By Sarah Welk Baynum
A horse’s body thrives on consistency, especially when it comes to feeding. Everything from what, how much, and when they are fed should be kept as consistent as possible. Of course, this can be a bit more challenging when taking your horses off property overnight.
Owning horses tends to keep us on our toes constantly—like when your horse refuses to eat his grain during a horse show weekend. It can be concerning and frustrating when horses decide they are suddenly uninterested in their grain. However, there are some things you should consider first and steps you can take if your horse isn’t eating at the horse show.
How Worried Should I Be if My Horse Won’t Eat at a Show?
The short answer? It depends.
There are a number of factors that could be contributing to why they aren’t eating, so first consider the horse’s history and some external factors.
Is this your horse’s first show or are they a horse show pro?
What is his usual feeding routine? Is it the first day of the show or has he not wanted to eat for more than one day?
If this horse is used to traveling and showing and snubbing their feed unusually, that might be a bit more of a red flag than say a green horse at their first overnight show.
Another thing to consider is if the horse has been happy to eat hay and drink water, but just not eating their grain. If the horse was not wanting to eat hay or grain and is also not drinking well, that would be cause for more concern than say just turning their nose up at grain but still eating hay and drinking well otherwise.
If the horse is used to eating at 7:00 am every day, but is suddenly being fed at a different time, or a different feed, or new supplements, this could be another contributing factor of not eating.
Many owners might have the best intentions by wanting to give their horse a little extra support at the horse show and will add in new supplements. However, this change of environment, and the added stressors, means the horse show is the last place you should be introducing new feed or supplements.
Even the way a horse is being fed, such as feeding in a feed pan versus the raised built-in-feeder normally in their stall, could be the issue. The problem could truly be as simple as a horse looking at that feed pan on the ground and thinking, “Why is this thing on the ground? I’m not eating out of this!”
Sometimes in situations like tent stalls, this can present its own set of issues with other horses on the unenclosed sides. They might be eating too quickly or not wanting to eat at all due to a food aggressive neighbor.
Try taking your horse and their grain elsewhere on the show grounds if this is the situation.
Steps to Take If My Horse isn’t Eating at the Horse Show
A great first step is to take the horse’s temperature, pulse, and respiration just to be sure they aren’t giving you any obvious signs of illness. This will give you a good baseline to move forward and decide what your next step should be. If the horse’s temperature, pulse, and respiration all check out as normal, ask yourself if the problem might be one of the contributing factors mentioned above.
It’s also extremely possible that the stressors of travel and change of environment and schedule have made the horse’s digestive system upset.
Using something like Constant Comfort Paste is a great way to ease any digestive upset and help the horse feel better quicker. The paste features seaweed derived calcium to help maintain proper stomach pH and contains probiotics to support digestive health. In addition, it contains aloe vera, glutamine, and lecithin to soothe the stomach.
Constant Comfort also comes in pellet form and is a stomach buffer, as well as supportive of a horse’s entire digestive tract. It can be added as a top dress to a horse’s feed as a preventative measure for the next time they are preparing to head to the horse show.
If your horse isn’t eating at the show and you have some of these pellets handy, you might even try enticing them by feeding a bit from your hand like a treat.
Another thing you can try is to take your horse out for a relaxing hand grazing session. This will get them grazing, a natural behavior that is great for the way their digestive system works, which also might just encourage them to eat their grain when they return back to their stall with any luck.
You might be tempted to try your horse show friends’ grain that’s different than yours to entice them to eat. This could have negative effects on their digestive system, however, because you are introducing a brand-new food without any gradual changeover.
One thing to keep in mind as you try to convince your horse to eat throughout the day, is to discard wet mash type feeds after a certain point. If it’s a hot, humid day, at some point that wet meal could get pretty yucky and cause additional problems if left out for too long and eaten later.
If, after doing some self-evaluation, especially if they are still eating hay and drinking water normally, it might be ok to just give it another day and see if they decide to eat tomorrow if this is the first day of not wanting to eat grain.
Of course, you probably would have preferred for them to eat that perfectly pre-portioned grain you so lovingly put together before the show, but it isn’t the end of the world if they miss one grain meal. However, if your horse is presenting with a temperature, has any abnormalities with pulse and respiration, is not eating hay or drinking, or acting strangely, then it might be time to consider calling the on-call vet at the show.
My Horse isn’t Drinking Water at a Horse Show
If the horse is also not drinking at the show, this can be more serious than not wanting to eat grain due to the risk of dehydration. The risk for some serious issues can occur if the horse does become dehydrated—especially when working hard at a competition.
Some horses are very picky about water, so consider bringing your own water next time if they have shown signs of being water-picky at the show. If you are trying a water additive like an electrolyte powder, be sure to bring two buckets and keep one with plain, clean water. It’s still a good idea to introduce any new water additives at home versus at the horse show, however, there is nothing wrong with adding some new electrolytes to one of their buckets on a hot weekend to keep them hydrated and entice them to drink as long as they still have the option of plain water available too.
If you have questions about your horse’s feeding program, for home or at a horse show, please contact us for a free personalized equine feeding plan.
