Posted: 19th November 2015 | Back to news feed
Canadian Para-dressage rider, Bert (Roberta) Sheffield, is a strong believer in a forage-based diet for her potential paralympic squad horse, Double Agent (Darcy).
Said Bert, “The importance of a forage-based diet over cereal cannot be stressed enough. 70 to 100 percent of the equine diet should be provided by forage which contains digestible fibre which is broken down in the hindgut to provide energy and roughage to maintain movement in the gut and efficient digestion. It also meets the horse’s psychological need to spend a proportion of his time chewing.”
Darcy was purchased by Bert as a two-year-old and since then has been fed on HorseHage bagged forage alongside TopSpec feed balancer. Bert believes this has allowed her to grow to her potential and that throughout the process of breaking, growing up and learning to be an international para-horse, her temperament has developed without any of the silliness associated with many young horses.
Said Bert, “I like to feed Darcy a mixture of both Alfalfa and Timothy HorseHage. Its high fibre, low sugar content keeps her head in a ‘good place’ while still giving her energy to maintain condition and strength. She loves the taste and has a wedge instead of a lunchtime feed. This builds flexibility into her routine so she can be worked morning or early afternoon and when we are away at shows she doesn’t have to miss a meal as she happily picks at her Alfalfa HorseHage net in the lorry or on the plane. It’s important to optimise the nutrition she gets in every mouthful, and Alfalfa HorseHage fits the brief.”
“Darcy has an amazing record in international competitions and copes with the most atmospheric of arenas, travelling and being stabled with strange horses in temporary stables to and from Europe and the Middle East. Throughout all this, she remains sensible but still with enough ‘sparkle’ to win internationally.”
Said Chris Tar of HorseHage: “Darcy is a great testimony to a forage-based regime. Fibre in the horse’s diet is extremely important. Horses have evolved to utilise a high fibre diet, using bacterial fermentation in a highly developed large intestine. Low levels of fibre, or poor quality fibre in the diet put horses at serious risk of problems such as colic and gastric ulcers. Leaving horses for long periods of time with nothing to eat can also lead to serious digestive and metabolic disturbances. Feeding a forage-based diet is a much more natural and healthier way of feeding.”
For more information please call HorseHage on: 01803 527257 or visit www.horsehage.co.uk
The Equestrian Index newsfeed is compiled from articles submitted by advertising members and expresses the opinions of those members. Watsons Directories Ltd shall not be held liable for any inaccuracies or mis-statements therein.