Food for Thought

One of my biggest pet peeves are horse owners and riders that don't educate themselves on proper care of their horse. They take advice from trainers, friends and old wives tales but they don't invest in proper books, websites or even take some classes. Something people get all excited about is the percent of protein in feed. They think it is the BEST energy source for their horse - they don't know that it actually requires energy to break down the proteins so that the horse can use them as fuel.
It is my belief that most horses don't need much - or any - grain, they get their required nutrients from good quality hay or pasture. Coaster gets a pound and a half of a simple all around grain twice a day. When he is in the stall (at night) he is given about half a bale of a good quality mixed hay and then is out on pasture during the day. When he is worked I give him Ultium - the amount is based on how hard he worked. I love using Ultium because it has a high fat content, beet pulp, Vitamin E, C and Selenium - all the things that I think a performance horse needs. When fed in the right rations I've never seen a horse get "hot" off of it - even the most high strung Thoroughbred.
I guess my whole point of this post is that I wish horse owners would take the responsibility to educate themselves - they don't have to agree with me, just make an educated decision based on some sort of research, not just what somebody said.