Lisa Preston - The Ultimate Guide to Horse Feed, Supplements, and Nutrition

Copyright 2016 by Lisa Preston

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available on file.

Cover design by Tom Lau

Cover photo credit Aly Rattazzi

Print ISBN: 978-1-5107-0535-7

Ebook ISBN: 978-1-5107-0536-4

Printed in China

Table of Contents

1 Introduction: How to Skip the Math and Source with Science

The Ultimate Chart: Feeding Formulas Solved

4 The Food: Forages and Non-Forage Supplementary Feeds

Forage: Safe Pastures, Hay, and Other Roughages

Non-Forage Supplementary Feed: Grain, By-Products, Oil, and Proprietary Feeds, and Treats

9 Special Diets: Athletes, Broodmares, Growing Youngsters, Senior Horses, Draft Horses, Ponies and Miniature Horses, Donkeys and Mules, Recovery from Neglect, Overweight Horses, and Medical Problems with Nutritional Implications

Expanded Table of Contents

1 Introduction: How to Skip the Math and Source with Science

The Ultimate Chart: Feeding Formulas Solved

Critical Thinking: Avoid Errors, Bust Myths, and Get Metric

4 The Food: Forages and Non-Forage Supplementary Feeds

Forage: Safe Pasture, Hay, and Other Roughages

A Bit of Botany: How Essential Carbohydrates Become Dangerous

Pasture Management and Safe Grazing

Hay: Selection, Storage, Serving, and Soaking

Other Roughages: Silage, Haylage, Chop, Cubes, Pellets, and Sprouts

Non-Forage Supplementary Feed

Grain: The Common Concentrate

By-Products: Brans, Pulps, Hulls, and Meals

Oils: Fatty Acids from Alpha to Omega

Proprietary Blends

Complete and Sweet Feeds

Probiotics and Prebiotics

Balancers: Vitamins, Minerals, and Electrolytes

Homemade Electrolyte Recipes

Synchronous Diaphragmatic Flutter

Treats: Always, Sometimes, and Never, Plus Recipes

9 Special Diets Part 1: Life Situations

Athletes

Ergogenic Supplements

Three Days at a Time

Broodmares

Zikoma is Coming

Growing Youngsters

One Quarter Horses First Two Years

Seniors

Arthritis and Joint Supplements

The 31-Year-Old Dressage Horse

Draft Horses

Pulling on the Island

Ponies and Miniature Horses

The Guide Horse and the Riding Pony that Believes Hes a Horse

Donkeys and Mules

Hugo, the Mule Selected as the Best-Conditioned Horse

Neglect and Starvation

Rescue Success on a Pedestal

Overweight Horses

A Missouri Foxtrotter Slims Down

Special Diets Part 2: Medical Problems with Nutritional Implications

Equine Metabolic Syndrome

Hepatic Impairment or Disease

Hyperkalemic Periodic Paralysis (HYPP)

Insulin Resistance

Neuromuscular Disorders: EMND, Shivers, and Stringhalt

Pituitary Pars Intermedia Dysfunction (PPID)

Renal Impairment or Disease

Respiratory Disorders: IAD, RAO, and SPAOPD

Rhabdomyolysis and Polysaccharide Storage Myopathy (PSSM)

Ulcers: EGUS, EGUD, and RDC

List of Tables

Table 41 Common Forage Grasses and Legumes

Table 42 The Impact of a High-Grain Diet Versus Best Practice

Table 43 The Sweat Scoring System

Table 44 The Comfort Index

Table 45 Recipe Matrix for Baked Horse Cookies

Table 91 Equating Pulse to Energy Demand

Table 92 A Broodmares Monthly Increase in Energy Requirements

Table 93 The AAEP Lameness Scale

Table 94 Weight Estimation for Ponies and Miniature Horses

Table 95 Key Nutritional Differences Between Donkeys and Horses

Table 96 Intercontinental Study by the Donkey Sanctuary

Table 97 The Cresty Neck Score

Table 98 Equine Ulcers: Risk Factors and Prevention

Foreword

It is important to know where one should and should not spend resources in horse ownership. One of my mentors told me that a veterinarian's most important job is to shepherd a client's time and money. Owners need to be part of that process as well. That capability only comes with factual knowledge and insight. This book helps you get there. Lisa Prestons book is an excellent referenced resource of information relevant for horse owners, and all the shareholders in the horse industry. While reading, I was more than excited by the intense review of topics, as well as the practical and easy to read language of the work. There are always questions, but this book gets you to what we know and what we don't know. Every section is well written and concise. I read it cover to cover and learned a great deal. Ultimately, Prestons work will go in my references for students, and further it should be on the reference shelf of every horse person.

Joseph J. Bertone, DVM, MS, DACVIM

Professor Equine Medicine, College of Veterinary Medicine

Western University of Health Sciences

Foreword

The Ultimate Guide to Horse Feed, Supplements, and Nutrition is for horse owners, horse managers, and students of equine science who wish to learn and expand their knowledge and to challenge the old myths and traditions they may have grown up with. Lisa Preston gently guides her reader through the equine science and brings up to date understanding into a world where things are often done just because they were always done that way.

The tie between nutrition and the horses health and welfare is undeniable: linking how horses have evolved into a roaming herbivore, able to survive the harshest winter or desert conditions on minimal quality forage, to the rich environment we keep them in today. Often this environment leads to obesity and related disorders, indeed not unlike those in humans. In addition, we exercise our horses and demand athletic performance while trying to balance their natural, species-specific needs (very low quality herbage, foraging up to fourteen hours per day) with our own lifestyle demands. It is inevitable that sometimes conflict arises between these demands and the health and welfare of the animal, but thanks to a plethora of research over the past twenty years, our understanding of how to prevent and treat nutrition-related problems has advanced considerably.

The Ultimate Guide to Horse Feed, Supplements, and Nutrition has been carefully constructed to give practical advice based on the latest knowledge and is clearly built on systematic, in-depth research. It translates the science into every day, applied situationsfrom nutrition for work, for breeding-stock, feeding before exercise, dealing with stomach ulcers, to prevention of laminitis and colic. Even feeding of donkeys, mules, draught horses, and miniature horses is discussed.

This book is a perfect learning and reference resource which anyone working with horses should have on their shelves and at hand in the barn, with the pull-out chart hanging up in their tack room or office.