 lbs.  Now, I'm not exactly sure what his ideal weight ought to be, but I KNOW it's not 1,000 lbs.  It's difficult to get a horse to lose weight.  You can't just feed less.  Horses need food going through their system constantly to stay healthy.  That's just how that works.

I was looking for ways to support my horse nutritionally when I came across my friend, Will Friday's,  new website.  You might remember Will from a previous episode we did on The Masterson Method.  Will has an interest in feed and nutrition and consults many of his clients.  I enlisted Will to help me with our horses nutrition.  Will offered two very important charts to reference.  The first in the NRC chart for horses.  This lists the amounts of nutrients horses require. The second is an average analysis of alfalfa hay.

Useful Tables

Both tables are important when trying to figure out what your horse needs.

We talked about a lot of charts and databases offering nutritional information.  After I spoke with Will, I did a little research and found Equi-analytical’s website.  There is a cool little page with feed analysis.  The link is on the episode page.https://equi-analytical.com/common-feed-profiles/interactive-common-feed-profile/

Here is a link to a good video for taking a hay analysis sample:  https://youtu.be/sJMyvYyYZek  

Since I purchase my hay for the year from one supplier, I think I’ll spend the $18 and get a hay analysis this year.  I’ll let you know what I find out.  

On Equi-analytical’s website you will also find a Nutrient calculator:  https://nrc88.nas.edu/nrh/

General info from Equi-analytical:  https://equi-analytical.com/

Links to Performance Equine Bodywork

Website:  https://www.performanceequinebodywork.com/

Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/PerformanceEquineBodywork/

Check out the Shoulder Relief Cinch    

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Thanks for listening,

John & Ranae

Episode #172

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