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<p>April has arrived and winter is finally behind us. Bright days and a warming sun cause our colts to lose their winter coats. Many owners will find that young horses they thought were in good condition have actually become too thin during the winter. The winter coat makes it hard to judge body condition precisely. Perhaps feeding levels have not been adequately adjusted during winter months. What should we do now?</p>
<p><img src="images-joomla/stories/seasons/spring-yearlings.jpg" alt="spring-yearlings" width="300" height="200" /> <img src="images-joomla/stories/seasons/yearlings-look.jpg" alt="yearlings-look" width="300" height="200" /></p>
<p>Each year PC-Horse receives worried inquiries from horse owners who find that their colt has become too thin during the winter. Some owners may respond to the situation by cranking up feeding as quickly as possible to get their horses back into good shape. In most cases, however, this is a dangerous strategy.</p>
<p>If a young horse is too thin, you should first check that the teeth are in order and that any recommended worming has been carried out. In the PC-Horse program there is a special feature called "Treatments" where you can enter planned and actual treatments for all horse types. This applies to Veterinary Treatments, Worming, Vaccinations and more. Using PC-Horse enables you to monitor your horses closely and ensure that treatments are given at the right time.</p>
<p>Changing a horse's ration always needs caution. Care is needed if a thin young horse is to regain its normal condition. This is especially true for 1 year olds. If you suddenly increase the amount of concentrate, you may trigger a rapid, compensatory growth spurt. This is a period of very rapid growth, where bones and tendons lack the time needed to develop their own natural strength, and body proportions do not develop harmoniously. Such horses will often develop a lanky appearance, and be at increased risk of developing diseases such as osteochondrosis (weakened cartilages and a tendency to develop bone fragments in the joints) and swollen, painful growth zones or more generally fills in the joints of the legs.</p>
<p>Our advice is to always control your rations carefully. First, ensure that the colt is getting enough roughage, and that the quality of roughage is adequate. Where horses are fed in groups, the youngest can easily be chased from the feed by older and more dominant members of the group. It is therefore important to provide the roughage in several locations simultaneously so that all horses get their share. You may also need to separate the young horses from more dominant, older horses.</p>
<p>It is important to know the nutritional quality of your own roughage in this situation. An analysis of the feed is definitely an advantage, and can also be entered into your PC-Horse program to calculate a ration that is based on the quality of your own roughage. Select the stable where you entered your horse, open the feed list connected to the stable, and click the tab "Create a new feed".</p>
<p>Help is available from the <img style="vertical-align: middle;" src="images-joomla/stories/pchimages/Fragetecken.jpg" alt="Fragetecken" width="23" height="28" /> button.</p>
<p>When roughage quality has been checked and amounts adjusted appropriately, it is time to adjust the provision of concentrate. Most brands listed in PC-Horse have one or more concentrate mixes made specially for young horses. If the colt has grown thin during winter, you can increase the amount of concentrate in the feed, - but not too much. In PC-Horse, you can increase the concentrate given until the the amount of energy is about 120% of the calculated requirement. If you use the graphics representation of the diet, the top column shows the energy given in relation to requirements. Check also that the requirements for the other nutrients are covered (Look for green bars!).</p>
<p>In April, we only recommend a moderate increase in the plane of nutrition of thin colts. Remember that summer is just around the corner, and with it the possibility of abundant, high quality grass. On good pasture, colts will rapidly recover losses from winter and get fit again, provided also that they benefit from a good programme for parasite control.</p>
<p>Please observe that some of the features of the PC-Horse program will not be available in the cheapest versions.</p>
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<p><em>This article was originally written by Dr. Day Austbø.</em><br /><em> Copyright: PC-Horse International - Norway 2012.</em><br /> <em>Feel free to use and publish the material. Please indicate the source and author.</em></p>