It’s a familiar frustration for any horse owner: countless hours, significant energy, and substantial financial investment poured into preparing a horse, only for a soft tissue injury or debilitating ulcers to sideline them for months. Is your horse’s diet truly optimized to meet the rigorous demands of their activity and discipline?
A well-balanced diet is more than just a foundation for basic health; it’s critical for your horse’s resilience against daily stressors, efficient recovery from intense training and competition, and maximizing essential rest periods. Success isn’t simply about choosing a high-protein feed or top-tier forage. It’s about understanding the synergistic relationship of the entire diet and how each component fuels your horse’s peak performance.
It’s easy to get swept up in the latest supplement trends—more magnesium, more vitamin E. But what’s the ultimate goal? Consider these fundamental pillars of your horse’s daily ration:
Quality Protein
Minerals
Vitamins
High-Quality Forage
Fresh, Clean Water
Remember, vitamins and minerals share a delicate, interconnected relationship, working synergistically across numerous metabolic functions. An imbalance—whether deficiency or excess—can significantly impair their roles.
Stable Mix and Stable MAX feeds offer comprehensive solutions for every feed room. Eliminate the guesswork in balancing your horse’s diet and maintain optimal body condition, even during layup and rehabilitation.
Winter brings its own unique challenges to horse owners. These challenges include decreased daylight hours, colder temperatures, and mud or snow. Winter also means changes in coat maintenance and potential for frequent blanketing. Here are some tips to make sure you and your horse are prepared for Mother Nature’s often perplexing weather.
Preparing for the Changing Season
As fall approaches and the days get shorter, you’ll notice your horse’s winter coat starting to grow. This is their natural preparation for the cold, but as horse owners, we need to think ahead.
Adjust Blanketing: Just as you transition your own wardrobe, you may need to adjust your horse’s blanketing. The first cold snaps of fall are a good time to get blankets out of storage, inspect them for tears, check that they are still waterproof, and make sure they fit properly. If your horse grows a thick coat, they may not need to be blanketed until temperatures are consistently below freezing. However, a blanket is a good idea for clipped or senior horses that struggle to thermoregulate, or for those who are sensitive to the cold. As the temperatures drop, you can transition to a medium-weight blanket and then to a heavy-weight winter blanket.
Consider a Clip: If you plan on riding through the winter, especially if your horse gets sweaty, consider a body clip. A horse with a thick winter coat that works up a sweat can take a long time to dry, which can lead to a chill. By clipping, you can help them cool down and dry more quickly after a ride. There are many different types of clips, from a full body clip to a trace clip that only removes hair from the areas where the horse sweats most. If you do not plan to clip, make sure to have an appropriate cooler on hand to help keep your horse comfortable, warm, and promote moisture wicking.
Hydration Is Key
Water is the most essential nutrient for a horse. It is critical for a horse’s health, digestion, and metabolism. Time to clean those water troughs!
Combatting Cold Water: Horses may not drink as much water when it’s cold, so keeping it from freezing is essential. A bucket or trough heater can encourage your horse to drink more, which is vital for preventing impaction colic. Be sure to choose an option that is safe for your barn or pasture setup and minimizes risks of fire hazards.
Encourage Drinking: Always offer access to free choice loose plain salt or include it in their feed. If your horse isn’t used to consuming salt regularly, start introducing it slowly. You can also make a warm mash, but only if it’s a feed they get on a regular basis. You can also mix in a small amount of apple juice or a handful of grain to encourage them to drink more.
Feed and Nutrition
Consider any changes in your horse’s activity level. Are you feeding them enough or too much for their caloric and nutritional needs going into winter? If you live in an area with particularly harsh winters, you might need to increase their feed or supplementation so their body can successfully thermoregulate.
Increase Forage: As temperatures drop, a horse’s energy needs increase to help them stay warm. Providing free-choice hay is a great way to help them stay warm and happy. The fermentation of fiber in the hindgut produces heat, which helps keep their core temperature up.
Slow Changes: Resist the urge to make your horse a tasty warm mash on a cold night if it’s not a feed they get on a regular basis. Avoid any big feed changes that could cause gastric distress. When adding any new feed, do not add more than 1 pound per day.
Body Condition: If your horse is under a body condition score of 5 going into winter, now is the timeto get a running start on supporting them. If your horse is over a body condition score of 5, be watchful as green grass starts to emerge after our first rains. Grazing muzzles can help restrict easy keepers from grazing too much on available pasture.
Keep Those Hind Guts Happy!
GI issues are a leading cause of death in horses. Ensuring your horse is appropriately hydrated and fed a high-fiber diet is a great place to start. If your feed doesn’t have any added gut health support, talk to your vet or an equine nutritionist about adding a gut health supplement. The options are endless, so don’t stress! Many products are comprehensive and offer prebiotics, probiotics, postbiotics, and yeast. This can have an advantage as many of these value-added items have a synergistic relationship with each other – they are all friends!
Let Stable Mix feeds be your complete solution for everything Mother Nature throws at you. Stable Mix complete feeds include salt, are highly fortified with nutrition to boost immune response and contain gut health support. These feeds come in a convenient pelleted form and can make a great mash that your horse is already used to eating!
For our seniors with extra challenges like EMS or PPID, we are excited to be introducing Senior Stable Mix Lite to the market. This high protein, high fiber, and high fat feed is an excellent choice for senior horses struggling with topline or muscular atrophy and are very sensitive to carbohydrates.
Do you need help piecing this all together and creating a diet for your horse? Contact Elk Grove Milling, Inc. for a free nutritional consultation on their products.
The term “grain” for horses has evolved, now broadly identifying any supplemental feed, not just traditional oats, wheat, barley, or corn. This ambiguity means careful product selection is crucial. Options like performance feeds, complete feeds, and ration balancers can be confusing, but the core purpose of “grain” remains to supply extra energy or calories.
Consider supplementing a performance feed if your horse’s activity level and metabolic demands exceed their current diet, or if they need more fuel to maximize performance.
Avoid “graining” if:
Your horse is overweight.
Your horse has a maintenance lifestyle.
Your horse is exercise intolerant or has dietary limitations from genetic/metabolic conditions. (Seek professional advice in these cases.)
When selecting any supplemental feed, whether it’s a performance feed, complete feed, or ration balancer, always adhere to the feeding directions and understand the recommended feeding rate. This ensures you choose the correct product to meet your horse’s specific needs.The new Stable MAX Performance from Elk Grove Milling, Inc. offers comprehensive gut health support, organic minerals, and is high-fat. This unique premium performance feed contains fuel sources for both anaerobic and aerobic activity, fueling your equine athlete to perform to the best of their ability.
It is incredibly frustrating to put a lot of time, energy, and money into getting our horses ready to go down the road, just to end up with a soft tissue injury or debilitating ulcers that can put them out for months at a time. Is your horse’s diet primed to support their activity level and the demands of their discipline? A well-balanced diet is not only necessary for your horse’s natural ability to thrive and maintain basic systemic functions, but it is also important for their ability to withstand everyday stressors, recover from hard training sessions or competitions, and maximize rest periods.
It’s not just about selecting a high-protein feed or high-quality forage. It’s about the synergistic relationship of the entire diet and how that fuels your horse to succeed. It is easy to get sucked into the hype of adding more magnesium or more vitamin E, but what are we really trying to achieve? Take a look at this list and think about your horse’s daily ration:
QualityProtein is paramount for horses, especially those in work, growing, or reproducing. It’s not just about the total amount of protein, but the amino acid profile it provides. Amino acids are the building blocks of protein, and some, like lysine and methionine, are considered essential because horses cannot synthesize them internally and must obtain them through their diet.
Muscle repair & maintenance
Hoof & hair quality
Enzyme & hormone production
Immune function
Minerals are broadly categorized into macro-minerals (needed in larger quantities) and trace minerals (needed in smaller quantities).
Formation, maintenance, and repair of joints and bones, connective tissues
Hoof & skin health
Synthesis of collagen
Immune Support
Vitamins – are organic compounds required in small amounts for normal metabolism and growth. They are categorized as either fat-soluble (A, D, E, K) or water-soluble (B vitamins and C).
Bone remodeling
Maintenance of tissues
Immune response
Antioxidants
Energy metabolism
High-quality forage is the cornerstone of any horse’s diet, mimicking their natural grazing behavior. It’s not just “filler” – it provides essential nutrients and, crucially, maintains digestive health. Maintaining fiber content in the diet is crucial for hindgut health and motility.
Do not feed less than 1.5% of your horse’s body weight per day
Fresh, Clean Water, while often overlooked, is arguably the most critical nutrient for a horse. A horse can survive much longer without food than without water. Its importance cannot be overstated:
Hydration
Digestion and nutrient transport
Temperature regulation
Joint lubrication
Waste elimination
Stable Mix and Stable MAX feeds, manufactured by Elk Grove Milling, Inc., offer comprehensive solutions for every feed room. Eliminate the guesswork in balancing your horse’s diet and maintain optimal body condition, even during layup and rehabilitation. Stable Mix feeds contain high-quality forage, a comprehensive vitamin & mineral package, as well as the bonus of premium gut health support. The new Stable MAX™ feeds feature the LifeFORCE Formula from Alltech. Backed by science, these premium feeds target gut health and immune support, promote healthy skin, coat, hoof integrity, connective tissue, reproductive function, and promote feed efficiency. Enhancing overall health and performance, allowing your horse to thrive to its natural potential.
In the world of equine nutrition, there exists a quiet yet powerful workhorse: the ration balancer. Don’t get shocked by the price tag – let’s break this down. Often overlooked because of price point, this concentrated vitamin and mineral supplement, fed at 1-2 pounds daily, acts as the essential daily multivitamin for your horse. It’s not a meal replacement, nor a substitute for vital forage, but a targeted tool to bridge the nutritional gaps that even the most carefully chosen primary ration might leave behind. When you look at cost per pound, you might find that choosing a ration balancer will end up with cost savings in the long run while gaining more nutritional coverage in your horse’s diet.
Think of it this way: just as we might take a daily vitamin to ensure our bodies receive a baseline of micronutrients, a ration balancer provides that same foundational support for our equine companions. This makes it an especially astute choice for “easy keepers” – those horses who maintain their weight effortlessly – or for horses thriving on pasture or hay, who may not require additional calories but still need a comprehensive spectrum of vitamins and minerals.Conversely, it’s crucial to understand what a ration balancer isn’t. If your goal is to gain weight or fuel the intense demands of a performance horse, a ration balancer alone won’t deliver the necessary caloric punch. It’s a complement, not a calorie source. That is what makes ration balancers such an excellent choice for our long-eared friends, donkeys, and mules. They are often underfed quality nutrition because they are such easy keepers, however, they still have a nutrient baseline that needs to be met, just like horses.
One common misconception surrounding ration balancers is their seemingly high protein content, sometimes hovering around 30%. However, the key lies in the minuscule feeding rate. At just 1-2 pounds, the actual amount of protein consumed is not substantial enough to cause the often-feared “hot” behavior. In fact, attributing excitability solely to a balancer is a simplification. More often, a horse labeled as “hot” is simply receiving more energy than their lifestyle and workload demand. Horses lacking essential nutrients may appear lethargic. By filling these gaps, we’re not creating a hyperactive horse, but rather allowing them to feel their best, with the energy to thrive. It’s a crucial distinction: fueling well-being versus overfeeding energy. Similarly, while ration balancers may not be low NSC, the feed rate is so small that they can typically be worked into a diet successfully when considering the meal’s full NSC content. Consult with a professional when designing a low NSC diet, as it is not simply about keeping NSC levels below 10-12% in the total diet.
Let’s go shopping! Feed stores offer a diverse array of ration balancers, each with its unique formulation and added benefits. This is where informed consumer choice comes into play. Do you prefer a straightforward, foundational balancer that allows you to add additional individual supplements? Or does an “all-in-one” option, perhaps containing biotin for hoof health or gut-supportive ingredients, better suit your needs and preferences? Take a look at the feed tag and see if the product you are looking at contains what you want. You can also source the feed spec sheet online on the manufacturer’s website for a better breakdown of the feed nutritional value. Be sure that you are noting units of measure when comparing one brand to another. One may be listed as “ppm” while another is in “mg,” and that can be deceiving when you are trying to determine what the product is contributing to the diet. Be on the lookout for “tag dressing” or fancy marketing. For example, if a feed says it contains biotin, notice how much is listed. The recommended amount of biotin a horse should be supplemented per day is 15-20 mg. If the balancer only contains 1 mg per pound, you are not meeting the suggested supplementation level.
Beyond their nutritional profile, ration balancers offer significant practical advantages for barn owners, managers, and trainers. Many horses can maintain optimal health and condition on just a balancer alone, simplifying feeding routines and potentially reducing time spent and feed costs. For horses with higher energy demands, a balancer provides an excellent nutritional foundation to build up with performance or complete feeds. This strategic approach not only saves time for those doing the feeding but also elevates the overall quality and precision of your equine nutrition program.
In conclusion, the ration balancer stands as a testament to the power of targeted nutrition. It’s a small addition with the potential for significant impact, ensuring your horse receives the essential vitamins and minerals they need to thrive, regardless of their workload or metabolic tendencies. By understanding its role and benefits, we can move beyond simply feeding and truly nourish our equine partners from the inside out.
If you are looking for a comprehensive ration balancer, consider the new Stable MAX Ultra Mate from Elk Grove Milling, Inc. Stable MAX™ Ultra Mate features the LifeFORCE Formula from Alltech. Backed by science, this balancer targets gut health and immune support, promotes healthy skin, coat, hoof integrity, connective tissue, reproductive function, and promotes feed efficiency. Enhancing overall health and performance, allowing your horse to thrive to its natural potential. Check at a local feed store near you and request Stable MAX feeds for your horse.
The saga of spring and horse ownership… brisk mornings, fresh horses, and getting covered in shedding hair during grooming sessions. With all the time spent grooming for a lustrous coat, it is an opportunity to check in on your horse’s current health and wellness status. Taking a multifaceted approach to your horse’s wellness can lead to a better understanding of areas your horse might be struggling with and bring to light appropriate areas that need adjustment. Some methods of scoring a horse’s body composition that complement Body Condition Scoring (BCS) are Cresty Neck Scoring, Muscling Evaluation, Muscle Atrophy Scoring System (MASS), evaluating their topline, and reassessing their activity level.
Figure 1: J. Ross Photography, LLC.
Body Condition Scoring
The Henneke Body Condition Scoring system is considered the industry’s golden standard for monitoring the development of adipose tissue in 6 key areas on the horse’s body: crest of the neck, withers, behind the shoulder, rib cage area, the loin area, and tailhead. Once you have evaluated all 6 areas on a scale of 1-9, you add them all together and divide by 6, averaging the overall BCS score.
The reason we want to monitor a horse’s BSC is to ensure that it stays at a healthy or ideal score. Too much fat accumulation can begin to have detrimental effects on the horse’s health status. It is important to note that this Henneke system strictly focuses on adipose tissue; it doesn’t define actual body weight, nor does it define quality muscling or topline.
Weight
The breed, environment, feeding program, and management practices are some factors that can affect a horse’s weight. A true weight can be achieved with a scale, or guestimates can be acquired with methods like weight tapes or specific measurements. While a guestimate is handy information, it does not give a full indication of the horse’s health or wellness status. Pairing this information with the horse’s BCS and other key factors gives some trajectory to creating an appropriate diet plan for the horse.
Activity Level
Understanding the horse’s activity level is important to know when choosing the right feeds for them. We also need to know when this activity level changes, so we can make proper adjustments. If horses are going into training, or going on layup, we have a change in nutrition requirements to adjust for.
The National Research Council (NRC) defines activity levels for horses at maintenance, or working/in training at light, moderate, heavy, or intense activity levels.
Figure 2: Diamond R Quarter Horses head trainer, Brandt Ross with their stud, Togo, and pup, Tuck.
Elk Grove Milling, Inc. has been manufacturing high-quality horse feeds since 1982 and is best known for their feed line called Stable Mix. Now, Elk Grove Milling, Inc. is proudly launching its new equine feed line, Stable MAX. Formulated with the active performance horse in mind, these new feeds target gut health and immune support, promote healthy skin, coat, hoof integrity, connective tissue, reproductive function, and promote feed efficiency. Enhancing overall health and performance, allowing your horse to thrive to its natural potential. Check at a local feed store near you and request Stable MAX feeds for your horse.
When considering how to balance a horse’s diet to their nutrient requirements, we must first become familiar with the building blocks of a ration.
First and foremost,
Water is the most essential nutrient. The average horse drinks 5-10 gallons per day; horses can need upwards of 15+ gallons per day depending on activity level and environment (humidity).
On to the diet components…
Energy – an energy-deficient state can impair the absorption and utilization of other nutrients. Excess energy can be detrimental, especially during growth phases. Horses that are lethargic, or have slow recovery times after rides or competitions, may be lacking the correct amount of energy, or fuel, in their diet to achieve their peak performance.
Protein breaks down into smaller peptides and amino acids. Amino acids are major factors for healthy muscle development and maintenance. They are also involved with enzymes and hormones.
Carbohydrates are the primary source of fuel for horses, especially during anaerobic activity.
Starch – easily digested and broken down into Glucose
Cellulose, Hemicellulose – insoluble fiber fermented in the hindgut to produce VFAs
Fats are another source of energy. Fats are a secondary fuel source during aerobic activity.
Vitamins are vital in the regulation of body functions. All vitamins but A and E are synthesized by the horse or their microbiome.
Fat Soluble (can be stored in the body)
Vitamin A – important for vision, reproduction, bone & muscle growth, bone remodeling, & maintenance of healthy epithelial tissue
Vitamin D – the sunlight vitamin, important for mineral absorption
Vitamin E – important for immune response, antioxidant role
Vitamin K – required for activating clotting factors and activating other proteins
Water Soluble (not stored in the body)
B Vitamins – can be synthesized in the hindgut; plays a role in lipid metabolism and maintenance of tissues.
Vitamin B Complex refers to the 8 B vitamins: B1, B2, B3, B5, B6, B7, B9, B12
Commonly Mentioned B Vitamins
B1- Thiamine (listed requirement in NRC)
B2 – Riboflavin (listed requirement in NRC)
B7 – Biotin, commonly supplemented
Vitamin C – Antioxidant that plays a role in immune response, connective tissue, and some hormones. Horses can synthesize their own Vitamin C.
Minerals are absorbed in the small intestine. They are needed for structural aspects of bone, connective tissues, hoof wall integrity, and other metabolic processes. Keeping balance is critical; under or over-supplementation can have adverse effects.
Macro Minerals – needed in larger quantities in the diet
Calcium – electrolyte; makes up bone, important in skeletal contractions, thermoregulation, regulating enzyme activity, and more.
Magnesium – electrolyte; is a component in bone, has a role in nerve cell transmission, enzyme reactions, muscle contraction and relaxation.
Phosphorus – makes up bone, used in energy metabolism and other cellular functions.
Potassium – electrolyte; acid-base balance, muscle contraction, nerve impulses, and more.
Sodium – electrolyte; acid-base balance, muscle contraction, nerve impulses, and more.
Chloride – electrolyte; normally paired with Sodium as NaCl, or salt.
Sulfur – component of amino acids, vitamins, insulin, chondroitin sulfate, and plays a role in reinforcing collagen bonds.
Trace Minerals – needed in small amounts in the diet, but still very important.
Cobalt – enhances fiber digestion and is a component of B12. Considered a controlled medication in FEI but the mineral occurs naturally in feedstuffs.
Supplemental Article from Comparative Exercise Physiology: Evaluation of Cobalt as a Performance Enhancing Drug in
Copper – has a role in red blood cell synthesis, immune response, reproduction, and melanogenesis
Iodine – has a role in hormone synthesis, muscle sensitivity
Iron – immune response, hemoglobin synthesis, and oxygen-carrying capacity of the blood
Manganese – plays a role in reproduction and reproductive hormones, immune response, metabolism of fuel sources
Selenium – crucial in immune response, neurological wellness, reproduction, and works with Vitamin E.
Zinc – involved in energy and protein metabolism, immune response, bone & joint integrity, (normal) functioning of nerves, reproduction, and works with Vitamin A.
Chromium – has a role in energy metabolism and immune response.
Elk Grove Milling, Inc. offers simple solutions to balance your horse’s diet. With their brands of Stable Mix or Stable MAX, Elk Grove Milling, Inc. has a feed to meet your needs. Not only do their brands cover the basic nutrient requirements, but they also offer so much more. The Stable Mix feeds are Zinpro Verified https://www.zinpro.com/species/equine/, utilize technologies from Kemin Equine, and are packed full of Alltech Solutions. The Stable MAX feeds are new on the market and are powered by LIFEFORCE Formula from Alltech. The LIFEFORCE Formula is a premium approach, backed by science, to enhance health and performance. Reach out today for a nutrition consultation to find your perfect feed match: https://www.elkgrovemilling.com/Nutrition-Library
