Pregnant Horse Nutrition

Video Transcript

"Hello my name is Neil Draper and we are going to talk to you about feed and water and care of your mare. Now we want to look for is a nice clean alfalfa. You want to make sure it's dry and bright green like this and when you take it apart it's not dusty. The horse's respiratory system is really delicate. They can't take a lot of dust and dirt and mold and this hay needs to be nice and clean. And it's alright if you have grass hay, this is what we have here in Utah, is alfalfa mix and we just put it in a nice clean trough so they are not eating off the dirt and they got a clean environment to feed them. And we like the horses to eat on the ground because that stretches their muscles in their neck, they naturally eat off the ground. And a horse is a grazing animal so a horse wants to eat in all day long. And rest and eat and rest and eat. So you should feed your horse at least twice a day for their just their good well being and if you can do it three times a day it just makes a happier horse. And then their colon on a horse has a hard time really digesting a lot of food all at once. They can only digest so much and use so much nutrients so if you are feeding an excess of hay, your, you can make the horse more apt to have colic and just other things that can happen by obesity and so you want to make sure you are feeding the right amount which they usually say is two percent of the horse's weight a day. And that it has enough protein and enough nutrients in it to sustain the animal. And of course while she is pregnant you'll want to make sure you give her just a little more and you keep her looking good and healthy but not fat. A horse will need good clean water, good clean bucket that does not collect algae and parasites in the water. You'll want to clean it out and keep the water clean and fresh everyday for the horse because the horse will drink up to five to ten gallons on cool days and on hot days they may drink up to twenty to thirty gallons of water. A horse is a large animal and requires a lot of water to sustain it. For a pregnant horse you want to make sure you have plenty of water on hand because she may need more water and make sure it's absolutely clean cause everything you give your horse will pass onto the baby horse."