A Couple Questions - Balancing Protein, Fiber, + Sugar

[Meo]

Hey all! I've had an account on HWO for quite a long time, but the thing that always drives me away is the feeding system. I absolutely love it!! I just... don't know how to balance my horses' diets...

Any chance someone could explain to me how I can keep them well fed? Do they need to fit the little blue bars exactly? Can they be a little bit under in fiber w/o significant risk? Etc.

Thanks!!

[AltNazarach]

Hey all! I've had an account on HWO for quite a long time, but the thing that always drives me away is the feeding system. I absolutely love it!! I just... don't know how to balance my horses' diets...

Any chance someone could explain to me how I can keep them well fed? Do they need to fit the little blue bars exactly? Can they be a little bit under in fiber w/o significant risk? Etc.

Thanks!!

it depends, keeping protein and sugar in balance prevents changes in temperament; higher sugar leads to higher temperament, higher protein makes them calmer - apart from bombproof born horses all can be changed.

Fiber should be at the blue line or can be slighly under (at least I didn't notice negative changes until now, but I heard at some point in the future it will cause illnesses when to low). Sadly, fiber seems to be really heavy in weight, so when in a barn and trying to balance the other feeds to the blue lines or for keeping temerament you might have to experiment which works best.
I mostly take alfafa cubes as main fiber bringer cause it also has protein and seems to be of the lowes weight.
For the others look under the ? button next to the feed because the slight differences in feed are listed there.

When on a pasture you should look what goal you want to reach with the feed as fiber will always be the highest value. Feed sugary feed for higher temper, feed performance feed for keeping or lowering temper as it has the highes amount of protein. Weight gain feed has protein but also a somewhat high amount of sugar so it can be tricky ...

oh, and never feed significantly more than 100%. your horses can only eat so much and will eat from the highest amount to the lowest and that leads to enery issues.

Also, when on a pasture have an eye on how much high tempered and light build horses you have, cause when too many they will eat more fiber than the pasture can provide and it will cause them to permanently loose weight.

I hope this helps somewhat?

[Meo]

It does, thank you very much! So I can be more lenient with sugar and protein without consequence (other than temperament and fitness), and try to keep fiber at the line, then?

And by 100%, do you mean energy?

Thanks again, I really appreciate the help!

[AltNazarach]

It does, thank you very much! So I can be more lenient with sugar and protein without consequence (other than temperament and fitness), and try to keep fiber at the line, then?

And by 100%, do you mean energy?

Thanks again, I really appreciate the help!

No problem ^^ yes, fiber seems to be the most important - or at least having two of three filled to/over the blue lines.
By 100% I mean the Daily energy - the bold percentage number above the protein, fiber and sugar bars. it should be 100% or a bit higher up the 105% if you want to keep the weight steady, lesser if you want your horse to loose weight and 110-130% if you need it to gain weight.

[Meo]

Alright, thank you so, so much! I think I understand now.

[AltNazarach]

Alright, thank you so, so much! I think I understand now.

That's good, just ask if there is something you want to know have fun ^^

[KYTrainer]

That's good, just ask if there is something you want to know have fun ^^[/quote]


Do you know how to post links and pictures? Help?

[BlackOak2]

That's good, just ask if there is something you want to know have fun ^^

Do you know how to post links and pictures? Help?[/quote]

Links are easy, copy and paste.
Pictures:

Code: Select all

 [horse=][/horse]

You need to add the information of the horse id, after the 'horse=
so it will look like this:

Code: Select all

[horse=1721623][/horse]

You can also add the name or a short description of the horse like this:

Code: Select all

[horse=]Other Info or Name[/horse]

Find the horse id number on the horse's profile page, it's the whole number at the end of the link:
http://www.horseworldonline.net/horse/profile/1721623

Try the preview button in the post a reply section to double check your work. If it's correct, it'll pop up and look like this:
Comes Out Nice, If You Do It Right


All the buttons you need to help you along, including hovering for info, are found in the post a reply section, at the bottom of this page, look for the button/link that reads: Full Editor & Preview.

[LunarSilence]

so im very new here and i bought a horse and it says her weight is poor but shes 1422 pounds, does that mean she needs to gain more or lose some weight?

[BlackOak2]

so im very new here and i bought a horse and it says her weight is poor but shes 1422 pounds, does that mean she needs to gain more or lose some weight?

If the weight reads as poor, then it's poor as in they're too skinny. The good thing to remember that the horse won't die of starvation or obesity. Right now, the only way for a horse to pass on is old age (chance begins and increases with each turn at 17).

Weight for a horse is generally valued on size and type, so a taller horse will be best weighted with a higher poundage, plus a pony type should be a bit heavier than a horse type.

As a last note, we do have the very rare glitch feeding horse that won't gain or loose weight no matter the food or lack of food they have.