Nutrition for the Exuberant Equine!
At some stage in their lives many horse people find themselves with a horse that displays naughty, wilful or playful behaviour that is undesirable and in some cases dangerous to both horse and rider.
The causes of this behaviour can be many and varied.
Causes of undesirable behaviour
The causes of exuberant or 'silly' behaviour include:
Overfeeding
Under-working
Allergy or increased reactivity to certain grains
Insufficient dietary thiamine and/or magnesium
Pain from poor teeth, sore back etc.
The horses inherent character
The main aim with these horses is to establish the cause or causes of the behaviour and attempt to treat the cause rather than the symptoms where possible.
Adjusting the diet
Overfeeding without sufficient work gives the horse excessive energy, and undesirable behaviour is the outlet for this energy. If this is the problem, then adjusting the diet to suit the levels of work should help to improve the behaviour.
If the aim is to put more condition on the horse but grains cause a problem, or if there is a desire to reduce the grain content of the diet due to a condition such as tying up or laminitis, then a portion of the grain ration can be replaced with a fat supplement.
KER Equi-Jewel is a high fat stabilised rice bran supplement that provides cool energy and is ideal for a horse that needs condition but gets too hot on a high grain diet. Just 500g can replace 1 cup of oil or 1kg of oats in terms of energy. Premixed feeds with a high fat content and low starch (grain) content are also good to use in this situation.
Some horses simply react badly to grains of certain types. In this situation, you can either experiment with different grains (e.g. a horse who is reactive to oats or corn might do well on barley and lupins) or you can replace some of the grains with a cool energy fat supplement such as KER Equi-Jewel.
Vitamin and mineral supplements
If the diet is correct and the horse is equally silly on any grain type or ‘cool feed’, then there may be a deficiency which accounts for the problem. Supplemental dietary thiamine (vitamin B1) and/or magnesium can help in these cases. EQUIVIT B-Quiet is an oral thiamine supplement for horses that is economical and worth a try if other avenues have been unsuccessful.
B-Quiet is available in a small 600g tub to allow owners to try it without making a big financial outlay. B-Quiet can be used at double or even triple the 30g dose for those times that might be particularly stressful and tense (e.g. travelling or at a show). B-Quiet does not work for every horse, so if you have gone through a full tub and have seen no response, then further possibilities should be explored.
Magnesium can also be supplemented in the form of dolomite, but again, this does not work for every horse and should be disregarded if no response is seen after 2 to 3 weeks.
Medical problems
Pain in the back, mouth or joints can be a major factor in behavioural disturbances. You should get these things checked out if you notice a change in behaviour whilst management has remained the same or if other avenues have been ruled out.
Natural behaviour
Some horses are just ‘difficult’ in nature. In this situation, there is no cure. Correct training may help a disobedient horse, but if you have bought a horse that is too much for your capabilities, your only choices are to learn to deal with it or find yourself a more suitable companion.
By Kentucky Equine Research - Last updated 16 November 2012
