Feeding the child’s mount

There are few equines I respect more than an amazing kid’s horse or pony. The patience these creatures have with their precious little cargo is incredible. And their ability to meet their little riders where they are at is something that always staggers me.

Being a reasonably rare commodity, we want to do everything we can to look after our childrens’ horses and ponies to keep them, fit, mobile, healthy and happy for as long as possible.

Here are my 5 best tips for feeding your child’s mount:

Tip #1 – Feed a forage-based diet

Diets that are based on good quality hay or pasture have many advantages. They keep horses calm, healthy and content, they are cost effective, and they reduce the risk of major diseases like gastric ulcers and colic.

As a rule, your child’s mount should be fed a minimum of 2 kg/100 kg (2 lb/ 100 lb) of bodyweight in hay per day or given free access to pasture, as long as excess weight isn’t an issue.

If excess weight gain is an issue when feeding hay, feed lower quality hays so you can still feed this amount of hay per day without causing excess weight gain.

If excess weight gain is an issue on pasture, consider using strip grazing, with a front and back fence, in order to control pasture intake. Move the fence in the early morning when pasture energy content is at its lowest and provide low quality hay or straw that your horse or pony can chew on for the remainder of the day.

It is critical this lower quality forage is made available 24/7 so your child’s mount always has forage to chew. Almost constant chewing is needed to reduce the risk of gastric ulcers.  It is also essential in order to prevent ‘leaky gut’ which occurs with even short periods of feed deprivation. Plus it prevents boredom induced stereotypical behaviors.

If your mounts are able to hold good condition on pasture or hay alone, without getting fat, all you need to do is provide them with a good quality balancer pellet or vitamin and mineral supplement and you will have a diet that keeps them happy, healthy and calm on a shoestring.

If you find they can’t hold their weight on a forage only diet, even when they are being fed as much as they can eat, try adding some high quality lucerne/alfalfa hay to the diet.

 If this still isn’t enough you will need to add some higher energy ingredients like oil, high energy fibres (sugarbeet pulp, legume hulls or copra meal) or suitable complete feeds.

Tip #2 – Feed a variety of forage

Feeding a variety of forage introduces fibre variety into the diet. And this variety of fibre supports a diverse populations of microbes in the gut. Microbe diversity we now understand is one of the cornerstones of equine health and is something we should all be trying to achieve to keep our equines healthy.

To achieve fibre variety, allow your child’s horse or pony to graze a diverse pasture, and/or feed multiple different types of hay, using both a variety of grasses and legumes where possible.

And where higher energy ingredients are required, use some high energy fibres like beet pulp, legume hulls and copra meal to add energy and alternate fibres to the diet.

Tip #3 – Use suitable complete feeds

Some feeds can affect a horse or pony’s temperament, so if you do need to use a complete feed for your kids mount, you must choose carefully. If you have a mount that tends to get hot when fed higher energy feeds, look for a non-grain complete feed that provides cooler energy from fat and fiber sources.

If your horse or pony is prone to laminitis, or has another condition like PPID that makes them sensitive to the amount of select feeds that contain no grain or grain by-product with a non-structural carbohydrate (NSC) content of less than 10 – 12%

If you have older mounts that are having trouble holding their weight or your children are riding at a higher level and their mounts need higher energy diets, look for feeds that contain cooked and easy to digest grains and good quality protein.

Extruded grains are the most digestible and feeds containing soybean will have the best quality protein.

TIP #4 – DON’T OVERFEED!

Overfeeding will result either in an overweight horse or a hyperactive horse.

Being overweight isn’t good for the horse, and increases the risk of laminitis, joint disease and certain types of colic.

Being hyperactive is not safe for the rider.

When feeding your child’s mounts, feed them according to the work they are doing and their current body condition. Don’t be afraid to adjust the amount you feed on a daily basis according to if and how hard they were ridden that day and what their temperament or body condition is like.

For example, if your child’s horse tends to get hyperactive, you might feed 2 kg of a grain-free complete feed plus forage on days the horse or pony is ridden for at least an hour with 50% or more of this time being solid trot and canter work.

On days the mount is not ridden, you may only feed forage plus 0.5 kg of this feed to reduce their energy intake that day and reduce the likelihood of hyperactive behaviour the next time the horse is ridden.

In this situation, you should also top up vitamins and minerals with a supplement because in reducing the amount of complete feed to control energy intake, you also reduce the amount of vitamins and minerals the horse is receiving.

If it is sounding a bit tricky to manage, fear not, MyHappy.Horse is able to create feeding programs like this for you that keeps energy intake under control to ensure calm, safe behaviour.

Condition score your mounts regularly and assess their temperament and ask MyHappy.Horse to adjust their feed according to whether they are gaining, holding or losing weight or whether they are feeling flat or a little hyperactive.

TIP #5 – Feed a balanced diet

Making sure all nutrient requirements including those for vitamins and minerals are met will keep your children’s mounts as healthy as possible.

Common deficiencies of minerals like selenium can compromise a horse’s immune function, iodine deficiency can cause excess weight gain, copper deficiency will lead to bleached coat colour and joint issues while a zinc deficiency will eventually lead to hoof problems, loss of immune function, gut health issues, muscle loss and a host of other problems. While vitamin deficiencies will also compromise immune function, cause muscle loss, and may lead to cause a lack of muscle energy among lots of other issues!

These nutrients are easily supplied in good quality vitamin and mineral supplements or well formulated complete feeds. MyHappy.Horse will create diets for your child’s mount that ensures all of these nutrient requirements are met!

In summary

Feeding your child’s horse or pony should focus on keeping them healthy and active, while also remaining calm. Feeding balanced diets based on forage, with a diversity of forage and only using suitable feeds when needed will go a long way to achieving this goal.

Keeping diet energy levels under control will help to avoid excessive weight gain and hyperactive behaviour, while being sure to meet all vitamin and mineral requirements will keep the gut, hooves, skin, coats, muscles and joints healthy for as long as possible.