Equine Nutrition- Native Ponies

1. Equine Nutrition- Native Ponies Nicholas Canning BSc (Hons) Ruminant Nutritionist

2. Equine Nutrition- Native Ponies ` 27th October 2012 • Native ponies have usually undergone evolution to be able to survive in harsh conditions. • They have adapted to utilize poor quality grazing and be constantly moving in search of fresh grazing areas • The difficulty arises balancing up trickle feeding animals with higher quality pastures than they require. • Their natural environment would allow up to 18 hours a day grazing. • Digestive tract: • Mouth – masticate food and wet food with saliva • Stomach- Capacity of 9-15 litres, The cardiac sphincter doesn’t relax to allow regurgitation. • Small Intestine- Makes up 30% of the digestive tract. Site of some starch digestion, Amino acids, fats, Vitamins and mineral absorbed here. • Hindgut • Cecum – Large Colon- Small colon. Fibre digesters most active around pH 6.2-6.8 whereas starch digesters prefer pH 5-6

3. Equine Nutrition- Native Ponies ` 27th October 2012 Microbial Fermentation – Fibrous and non-Fibrous Carbohydrate attacked by microbes. Breaks down into VFA’s, Gas, B-Vitamins, Vit K. and protein/Amino Acids. VFA’s are metabolized for energy whereas gas is wasted energy. Feeding the Pony: (Animal Protein/Energy Requirements)- (Supplied Feed) = Change in Body condition If the amount supplied is greater than required than an increase in body condition will occur. If the animal doesn’t receive enough then it will lose condition. Protein Protein is needed by the horse for growth and repair of new cells and tissues. Quality of protein is just as important as quantity. Growing horses need 14-16% protein total ration, Mature horses 8-10% with aged horses (>20years old) requiring protein levels similar to young growing horses Starch Made up of non-structural carbohydrates which are broken down by the horse in the small intestine to provide energy. This energy is generally fast release which provides a Sudden burst of energy. This however can cause excitable Behaviour so is sometimes best to be avoided.

4. Equine Nutrition- Native Ponies ` 27th October 2012 Requirements Based upon the animals weight, status and work. Weight can either be measured or calculated: Girth (cm) x Girth (cm) X Body Length (cm) 11877

5. Equine Nutrition- Native Ponies ` 27th October 2012 Energy requirements is measured in DE(MJ) =18 + BW(KG) 10 So for a 400kg Pony then the DE requirement for maintenance is 58MJ in total Energy requirements will increased based on the amount and type of work the horse is undergoing. Forage analysis is usually measure in MJ/kg DM ME is approximately 83% of DE so therefore ME value would be 48 MJ in total

6. Equine Nutrition- Native Ponies ` 27th October 2012

7. Equine Nutrition- Native Ponies ` 27th October 2012 Vitamin Deficiencies- Vitamin A deficiency is characterized by night blindness, However, clinical signs of deficiency (mainly night blindness) are hard to induce in horses, and require very low levels of carotene intake over a long period of time (at least a year or more). Impaired growth has been reported in growing ponies deprived of carotene. As a result, it is thought that growth parameters are a more sensitive indicator of carotene deficiency than clinical signs. Vitamin D deficiency is also not a huge concern as they need very little. Rickets is the disease that develops if a horse does not get enough D. Rickets is also called soft-bone disease, and the main symptom is bone deformities, especially in the limbs. In most practical horse-keeping situations, assuming the horse gets at least some exposure to sunlight, or some supplemental D in the diet, D deficiency is not going to be a problem.

8. Equine Nutrition- Native Ponies ` 27th October 2012 Vitamin E -White muscle disease is the disease that is commonly thought of when vitamin E deficiency is being discussed. This disease is also known as nutritional muscular dystrophy, and is a degenerative disease that affects the heart and skeletal muscles of foals under a year of age. Vitamin K- Problems with blood clotting is the major symptom of vitamin K deficiency. It is caused by those Gla-proteins being formed the wrong way and not being able to do their job correctly. In humans, K deficiency has also been implicated in diseases affecting bone and heart health. If the horse consumes K antagonists, deficiency symptoms can appear. One of these antagonists, dicoumarol, is produced by mouldy sweet clover hay. Problems with blood clotting from consuming mouldy sweet clover hay (and thus dicoumarol) HAVE been reported in horses.

9. Equine Nutrition- Native Ponies ` 27th October 2012 Current Grass Analysis

10. Equine Nutrition- Native Ponies 27th October 2012 Current Fresh Grass Mineral Analysis

11. Equine Nutrition- Native Ponies 27th October 2012 The Sums Based upon the 15-19th October data (ME = 12.4MJ/KGDM , DM=14.9% and Protein =22.5% The Pony requires 48MJ in total for maintenance E.G 1 The pony weighs 400kg and eats 2% BW Grass= 8kgDm 8kg DM = 99.2MJ (overfeeding of 207%) E.G 2 The pony weighs 400kg and eats 1.5% BW Grass= 6kgDM 6kgDM = 74.4MJ (overfeeding of 155%) E.G3 The pony weighs 400kg and is restricted to 1% BW Grass = 4kgDM 4kg DM = 49.6MJ (overfeeding of 103%) These same calculations apply for fermented forages. To supply maintenance to this pony on an ad-lib feeding basis then the energy density Of the total ration would need to be 6MJ/KG.

12. Equine Nutrition- Native Ponies 27th October 2012 The Mineral Sums

13. Equine Nutrition- Native Ponies ` 27th October 2012 Hay VS. Haylage

14. Equine Nutrition- Native Ponies ` 27th October 2012 Biotin