CAVALLS
WAKAN
Horse feeding.
Horses are herbivores with a small stomach and a highly developed intestine, designed to chew and eat for a large part of their day, little by little but often.
Their digestive systems are primarily designed to digest fiber and therefore roughage (hay or grass) should make up the majority of their diet.
Grass.
Their food base is or should be grass, fresh straight from the pasture. The grass has many vitamins and minerals, but it does not have much nutritional value, and in addition its nutritional value and its effect on yield are influenced by the species, the stage of maturity of the forage and the fertility of the soil.
We plan the meadows to adapt to the rotation of pastures. Depending on the horse load, we provide a rest period for the pasture to allow regrowth and recovery.
Hay.
In summer, we harvest the grass from our meadows at the optimum time to guarantee maximum levels of nutrients, since the maturity of the grass at the time of cutting it decisively influences the final quality of the hay.
The hay is packed and stored so that it always maintains all its quality until it is consumed.
This is usually given in the same meadow from which it has been collected, so that the horses and their digestive system are already adapted to that type of grass and that terrain.
I think.
When it is necessary to give an extra supplement, we prepare a mixture of oats, bran, crushed corn and a little barley, all soaked in sunflower oil. We usually add garlic, carob beans, alfalfa granules or some other supplement according to the needs of the horse. Or we use quality commercial feed, formulated with different levels of energy, vitamins and minerals depending on the level of activity of the horse.
They eat between 3 kg-4 kg a day, divided into two doses.
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Salt.
Horses always have blocks of mineral salt that provide essential electrolytes for the proper functioning of all the essential functions of the horse and also have micronutrients that are not found in grass or grain.
The mineral salt rocks of Cavalls Wakan come, almost always, from the salt mines of Remolinos (Zaragoza) , exploited since ancient times for their high quality, and of course much more natural than manufactured salt blocks.
Water.
Water is the basic priority for the life of the horse, it is involved in everything from the pumping of the heart and the digestion of food to the lubrication of the joints, the filtering of waste through the kidneys and of course the regulation of their body temperature.
A horse can live for about a month without food, but within 48 hours without water, it is likely to start developing problems. They should never lack access to fresh, clean and palatable drinking water