A healthy horse starts with healthy intestinal flora. Things often go wrong with a diet based on average roughage, whether or not supplemented with kilos of concentrates.
Feeding less because your horse no longer does any work and otherwise becomes too fat seems logical but is not wise. Especially now, sufficient vitamins and minerals in the ration and good intestinal flora are important!
Your horse is injured and needs to take it easy for a while or even take complete box rest. Very annoying, especially for your horse who would much rather be in training or exercise with others of his kind. Especially now, recovery is important and that your horse continues to feel 'happy'.
Boredom lurks in horses, and let's be honest, so does overfeeding your horse with energy. It is important that your horse does not consume too much energy, but that he likes the low-sugar roughage and does not leave it alone. Digestion must also be maintained properly. In addition, horses have an increased need for high-quality nutrients for recovery. Enough challenges to be able to train fully again soon!
Even if your horse is injured or overweight, the minimum roughage requirement remains 1.5% of its body weight in DM (dry matter) in fiber/roughage to keep the body healthy and experience less stress. This amounts to 2 kg of hay per 100 kg of horse.
Feeding much more is not advisable given the risks of being overweight. Slow feeders can help you eat more slowly. Looking for a poorer and therefore analyzed batch of roughage to (partially) supplement is also wise.
To stimulate the intestinal muscles, wet dietary fiber is wise where possible, for example from beet pulp, bran and 'light' slop. Too much straw and grass seed hay is not a good idea because it is largely not digested by the intestinal bacteria and can also cause blockages.
BALANCERS such as EquilinBALANCER ensure that your horse or pony receives enough easily absorbable vitamins and minerals so that the immune system can do its work.
