Breed Show enthusiasts / participants very frequently contact us for high end nutritional solution to make their animals perform distinctly in mass presentation. Preparing a horse for show revolves around getting them to look the best they possibly can on the day of presentation to impress the judge or viewers. Coat Shine, Muscling, Topline and Condition are all critical pieces in the preparation puzzle and feeding plays a major role in achieving the look you want.
So what types of feeds and supplements will do the job for us? This is a common question that is forwarded to us at HAF. The answer is don’t experiment on these royal animals – your extensive unscientific feeding programme would critically induce Gastric Ulcers, Colic, laminitis and lot many nutritional over load issues.
What determines ‘finish’ is a combination of skin, coat and condition. Optimum body condition varies between disciplines – competition horses requiring less ‘cover’ than show horses. Dietary Imbalances can decrease the production of natural skin oils and affect the structure and strength of skin and hooves.
It is a common practice in the horse world to gradually change over your horse’s grain when swapping feed, but do you do the same for hay? Colic risk is actually higher when changing hay versus changing feed. So hay / forage swapping in any discipline should be implemented utmost scientifically.
