By Joe Pagan, Ph.D. - One of the most common questions asked about feeding the performance horse is when to feed before a competition. Theoretically, feeding should be timed so that all of the nutrients from a meal have been digested, absorbed, and stored before starting exercise, but not so long before exercise that the horse begins to mobilize fuels just to maintain its resting body functions.

Enteroliths are mineral accumulations of magnesium-ammonium-phosphate (struvite) around a foreign object (a piece of metal, pebble, baling twine, hair, rubber) that form round, triangular, or flat stones inside the bowel, usually over the course of multiple years. They form in the large colon of horses, where they can remain for some time until they move and cause an obstruction in the large or small colon, resulting in colic.

Feeding a mixture of barley straw and hay is a safe and cost-effective way of promoting weight loss in grazing ponies over winter, according to recent research. Obesity is a widespread problem in pleasure horses and ponies. In the past, it was accepted that horses and ponies would lose weight over the winter and then gain weight in the spring when grazing quality improved. Nowadays, however, horses are fed to maintain condition over the winter, and, at the same time, they may be doing less work.

Do you know the first signs your horse’s digestive system is in danger? Diarrhea, upset stomach, or the worst scenario — colic — can all be caused by changing from one type of forage to another too quickly. Whether it is moving barns, moving to a new batch of hay from the supplier, or switching from a lush, moist, grassy paddock to a dry sandy sacrifice paddock and dry hay, the importance of switching forages slowly cannot be overstated. An adaptation period of 10 to 14 days to transition new feeds into your horse’s diet is recommended.