Caring for a horse takes a lot of work. They need food, water and shelter. They need to be groomed, exercised and checked for signs of illness or lameness every day. Tack must also be thoroughly cleaned, as well as the stable. These things must be done properly, for a sloppy job can result in a sick animal.
Horses can be kept out at grass or in a stable. Either way they need a lot of attention. For half the year, a grass kept horse usually gets enough to eat from grazing, but in autumn and winter it requires extra food such as hay, oats and bran. Stabled horses need regular feeds throughout the day.
Water is essential for most body functions. A horse will drink ten to twelve gallons of water a day. Their water consumption will vary with the temperature of the air, the work they are doing and what they are being fed.
The water supply should be clean and fresh, and the water buckets and tanks should be kept clean. Horses can be given water before, during or after meals or they can have water available at all times to drink when they choose. It is better not to water a horse immediately after it eats, but to wait for half an hour so the water does not wash the food directly through the stomach. However, horses that have been ridden or otherwise exercised until hot should not be given any water until they have been cooled down. Watering a hot horse can cause laminitis, or founder.
Good horse owners feed their horses according to their individual needs, the jobs that they are doing and the temperature of the air. They should be fed a variety of only good quality feeds. This stimulates the appetite and is more nearly adequate from the nutritional standpoint. Of course, commercially mixed and pelleted feeds are composed of a variety of ingredients. Feeding times should be regular and punctual, as horses are creatures of habit and can become upset if their routine is disrupted. The feed should be given in small amounts, two or three times a day, not all at once. Changes in rations should be made gradually to avoid digestive troubles. Availability and suitability are other things to consider. Timothy hay is an excellent roughage for mature geldings while alfalfa hay is a better choice for weanlings and yearlings because it has much more digestible protein, minerals and vitamins needed for growth and development. Then there is the cost of feed to be considered. Every horseman knows that the feed cost is a major cost in keeping horses.
Hays vary greatly in feed value. Most horse owners prefer early cuttings for horse hay.
Timothy hay has long been one of the most popular roughages for horses because of its clean, fragrant odor and freedom from dust and mold. Although not as nutritious as some of the legumes, timothy, as well as other grass hays, make a good roughage, especially for mature horses.
Good quality alfalfa hay is an excellent source of protein, calcium and B-vitamins. To be of good quality it must be green, leafy and free from dust and mold. Alfalfa hay is particularly valuable for young horses and those in the breeding herd. Alfalfa consumption usually results in softer manure and greater urination and is therefore not often used as the only roughage fed to horses.
Mixed grass-legume hays, such as timothy and red clover, are widely grown and are the major hays produced for horses. They make excellent roughage.
Oats are the leading horse feed in America, and next to corn, the most widely grown. On average, oats contain about 30 per cent hulls, and the standard weight is 32 pounds per bushel. However, real good feeding oats should weigh 40 pounds per bushel. They should break sharply against the teeth and taste like good oatmeal. Oats are considered the safest grain to feed horses because the hulls make the grain bulky. Therefore, oats form a loose mass in the digestive tract and are easily digested. Because of the relatively high protein content, oats make a balanced ration for mature horses when fed with a grass hay, such as timothy.
Corn is the leading grain crop in the United States. It is a great, energizing, heat-giving, fat furnishing feed. Because of the heat giving properties of corn, it is best to feed this during the cooler months. Ear corn is safer to feed than shelled corn because they must eat it more slowly. When mixed with other grains, corn is usually coarsely ground. It has less digestible proteins and minerals than oats, and is not as suitable for young, growing horses if it is the only grain fed. Corn fed with alfalfa hay or a good mixed hay makes a balanced ration for mature horses. With a balanced ration it takes 15 per cent less corn than oats to keep a horse in condition.
Barley is used extensively a a horse feed in the Western states, Canada, Great Britain, Europe, Asia and North America. The grains are small and hard, and should be rolled or coarsely ground and mixed with bulk feeds.
Wheat bran is the coarse, outer covering of the wheat kernel. It is twice as bulky as oats, mildly laxative, and horses like it. It is often fed to horses in the winter months when their ration is largely composed of dry grain and hay and lacks the succulence furnished by pasture during the grazing months. Many horse owners give their horses a bran mash on the idle days. Bran and corn are approximately equal to oats and corn when when fed with mixed clover and timothy hay.
The various legume meals are excellent horse feeds. They are rich in protein, phosphorus and B-complex vitamins. These protein concentrates are universally used to help balance horse rations. No more than one to two pounds should be fed per day.
The old-fashioned kind of Linseed meal was fed to add shine to a horses coat and to regulate the bowel function. Most linseed meal available today is made by the solvent process and contains no more than .5 per cent fat.
Soybean meal is widely used in balancing horse rations. It also has the highest biological value of protein supplements for horses.
Cottonseed meal has been used in horse rations in the south. In the southwest and western range country many horses are fed cottonseed cake or cottonseed meal cubes.
During the winter months, or whenever they are not on pasture, horses relish succulent feeds such as carrots, rutabagas or apples. Though their feeding value is not high, these feeds offer variety and stimulate the appetites of horses kept on a dry, monotonous ration. They should be chopped up small enough for a greedy horse to eat without choking. Some people soak dried beet pulp in water until it swells, then mix it with their grain to provide bulk and succulence to a dry winter ration.
A stable-kept horse needs to be groomed thoroughly every day, while a horse kept in the pasture needs less grooming, especially in the winter when heavy brushing would remove the natural grease that keeps it warm and dry. Grooming keeps a horse clean, helps it stay fit and healthy and improves its appearance.
Grooming should take place every day. The feet are cleaned with a hoof pick and the eyes and muzzle are wiped with a damp sponge. All kinds of brushes are used: Dandy brushes for removing dried mud and dirt; Body brushes for brushing the coat, mane and tail, using a curry comb to clean the brush between strokes; and a water brush for smoothing the mane and tail and for washing the hooves. A wisp is used to massage the skin, and finally, the coat can be rubbed all over with a towel to make it shiny. The hoofs can also be oiled with hoof oil to prevent dryness and make them shine.
Tack, such as saddles, bridles and harnesses, also needs to be cleaned. It is first washed and dried. The leather parts are then rubbed with saddle soap and the metal parts are treated with metal polish.
A horse kept in the stable needs daily housekeeping. This involves shaking up the straw, removing and sweeping out the dirty or wet straw and putting down fresh straw. Hay nets and water buckets should also be checked and cleaned or filled at this time.
All horses need new shoes, perhaps as often as every six weeks. The horny outside, or wall, of the hoof grows very quickly and can outgrow a shoe. If this growth is not cut away, the horse can go lame. So the wall is trimmed and the horse reshod.