I've been going on for months now about needing to feed more forage, "central heating for horses", during the winter months so considering how cold it is out there today I thought I should probably explain why.
Basically horses maintain their core body temperature via the heat produced during the digestion process of long stemmed forage ~ hay / haylage. This heat is produced as the forage is fermented by microbes in the gut.
Each individual horse requires a certain amount of food a day, approximately 2% of their body weight, to maintain weight, condition and body warmth. As the weather gets colder a certain point is reached, the lower critical temperature (LCT) which varies depending on the temperatures horses are used to living in, when they will start to use more energy to maintain body temperature. If that energy is not provided by food they will lose weight and condition whilst the body tries to keep warm.
Therefore when it gets cold horses need to be fed more forage or they are going to lose weight, the colder it gets the more weight they will lose. When it gets really, really cold with wind, rain, snow etc the need for more forage can actually double, (you can get more detailed information in this article here), which of course means that feed costs would double too.
This is the coldest winter Eggsy has experienced so far and he is eating loads more than usual, typically forage prices have risen and with people still recovering from Christmas expenditure donations are down, so right now any help via a donation or purchase from Eggsy's shop would be greatly appreciated.
A big thank you to Norfolk Bea and Philomena who have already donated this month.
About Eggsy:
Eggsy is a rescue pony he was abandoned and left to starve by his owners as a foal. His care is funded by donations.
Would you like to help Eggsy?
Eggsy has a GoFundMe campaign to help raise funds for his care, we'd be really grateful if you'd go take a look, share it far and wide via your social media and of course if you can spare some money please donate.
Help Raise Abandoned Foal Eggsy ~ GoFundMe
Thank you, Eggsy and I really appreciate it x
Eggsy is a rescue pony he was abandoned and left to starve by his owners as a foal. His care is funded by donations.
Would you like to help Eggsy?
Eggsy has a GoFundMe campaign to help raise funds for his care, we'd be really grateful if you'd go take a look, share it far and wide via your social media and of course if you can spare some money please donate.
Help Raise Abandoned Foal Eggsy ~ GoFundMe
Thank you, Eggsy and I really appreciate it x
