Equine nutrition in the first three years of life

Young, growing horses have higher protein, energy and mineral requirements in comparison to adult horses. By meeting these requirements your young horse will grow into a strong, healthy adult.  It’s essential that young horses get the extra nutrients they need in the first years of life. Nutritional deficiencies can stunt development, but oversupply can also cause development problems and should likewise be avoided. Faulty diet can cause skeletal development issues in foals and young horses, which can then lead to problems later in life.
 

Care of the newborn foal

During their first six to eight weeks of life, newborn foals get the energy and nutrients they need from the mare’s milk, and don’t need any additional feed. Foals normally can stand up within an hour of birth, and within two hours they start to suckle at the mare’s udder. This first milk is also called colostrum and is essential for every foal. During the birth process, the foal transitions from a germ-free environment in the uterus to an environment that’s teeming with germs. Newborn foals initially lack the antibodies to protect them from germs. Consumption of colostrum through the mare’s milk provides the foal with immunoglobulins to protect the animal from infection. This process is called passive immunisation. Colostrum contains important nutrients, protein, and a high concentration of vitamin A. The mare should be in the place where the foal will be born four to six weeks prior to the birth. This allows the mare’s colostrum to develop antibodies that are specific to that environment. Colostrum can be categorised as “high quality” and “low quality”. Quality depends on the mare’s breed, size, and age as well as the number of times she has lactated. Factors like training, stabling, season, temperature and immunisations also influence colostrum quality. Poor quality, poor absorption of antibodies or not consuming colostrum at all can be life-threatening for the foal. During the first weeks of life, this milk is the only source of the immunoglobulins that protect the foal from infections. Foals drink about 50 times in 24 hours, something to consider if you plan to start working with the mare just a few weeks after foaling. Foals eat their mother’s faeces several times a day, which helps the immunological maturation of the gastrointestinal tract. This is a normal and important behaviour in foals and they should not be prevented from doing so.

If, worst case, the mare dies, either a nurse mare must be found to act as a surrogate mother, or the foal must be raised by hand as an orphan. The orphaned foal can’t get colostrum from its nurse mare, so substitute with a mare colostrum replacer. Use a milk replacer to replace normal mare’s milk when raising an orphan by hand. During the first week of life, the foal must nurse 10 to 15 times a day. Intervals between nursing should not exceed four hours. In the second week, the foal will drink half as often. Later, introduced milk replacer from a drinker from which the foal can ingest small amounts frequently. Clean the drinker twice a day and use only in ambient temperatures between 15 and 20 degrees Celsius. When the foal is about three months old, its milk should be gradually replaced with forage.

It is especially important that the mare’s nutritional requirements are also being met, because the foal gets its nourishment exclusively through its mother’s milk during the first weeks of life. You can read more on this topic in the following article: Proper feeding for broodmares.
 

Starting on solids

Over time, the mare’s milk will contain less protein and energy. Its mineral content will also drop off. From the third month onwards, the foal will need more than just its mother’s milk and should be introduced to solid feeds. The foal learns to nibble on hay and grass by imitating its mother as it also begins to suckle less frequently. In the beginning, the daily amount of hay consumed will lie between 100 and 150 g, increasing over time. It is now important to ensure that the foal is getting a sufficient supply of essential amino acids, trace elements like copper, zinc and selenium, and vitamins. The foal’s most intensive growth period occurs in the first six months, after which it will have reached roughly 46% of its adult weight. It will need an adequate supply of energy and nutrients during this time. Foals that are turned out on high-yield pastures in the summer can theoretically get all the vitamins and minerals they need from grass alone. However, native pastures often lack sufficient plant growth and well-mineralised soils, with sometimes-insufficient supplies of protein, calcium and phosphorus. In this case, support your foals with a special mineral feed. The same applies to foals kept in stables. Note the feed’s amino acid composition as well. It should contain important amino acids like lysine, methionine, threonine and cysteine. Without sulphur-bearing amino acids, the hoof horn cells will experience weak development, making them more susceptible to environmental influences.

Feeding the weaned foal

A foal can be weaned once it is six months old. This often means a change of location, which, along with the change to its feed, can cause considerable stress. To avoid disruptions in the growth stage, make sure the animal is getting an adequate supply of energy and protein.  The foal is no longer getting the valuable protein and nutrients from the mare’s milk and these must be supplied through a special supplement. Changes to feed are often stressful for foals. Keep this and mind when transitioning to new feeds and be careful not to overfeed the foal.

Most weanlings are stabled over the winter. However, they still need to consume enough energy and nutrients to fuel their growing bodies. The foal’s nutritional requirements are factored from both maintenance and increased requirements for growth.  However, each animal will have unique requirements according to differences in type of physical activity, feed quality and environment. Foals who are fed to meet maintenance levels only will experience slowed growth, but they can usually compensate for this later. This reason for this is called compensatory growth. A foal’s decreased growth due to faulty diet will be followed by an increased growth rate as soon as their diet once again covers their nutritional requirements. Greater damage can be caused by overfeeding. If a foal is fed too much – especially too much concentrate feed – from the start, this can have negative impacts on skeletal growth and lead to developmental disorders. The danger lies in too-rapid, intensive growth with delayed bone maturation. The result is that the foal’s not-fully-developed skeleton must bear the added weight of heavy muscles and fat deposits. Young animals can frequently compensate for such extra loading, but there are often long-term consequences. Aim for growth that is steady and not too rapid.

Feeding yearlings

The pasture offers the best feed for yearlings. However, the transition to full turnout should be done with care and supported through the feeding of hay. A forage consumption of 2–2.5 kg per 100 kg BW/day and an energy density of 7–10 MJ ME/kg dry matter will often even exceed a yearling’s daily energy requirement. Hay and/or concentrates should only be added if the foal is not growing properly, as growth requires higher nutrient consumption. In the summer you can add a low-protein concentrate, as the foal will get enough protein from grass. Soils with poor mineral content often mean that the foal needs additional calcium and phosphorus. It may also need copper, iodine, selenium or zinc. A high-quality mineral feed is essential to a foal’s health. Don’t rely completely on mineral licks, as it’s impossible to know the mineral quantities that the animal is actually getting from them.

In autumn, most yearlings begin to be stabled and fed forage. This is the end of the growth stage. They should get a mineral feed in addition to their base feed. The necessity of concentrates should be evaluated. The actual quantity and type of concentrate feed depends on breed, the quality and quantity of forage, and how the animal is being kept. If you have questions about your young horse’s feed rations, our expert team is happy to assist you.

Feeding the three-year-old horse

By the time the horse turns four, its energy requirement is less than in the previous year because it is almost fully grown. The daily requirement now varies, as adult riding horses are used in different ways, and will correspond to their work level. While some four-year-old thoroughbreds are at the peak of their careers, warmbloods are often still turned out and being slowly introduced to work. You’ll find more about energy in horse feed in our article: Sources of energy in horse feeds.
 

Janina Beule, M.Sc. Equine Science
Juni 2023 ©AGROBS GmbH

Sources:

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