The winter can be a time when a lot of horses lose
weight and condition, especially poor doers, such as Thoroughbreds. This is
often because the grass quality deteriorates and the colder weather means that
the horse uses more energy to keep warm. These individuals often need more horse
feed to maintain their condition. In contrast, there are other breeds that
do well during the winter and they would be referred to as Good Doers.
What Is A Good Doer?
The term usually describes horses and ponies that are able to maintain and/or gain weight very easily. Typically ponies, warmbloods and native breeds are renowned for being good doers but every horse and pony is an individual and so some Thoroughbreds are also able to maintain weight easily on very little horse feed.
What To Feed The Good Doer
There are a number of top tips when it comes to
feeding the good doer and we have included some in our short guide to make it
easy for you to care for your good doer throughout the winter. These include:
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Good doers still require vitamins and minerals,
especially if their turnout is limited throughout the colder, wetter months.
Vitamins and minerals ensure that your horse receives a fully balanced diet.
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Choose your forage carefully – this is the bulk
of your horse’s diet and so it needs to be appropriate for their dietary needs.
Select low calorie forages so you can feed more without resulting in weight
gain. The horse is designed to spend a long time eating every day so he will be
healthier if you can give him more!
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Make sure that you feed the correct amount of low
calorie horse feed, as opposed to a reduced amount of competition or
maintenance feed.
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Be vigilant at high risk times and restrict their
access to spring grass, for example, before it causes a problem. Prevention is
always better than cure.
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Don’t starve an overweight horse as this can
upset the digestive system and also put your horse at risk of a condition known
as hyperlipameia.
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Good doers shouldn’t receive less than 1.5% of
their body weight of forage every day. This can be from grass, chaff, or
hay/haylage.
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Feed a fibre-based, low-calorie horse feed
to your good doer.
Condition Scoring Your
Horse
It’s important that you know how to condition score
your horse correctly, so you can assess the body fat covering and know whether
your horse is in good condition or not. The scale ranges from 0-5, with 0 being
emaciated and 5 being obese. Ideally most horses should aim to be a 3 on the
scale but there are some exceptions. For example, a fit racehorse may be a 2
and it may be healthier for a laminitic pony to be a 2 to 2.5 to ensure they
don’t slip to being overweight again and therefore at greater risk of
laminitis.
Hopefully, this has given you some helpful advice for feeding the good doer throughout the winter months. If you would like to find out more and get advice for your hose individually, get in touch with an equine nutritionist.
