Intro to horse nutrition A Phantom Rider’s 4-H guide to the basics of the equine digestive system & horse nutrition Next page Click here to go to the next page & the directions:

Directions  Read each slide  You can click on the colored words for more information Move to next page Back to main information Click on the horse shoe on each page to make sure you understand the main points! Next page

Parts of the Digestive System  The digestive system is made up from the parts of the body that work together to break down the food we eat into the nutrients that our body has to have to work.nutrients  The first part of the digestive system is the teeth. They break apart the food so that it can be swallowed and travel into the body. Food travels down the esophagus into the stomach. After some digestion, or break down, in the stomach, food moves to the small intestine. Water and other nutrients are absorbed from the small intestine. Food that hasn’t been absorbed here goes to the cecum. From the cecum it travels to the large colon then the small colon. These three parts make up the hind gut. The rectum is where the balls of matter that haven’t been digested are formed (horse apples) and the anus is where they leave the horse’s body.esophagustomach small intestine cecumhind gu Check your understanding Next page

Types of horse feed  Horses are meant to graze so their bodies are built to run best from eating a lot of roughage. If they are working hard (exercising a lot) or are a hard-keeper we may need to give them concentrates to provide more energy. Sometimes they need additional supplements, as well.roughageworking hardhard-keeper concentratessupplements Next page Check your understanding

Body Condition Scoring Body condition scoring is a method we use to evaluate (look at and think about) if our horse is getting too much or not enough food to eat. It is scored from 1 to 9. A ‘1’ is a very thin horse and a ‘9’ is an extremely fat horse. We want to see our horses around a ‘5’. Score 1Score 5Score 9 Next page

Winter Care  Horses can’t get enough water from snow. They must have fresh water available to drink!  Check your tank heater every day to make sure it doesn’t shock your horse  Feeding hay makes your horse warmer (it puts off heat inside your horse as he digests it!)

Is it a roughage, concentrate or supplement?  Timothy hay  COB (corn, oats, barley)  Alfalfa  Millennium Gold vitamin & mineral  Purina’s Equine Senior Return to page

Can you name these parts of the digestive system? Return to page

Horse Stomach Horses have a very small stomach compared to their body size so it’s important they eat small meals. Their bodies are built for grazing, or eating small amounts all day. When they cannot graze it is better for us to feed them more small meals rather than a big one. We must feed them at least twice a day but more times, smaller meals, is better. Return to page

Esophagus Because of the way that the esophagus enters the stomach, horse’s cannot regurgitate. This means to ‘throw up.’ Return to page

Nutrients We eat food to get fuel and nutrients for our body. The main nutrients are water, protein, carbohydrates, fats, vitamins and minerals. Most of the body is made up of water. It is EXTREMELY important!! Return to page

Small Intestine The horse’s small intestine is about 70 feet long! That’s really long..like 2 school buses lined up bumper to bumper! Return to page

Cecum This is a very unique and interesting part of the digestive system. Humans don’t have one. This part makes it possible for horses to digest ‘forage’ or ‘roughage’ like hay and grass. Gutbugs called microbes because they’re so small you can’t see them without a microscope, live here and help eat the cellulose from forage. Cellulose is what makes up the wall of the plant – what allows grass to grow tall! Return to page

Hind Gut The hind gut is made up of the cecum, large colon and small colon. Return to page

Roughage Roughage or forage are grasses, hay (dried grasses), alfalfa, and other feed stuffs like beet pulp. Return to page

Hard working Some horses work harder than others. Pregnant mares and performance horses use a lot more calories (calories are the energy that we get from food) than horses that trail ride a couple days a week, for example. Return to page

Hard Keeper This term refers to horses that require more food to keep their body weight up than other horses. Return to page

Concentrates Grains like corn, barley, oats and commercial grain mixes are considered concentrates. Concentrates have a lot of energy in a small amount. Return to page

Supplements Sometimes we have to take a vitamin or mineral if we aren’t getting enough of these things out of our diet. It can be the same with horses. Sometimes hays don’t enough vitamins or minerals due to the soil they’re grown in. Feeding horses vitamins, minerals or feed stuffs for joint care, hoof care, coat condition, and more are considered supplements. Return to page