Feed and Nutrition with Will Friday
How much do you worry about the quality of feed and nutrition of your horse? I confess, I let my horses get a little “extra” fat of this last winter. It wasn’t until I took Scratch in for a routine dental and vaccination and we got on the scale. He was 1,014 lbs. Now, I’m not exactly sure what his ideal weight ought to be, but I KNOW it’s not 1,000 lbs. It’s difficult to get a horse to lose weight. You can’t just feed less. Horses need food going through their system constantly to stay healthy. That’s just how that works.
I was looking for ways to support my horse nutritionally when I came across my friend, Will Friday’s, new website. You might remember Will from a previous episode we did on The Masterson Method. Will has an interest in feed and nutrition and consults many of his clients. Will offered two very important charts to reference. The first in the NRC chart for horses. This lists the amounts of nutrients horses require. The second is an average analysis of alfalfa hay.
Useful Tables
Both tables are important when trying to figure out what your horse needs.
We talked about a lot of charts and databases offering nutritional information. After I spoke with Will, I did a little research and found Equi-analytical’s website. There is a cool little page with feed analysis. The link is on the episode page.https://equi-analytical.com/common-feed-profiles/interactive-common-feed-profile/
Here is a link to a good video for taking a hay analysis sample: https://youtu.be/sJMyvYyYZek
Since I purchase my hay for the year from one supplier, I think I’ll spend the $18 and get a hay analysis this year. I’ll let you know what I find out.
On Equi-analytical’s website you will also find a Nutrient calculator: https://nrc88.nas.edu/nrh/
General info from Equi-analytical: https://equi-analytical.com/
Links to Performance Equine Bodywork
Website: https://www.performanceequinebodywork.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/PerformanceEquineBodywork/
Check out the Shoulder Relief Cinch 
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John & Ranae
Episode #172
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I heard some people call barefoot horse trimming natural hoof care. A quick search on Wikipedia says there is early evidence of mule shoes in Rome as far back as 400 BC. Now you would think in 2,000 years of equine husbandry, we would have figured out what is best for the horse’s foot. I’m not sure we have. If you ask two different farriers and a veterinarian the best way to trim a hoof, I would not be surprised if they came up with four different answers. It’s like politics or religion. There are a lot of opinions about barefoot horse trimming out there.
