A NATIONWIDE tour which brought together a wealth of experience from the equine nutrition sector proved thought provoking for the hundreds of horse enthusiasts that attended.

'Keeping Feeding Simple' was the theme and included talks by equine nutrition lecturer Dr Derek Cuddeford from the Royal Dick School of Veterinary Studies at Edinburgh University, Simon Parker from Masham Micronized Feeds and Nicola Tyler from TopSpec Equine.

The tour travelled to six venues from Scotland to the West Country.
Derek explained how understanding the horse's digestive system makes it easier to feed correctly.

left to right - Dr Derek Cuddeford, Philip Tyler, Nicola Tyler, Simon Parker

He stressed the importance of feeding little and often which all speakers felt still needed explaining. Feeding this way helps to ensure that horses fully utilise their feed and reduces the occurrence of colic and other problems.

He also encouraged owners to look at the benefits of feeding haylage which is fast replacing hay.

Simon Parker covered recent developments in processing straights and the development of Speedi-Beet, nutritious quick-soaking sugar beet flakes which are ready for use in under 10 minutes.

TopSpec's senior nutritionist, Nicola Tyler, explained the benefits of feeding a variety of straights with feed balancers, discussed the best ways of increasing fibre in a horse's diet, and provided simple feeding programmes for many types of horses.

Said Nicola: "We have received a lot of positive feedback from the talks, with many owners changing to feeding maximum amounts of forage topped up with small feeds of straights plus a balancer or supplement. This is not only economical it is also a better approach for the horses digestive system and therefore health."

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