What's in Your Hay?

Whether you feed prairie, bermuda, alfalfa, or any other type of hay, it's hard to know what's really in your forage.  The only sure-fire way to know is to have it analyzed.  Having your hay (or pasture) analyzed may not be for the everyday horse person, but for those who truly want to know how their horse's dietary needs are being met, it's the way to go.  The National Research Council (NRC) has established the horse's nutrient requirements, and these will serve as guidelines in balancing your horse's diet.  Several years ago, I took Dr. Eleanor Kellon's NRC Plus course as part of my equine acupressure education, and I learned how to balance my horses' diets by using a hay/ pasture analysis.  I have to say, it was a very eye-opening experience.

I'm no math whiz, but I'm proud to say that I now balance my five horses' diets at least twice a year so I can supplement whichever nutrients are lacking in their forage.  Since we cut our own hay here on our property, my hay analysis results are fairly consistent each time--our hay pastures are lacking in magnesium, copper, and zinc mainly.  My goal now is to add those minerals to the soil to get a more mineral-sufficient horse hay. 

So how does one get started with a hay analysis?  The first thing you need to do is borrow (from your county extension office) or buy a hay corer in order to obtain a sample.  Many local universities can analyze your hay for you, but I get a pretty thorough analysis from Equi-Analytical.  It's not all that expensive, either.  I ship off the sample (pasture is a little more complicated to sample and ship than hay) and usually receive the analysis the next week.

Before balancing diets, I get a fairly accurate estimate of each horse's weight.  Then, using my analysis, I determine each horse's digestible energy (DE) needs and the amount of hay needed to meet those needs.  From there, I figure out how much protein and mineral content is in each horse's ration to see where deficiencies appear. 

As I said earlier, I've had to supplement magnesium, zinc, and copper on a regular basis.  I've also had to occasionally supplement phosphorous.  Last year, with the drought conditions, I had to supplement protein as well.  That may be the case again this year.  You might be wondering where you can buy individual minerals like these--I order mine online from Horsetech, but there are several companies that sell them, and some are even available (like magnesium-oxide) at feed mills. 

If you're inexperienced in balancing, I don't recommend you attempt to balance your horse's diet by yourself. You should instead, seek out an equine nutritionist to do this using your hay analysis.  If you really have the interest of learning to do this yourself though, take Dr. Kellon's NRC Plus course--it's online.  I have to warn you, though, you'll never look at your horse's feeding program the same!

Ta-ta!

Hoof Moisture Content

If you're like me, you've probably always wondered if those hoof oils and moisturizers are really doing anything for your horse's hooves.  I once used Rainmaker religiously with the belief that it might help eliminate cracks and seal moisture into the hoof.

Well, as it turns out, using those topical hoof agents might be totally unnecessary (and a waste of money!)  A few weeks ago, I came across an interesting study about environmental effects on hoof wall hydration.  I wrote about it in a recent article for The Horse.  The study was performed using wild horse hooves (from culling operations) from three different environments in New Zealand and Australia.  No matter where the hooves came from-- dry, semi-arid, or a wet environment-- the hoof wall moisture content measured about the same averaging 29.5%.  This led the researchers to conclude that environment plays little to no role in hoof wall moisture content. 

In the same study, the researchers also measured the moisture content of a dry hoof vs. a hoof soaked in water for two hours (using domestic horses this time).  Again, the moisture content was the same for both the dry and soaked hooves.  They did, however, find that the sole increased in moisture content as a result of soaking.  This isn't necessarily a good thing though, since it might make the sole more prone to bruising or damage.  

The lead researcher mentioned to me that the moisture content of the hoof seems to be controlled by  internal circulation.  That makes sense.  Horses evolved in arid environments, so why would they have hooves that need constant moisturizing?  If wet environments or soaking don't add more moisture to the hoof, then hoof oils probably don't do much either (except make them look pretty for a short time!)   

As for those pesky cracks, as I've learned more about natural hoof care and equine nutrition, I've realized that most of those are caused by overgrown hooves or deficient nutrition instead of 'dryness'.  You can put Rainmaker or a similar product on all day long, and the cracks won't go away.  If you focus on proper hoof care and nutrition for your horse though, you should see a difference.  

Ta-ta!