To determine what and how much to feed your horse, you first need to understand its needs and do some math. Fortunately, there are tools available to help you calculate the ideal ration for your horse and collect the data that your agronomist needs to do so.

Weigh feed with scales

Start by weighing what your horse is currently eating. Avoid vague measurements such as “one flake” or “one scoop” as not all hay flakes weigh the same, and not all feed scoops hold the same volume. Different feeds also have different densities.

In some horses, levels of ethanol-soluble carbohydrates (sugars) and starch must be carefully controlled to prevent major health problems such as laminitis or certain myopathies.

This is the case for horses suffering from equine metabolic syndrome, insulin resistance, insulin dysregulation, “Cushing’s disease”/PPID or Type 1 PSSM/tying-up.

Here are six tips to help you decide what to feed a horse with metabolic problems.

In Québec, the arrival of fall coincides with the end of equestrian competitions. This makes it the ideal time to adjust your horse’s feed program and prepare it for winter.

Horses need to consume salt every day. But how much, and from what source? Sollio Agriculture provides an overview of the benefits of the different salt licks on the market.

First of all, it’s important to distinguish between “salt” and “sodium.” What we think of as “salt” is actually sodium chloride (NaCl), which is a source of both sodium (Na) and chlorine (Cl).

In some years, drought or prolonged rainfall makes hay production difficult. As a result, many horse owners worry about their hay supplies as suppliers struggle to meet demand. Here are some tips to help you conserve your supplies when forage is hard to come by.

Horse owners need to choose the right feed based on the activity level, body condition and behaviour of their horses.

That’s why Sollio Agriculture developed the Horse Energy Index (HEI), an exclusive tool to help horse owners choose the ideal feed for their horses based on their individual health and performance objectives.

What is the Horse Energy Index?

The diagram below shows the energy profile of each feed based on four scales: