How to Choose the Best Hay for your Horse

Articles on Horses | Topics: horses, horse, equestrian

by Zelda Boyle

How to Choose the Best Hay for your Horse

If you were to ask your neighbor what they think the best hay for horses would be, you would get their answer. If you then went to another neighbor and asked the same question, you would get another answer. If you did this ten times, you most likely would end up with ten different answers. Maybe if you were lucky, one or two of those answers might be the same. The same principal applies to buying hay. There are as many different opinions on the best hay for your horse as there are owners. The final decision should be based on your horses age and nutritional requirements, which you can find out from talking with your veterinarian. In addition, consider what the activity level is of the horse. An example would be, a mature horse will eat up to 2.5 percent of its body weight per day. If your horse were a 1000 pounds they would eat a minimum of ten pounds of hay per day.

Horses have a natural instinct to graze continuously. To allow this would not be healthy for them, so one way to ease the desire to nibble constantly is to provide a high quality grain. Choices of hay come in either grasses or legumes (alfalfa and clover are examples of legume). You could purchase hay that is a combination of these two. There are several factors that go into the nutrition value and whether or not your horse will enjoy the taste such as weed content, soil conditions, plant species, and plant maturity at harvest, moisture content, and method of storage.

If you have young growing horses, lactating mares, and performance horses you may want to feed them legumes because they tend to be higher in protein, calcium, vitamins and energy than grass hays are. However, not all horses need this rich of alfalfa so you may also want to consider purchasing a mix of alfalfa and grasses or alfalfa that has been harvested earlier in the plants stage of maturity. If a young horse receives too much nutrients they may be predisposed to developmental bone disease. If you provide your horse with hay that has a high mineral content you may find them drinking more water so be prepared for frequent cleanings of their stall.

Bit of History

For all symbols are fluxional; all language is vehicular and transitive, and is good, as ferries and horses are, for conveyance, not as farms and houses are, for homestead.

—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)

Grass hays are a good choice for adult horses because they are lower in protein and energy and higher in fiber. This combination can curb the horse's appetite and still provide the necessary roughage thus maintaining the appropriate calories and protein. You may want to consider adding a fortified grain concentrate to guarantee that your horse is receiving the required percentage of crude protein. Common grasses used for adult hay include Timothy, brome and oat, along with others.

People evaluate hay differently. Most prefer to buy hay based on how it feels, smells and looks, but that may leave out some important considerations that are valuable to your horse's nutritional needs. Ask to look inside one of the bales that the hay came from. You are looking for good quality hay. If the hay smells moldy or fermented, that is not a good sign. You can tell the level of maturity by looking at the leaves, stems and flowers or seedpods. Definitely avoid hay that has excess dirt, weeds or debris. If you are purchasing alfalfa, be careful to examine for beetles. If the bales appear excessively heavy or warm to the touch, that is a sign that they contain excess moisture and that is a definite problem you want to avoid.

One of the biggest challenges in buying hay is to find it free of dust and particles. Dust in hay can come from mold spores and usually not from dusty roads. If your horse were to fed hay that contained dust it could cause allergies and inflammation in the respiratory tract and with repeat exposure your horse could develop damage to their lungs. When considering the best type of hay to feed your horse remember that the hay makes up the majority of your horse's diet so spend time picking out quality hay that meets the dietary needs as specified by your veterinarian. Hay is important to your horse, so seek a high quality to met their nutritional needs.

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Please note: All personal opinions expressed in the "How to Choose the Best Hay for your Horse" article belong to the contributing author and are not necessarily shared by DogsPetsCats.com.

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