The Rhyming Foal

I thought I would try to be like Dr. Baxter Black,                 

and try to give this poem writing stuff a whack.

Too many topics and so little space,                                  

but I don't want to write about foal growth in haste.

So it has been about 3 months and the foal is doing great on mom,                                        

but you know the foal will need more shortly or it will bomb.

But what to feed it or when should you start?                  

You know that these answers are the hard part.

First look at your animal, and see what it is we need to improve.      

Is it the right weight, height and condition, or down its back, is there a groove?

If the foal looks good, and it appears hard to beat,          

then don't goof up by giving it a creep.

When it’s time to help nature and take away the mare,        

give the little foal an extra little thought and care.

Try to already have the foal eating the feed he will be on         

to try to minimize all the stress when mom is gone.

So on his own but what to do,

we want the foal to keep growing strong and true

Depending upon the forage, maybe a good grass hay,     

usually a good 16% feed is the perfect complement of the day.

But as a year flies by and time picks up speed,                    

and your horse’s growth is starting to wane

Now is the time to adjust the feed to a 14%                          

so nutritional problems like DOD he will not gain.

It’s a lifetime of enjoyment for you and your horse,           

doing anything from eventing to just riding around the pen

But your foals nutritional need will also need to be adjusted   

so the protein can be reduced to a 12% or a 10

Please remember the feeding rules of thumb                      

are usually just general guides

You need to constantly adjust your total ration                  

according to type of forage and animal size.

Almost any type of forage will be okay for you foal                   

but try to aim for grass with some alfalfa as a goal.          

And total food intake is usually about 2% of body weight      

 with 1% grain so it will still go through the gate.

You and your horse are a winning combination                

That has been around since the time before Rome

But hopefully you have enjoyed this first attempt                   

of an article about “feeding a foal” poem.

by Dr. Ed Bonnette, Ph. D., Hubbard Feeds Inc., Equine Nutritionist

Feeding The Laminitic Horse

Laminitis is a condition when the blood circulation to the  hoof and laminae decreases. This causes inflammation and swelling which causes pain and pressure in the foot. If separation of the hoof wall tissues and bone occurs then it is called founder. There are different ways that cause laminitis; toxins, interference, and environment.

Toxins will cause loss of blood supply to the foot. The bacteria that live in the hind gut of the horse can produce these toxins if there is interference with their normal activity. This will cause the “wrong” bacteria to multiply.

Interference (shortage of nutrients or oxygen to laminae) is caused by insulin resistance or shock, and/or stress.

The environment will cause laminitis by having toxins enter the foot. Examples is if the horse stands on hardwood shavings such as black walnut.

So what do we feed the laminitic horse? The idea is to feed them as a diabetic. How we do this is by providing feed with low glycemic I  index. These type of feed is grass hay and lower starch feed. We should try to avoid corn, barley and molasses. Fats should be fed in forms of rice bran if extra calories are needed. The Cool Command feed is a low starch feed and has no corn in the formula. When feeding your horse it is ideal to feed them multiple small meals in the day. It is also very key not to have your horse overweight.

Reference Lower Starch aricle for more information.