Food and Horses : Equus Education

October 16th, 2011 marks yet another Blog Action Day. This year’s topic is food. What a fitting topic for horses!

It seems to me that when horse owners fall on hard times financially, the cost of keeping horses becomes increasingly difficult. This seems to be especially so with regards to the need to purchase feed. Another time when this becomes difficult and expensive is in a drought.

When considering horse feeds, a few things could be considered by property owners to make things less difficult:

invest in pastures that have a variety of species that have growth periods at different times of the year – this allows horses to consistently be on pasture whilst at the same time protecting paddocks from bare patches, erosion and other issues that can occur when pasture is lacking
invest in trees in laneways that alongside providing shade, will be a great fodder source – the lucerne tree is a great example of this
purchase in bulk – when feed is cheap, if storage is available, purchasing in bulk can be cost effective as well as guarantee the horse owner of having something stored away when drought or other issues restrict the possibility of acquiring feed

Horses are always going to consume food and as an animal that grazes 12 – 20 hours a day, the horse owner should be aware of ways to best ensure that their horses have access to food.

tag: blog action day, food and horses, greater cause