2 Year Old Research Paper

By the time a horse is 2 years old it has reached its full height and approximately 90% of its full body weight. Even though growth has slowed the nutritional requirements of a 2 year old is much higher than a mature adult horse at maintenance. In addition, many two-year-olds may enter training, thereby adding the nutrients needed for work on top of the nutrients still needed for growth. Two year olds that are not in training can receive similar rations to yearlings. This is shown in figure 7. If high quality hay`s or pasture are available then grain supplementation may not be needed. However meeting the requirements of two year olds in training will usually require grain supplementation. Depending on the level of training an additional 4 to
An adult should be provided with forage as it helps to simulate salvia production. However if you are feeding your horse cereal feeds it is best to allow the horse to have forage immediately beforehand. The salvia will buffer the acidity in the stomach caused by the cereal feed. Otherwise the acid may lead to the development of gastric ulcers which can cause weight loss. The fermentation of the forage will produce heat which helps the horse maintain the correct body temperature. As the equine digestive system has evolved to be constantly processing fibre rather than the large cereal meals. If not enough forage is provided to a horse it can cause the horse to have many internal issues. As well as the health benefit on forage it is also cheaper than cereal feeds. All horses should have the access to ad lib forage. If your horse does need to lose weight do not cut down on the amount of forage you feed. Instead you should switch to a lower energy forage and keep the bulk up for example switch half of the ration of hay for oat straw. With horses you should feed little and often as they have small stomachs. This is why if you feed too large bucket feeds like cereals it pushes through the stomach too fast therefore it is not digested correctly. Although if you do decide to feed your horse on cereal concentrates there are a few steps you can take to make sure that it can be properly digested and that you are not overloading the horses stomach. You should feed hay before providing the horse with concentrates to slow down the passage of food and you should feed three to four small meals a day rather than one or two larger meals and you must dilute the cereal feeds with plenty of