Because Barrel horses are athletes and put in lots of hard work at training and participation in events, their nutritional needs alter considerably from those of horses that lead less laborious lives, like horses living in pastures and getting ridden a couple of times every month. Here are some guidelines.

Hay: Regardless of breed or use, horses require fibre in their feed, whether hay or grass. Fibre should comprise a substantial portion of equine diet. Feed takes second pace, and serves to bring balance to the diet. A method to continually monitor your horse’s nutritive needs is to have your vet conduct blood tests yearly to test for nutritional inadequacies. Feed your pony hay which has been evaluated for nutrient content so that you know what you are feeding your horse. Rural extension offices will generally test your hay without cost. These tests offer a clear picture of the nutritive value of your hay. Together with the result of your veterinaria’s blood tests, these tests will give you an exact idea of what nutritional supplements your horse may require.

The best form of hay for your horse is top class grass hay. You can feed alfalfa to your horse in small quantities, as it is protein rich and in contrast to grass hay, isn’t suitable for feeding in enormous quantity. You should limit daily feeding of alfalfa to one or two flakes, compared with three or four flakes for grass hay. If you mix in alfalfa hay with grass hay, your grain needs will go down. Alfalfa can also be used to maintain the balance if your feed to your barrel pony has a lower nourishment share of say 10%.

Feed: Together with top class hay, feed forms another essential part of a barrel horse’s regular diet. A barrel pony is subjected to heavy work in training and in events, and desires extra staying power and energy to cope. Feeds comprising 10 to 12 percent of protein are acceptable for mature barrel horses. Younger barrel horses will require higher protein part, say 14 to 16 %. This is not to say that you want to get different feeds for different barrel horses; you just need to supplement them differently. I have recommendations on the best feeding formulae below; you would do well to stick to them. Always feed your horses by weight. The feed need for each pony depends on its weight and levels of work load.

Feed is available as grains or pellets. Define the composition before deciding on feeds for barrel horses. Most makers these days have a variety of feeds available as grain mix or as pellets. A barrel horse’s wants cannot be met adequately with plain oats, which will not offer him the level of nutrition required. You must go in for easily digested grains or pellets that have high protein content. Till some time ago, horses found it more complicated to digest pellets, but this difficulty has been resolved now. Pellets are made so they’re more easily broken down in the digestive process, reducing possibility of colic or other digestive conditions. Plenty of horses have a leaning for the taste of sweet grain mixes, but you can slowly bring them over to pellets if you find pellets work better.

Supplements: Supplements are used extensively with barrel horses. It is possible to get a supplement for nearly any specific requirement: hooves, coats, energy, weight building, you mention it. The right supplements can play an exceedingly important role in keeping your horse’s daily diet ideal.

You shouldn’t decide on supplements without consulting your vet. Don’t simply go blindly for the latest trend on the market just because some huge name racer endorsed it. While surplus supplements may not affect your horse’s health, they’ll definitely impact your financial health negatively. Almost invariably, claims that so and so supplement can boost your horse’s performance and win percentage are falsely made. You also have to give seriousness to the indisputable fact that supplements impact different horses in different ways.

A perfect balanced diet is the first step to making your horse the best barrel racer. Correct nutrition gives him just the edge he needs to raise his performance to maximum.

Horses are Heather Toms passion and she enjoys sharing her extensive knowledge through her 100s of articles with other horse lovers, like all things about simco saddles