11 Steps to a Healthier Foal

By Sarah Gee
©Voice, June 2007

Healthy foals are growing foals. Healthy foals will grow taller and stronger almost right before your eyes. In the first two years of its life a young horse can achieve 90 percent or more of it full adult size, sometimes gaining as much as three pounds per day. In order to give a foal its best chance at good health and soundness, its owner must provide it with an optimal nutritional start. The following are 11 steps that you can take to ensure that your foal has the nutritional foundation it needs to develop to its full potential.

1. Allow free access to high quality roughage
(hay and pasture).

2. Supplement with properly balanced gain concentrates.

3. Begin by feeding one percent of a foal’s body weight
per day or one pound of feed per month of age.

4. Adjust the feed ration based on your foal’s
growth and fitness.

5. Divide the daily ration into two to three feeding to accommodate the foal’s small stomach.

6. Study your feed tag to make sure you’re feeding the correct balance of vitamins, minerals, energy and protein.

7. Beware the hungry mare - use a creep feeder or feed
the foal away from the mare.

8. Remove uneaten portions between feedings.

9. More isn’t always better. Overfeeding can lead to Developmental Orthopedic Disease.

10. Always provide unlimited fresh, clean water.

11. Allow your foal to exercise at will.

Reference: AAEP, Help Your Foal Grow with Proper Nutrition