A healthy foal will grow rapidly, gaining in height, weight and strength almost before your eyes. From birth to age two, a young horse can achieve 90 percent or more of its full adult size, sometimes putting on as many as three pounds per day. Feeding young horses is a balancing act, as the nutritional start a foal gets can have a profound affect on its health and soundness for the rest of its life.
At 8 to 10 weeks of age, mare's milk alone may not adequately meet the foal's nutritional needs, depending on the desired growth rate and health the owner wants for a foal. As the foal's dietary requirements shift from milk to feed-and-forage, your role in providing the proper nutrition gains in importance. Following are guidelines from the American Association of Equine Practitioners (AAEP) to help you meet the young horse's nutritional needs:
- Provide high quality roughage (hay and pasture) free choice.
- Supplement with a high quality, properly balanced grain concentrate at weaning, or earlier if more rapid rates of gain are desired.
- Start by feeding one percent on a foal's body weight per day (i.e., one pound of feed for each 100 pounds of body weight), or one pound of feed per month of age.
- Weigh and adjust the feed ration based on growth and fitness. A weight tape can help you approximate a foal's size.
- Foals have small stomachs, so divide the daily ration into two to three feedings.
- Make sure feeds contain the proper balance of vitamins, minerals, energy and protein.
- Use a creep feeder or feed the foal separate from the mare so it can eat its own ration. Try to avoid group creep feeding situations.
- Remove uneaten portions between feedings.
- Do not overfeed. Overweight foals are more prone to developmental orthopedic disease (DOD).
- Provide unlimited fresh, clean water.
- Provide opportunity for abundant exercise.
The reward for providing excellent nutrition and conscientious care will be a healthy foal that grows into a sound and useful horse. For more information about providing proper nutrition for your foal, talk with your equine veterinarian.
Reprinted with permission from the American Association of Equine Practitioners.