3 Better not like that! Modern horse care and animal-appropriate feeding Borrowing from horses' natural feeding behaviour, it is essential to provide the animals with access to hay 24 hours a day. Breaks between meals should never be longer than 4 hours. It is important to note, however, that horses should not be given large quantities of roughage without having to make any effort to consume it. In modern horse care particularly, which is often influenced by economic factors, animal feed is given without the opportunity for rationing. This means that the food is consumed too quickly and the break between feeding becomes too long. Since the horse's stomach, as previously described, is used to regular and small portions, incorrect feeding can, in the worst case, lead to long-term health problems. Studies show that every horse suffers gastritis on numerous occasions over the course of its life. 60 - 90 % of all horses suffer stomach ulcers, depending on where they are used. Race horses are the most commonly affected. Even foals have stomach problems, especially during the weaning period. In addition to the excessively long break between feeds, the ratio of the various feed constituents is crucial to horses' gastric health. The general recommendation is to feed at least two kilograms of hay per 100 kg of live weight per day. The proportion of concentrated feed should depend on the horse's activity level. Unfortunately here too, too much concentrated feed is often given, which the digestive tract cannot handle. Water and roughage are therefore the fundamental building blocks of nutrition for a healthy horse. To offer the horse the roughage in as appropriate a manner as possible, there are now countless variations designs of nets, pouches, containers, troughs and so on. One simple and inexpensive way of giving horses hay or roughage in a manner appropriate to their lifestyle is hay nets. Mineral feed Concentrated feed 0.5 - 2 kg* Roughage 9 - 12 kg* Water 20 - 30 l* * Example of rationing for a 600 kg warmblood doing light work
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