Dear Dr. Getty!

I'm finally through with your book and would like to thank you very much for writing it. Some things were real eye-openers! And I hope that my horses will be able to get a better nutrition now!

But I also have some questions while reading the book...

One of them is: when you write that concentrates should be fed not more than 2 lb at once and total feed - not more than 4 lb - do you mean dry food or whatever is there in the horse's feeder?

The thing is - I soak some food in water, e.g. beet pulp or alfalfa pellets - and they can absorb a lot of water. E.g. 1 kg of dry rolled oats can turn into 2 kg of soaked oats. And beet pulp can easily become 3-4 kg instead of 1 kg with water added!

Also - does it matter if a horse eats hay (which is free choice) right before and after she's finished with her meal? Will this hay push the other food out of her stomach before it gets digested enough?

And one more question - you wrote a lot about minimum requirements for salt, but I didn't find anything on maximum in the book.

One of my older mares eats A LOT of salt! And this amount is increasing as she's getting older. Now she can eat a 10 kg blok in 1-2 months!!! I thought she was looking for some other minerals, so I bought her a salt block with minerals, but she ate it as quickly. At the same time sodium and chlorine levels in her blood are normal. Right now I took away salt blocks from her and am adding 2 tbs to her feed, but sometimes I think: may be she knows better what she needs?

I appreciate your help! Thank you very much!

Where are you from? Moscow, Russia

How did you locate this forum? Internet

Hello Ekaterina,

I am delighted that you have read my book -- I believe you are the first person that I know of from Russia to have read it! How wonderful!

To answer your questions...

When I spoke about limiting concentrates to no more than two pounds, I was speaking about oats (or another plain cereal grain including corn, or barley) -- too much at one time may not be adequately digested and can therefore, end up in the hindgut where the bacterial population will ferment it, leading to laminitis. But, the overall meal size -- everything including high fiber foods, should be limited to no more than 4 lbs for a full-sized horse because of the horse's small stomach (compared to the rest of his digestive tract).

But the weight refers to dry weight. If you add water to the feed, it does not get included in the total weight.

Hay should always be available. But if you were to feed a high-grain meal on an empty stomach and then feed hay, the hay would "push" the grain to the hindgut, where you can have the laminitis risk I described earlier. So, feed anything starchy (such as oats) after the horse has eaten some forage (hay or pasture).

Most horses will not overconsume salt unless the salt block tastes particularly good. This can happen with salt/mineral blocks that are sweetened with molasses and horses will bite off chunks of them like candy. But 10 kgs in 60 days amounts to 167 grams per day. That's approximately 5.8 ounces per day which I agree, is too much. Horses that are sweating profusely (due to exercise or hot, humid weather), may consume as much as 4 ounces per day. So, I would allow for self-regulation of salt by having a plain, white salt block available, but also add one tablespoon of table salt per meal. Then see how much of the block she eats when she has salt added to her feed. And let me know.

All the best,

Dr. Getty
Author of Feed Your Horse Like A Horse

Where are you from? Bayfield, CO

Where are you from? Moscow

Hello Ekaterina,

Thank you for your patience in my getting back to you. I tried to look at the specific product you're using, but was unable to get to the exact page.

But nonetheless, I think it is better to do the plan of adding salt to the feed, rather than a salt block, to avoid an overdosage.

Keep up the fine work!

Dr. Getty
Author of Feed Your Horse Like A Horse

Where are you from? Bayfield, CO