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California Riding Magazine • September, 2010 FeedXL |
Figuring out what to feed a horse can be complicated. Even an “easy keeper” can perform below peak because his diet is missing key ingredients. The plethora of feed products and supplements available these days can make the task more complex by offering endless choices. For these reasons, FeedXL is steadily gaining popularity among North American horse owners. FeedXL is an online software program that analyzes a horse’s diet. It detects deficiencies and excesses and recommends increases and decreases in individual nutrients to create a balanced diet customized to each horse’s needs. Breed, workload, age, weight and body condition are taken into account, as are illnesses, like laminitis, that are affected by nutrition. The process begins when FeedXL subscribers input their horse’s current diet, including type, quantity and quality of forage, grains and supplements. The system considers all the details in each horse’s profile, then provides a comprehensive assessment of its diet. The breakdown includes whether the horse is getting enough, too much or too little in sources of energy, protein and amino acids, minerals and vitamins. It includes input on whether total intake of feed and forage is sufficient and suggests appropriate feeding frequency. Los Angeles horse owner Helen Melville credits FeedXL with helping produce dramatic improvements in Fox, a 30-year-old Quarter Horse rescue she took on last September. The report she received after carefully filling out Fox’s profile was simple, but life altering for the horse. “It turns out he simply wasn’t getting enough food: not enough hay,” says Melville. When her previous boarding stable would not adjust Fox’s feed to her satisfaction, she moved him. “Everybody at my new barn says I have a different horse than the one I brought to the barn at the beginning of the year,” she relays. “He’s blossomed! He went from being a basketcase to being the happiest horse in the world. “I learned that I did not have to supplement him up the wazoo,” she continues. “It was my instinct to cover all the bases and I wound up over supplementing him. I learned through the FeedXL site that he was actually getting enough nutrients, just not enough hay.” For the small price of a FeedXL subscription, Melville’s overall feed bill shrank significantly while her peace of mind and, more importantly, her horse’s health grew. FeedXL does not recommend particular feeds. In fact, much of its value comes from being independent of feed manufacturers. However, it does maintain a database of 2,500-plus (and counting) feeds currently available in the U.S. Each product’s nutrient profile is fed into the database and drawn on when a subscriber includes that product in their horse’s current diet profile. “We purposely stay away from recommending feeds because we want to stay independent of feed companies,” explains FeedXL’s founder and equine nutritionist Dr. Nerida Richards. “Instead we want to empower horse owners to make their own feeding recommendations based on knowing what their horse needs more or less of.” The extensive database makes it easy to find a product to fulfill diet deficiencies. FeedXL subscribers with a horse found to be low in selenium or vitamin E, for example, can click on the site’s Balancers & Supplements tab. The Antioxidants button found there leads to 80-plus products, from Advanced Biological Concepts Antioxidants to Woody’s Anti-ROM, almost all with complete nutrient profiles. One click calculates the cost of adding that product to the diet. An accurate analysis of a horse’s current diet is critical. Certain generalities about the nutrient values in forage from specific U.S. regions can be made. For example, copper, zinc, selenium and iodine are often low in U.S.-grown forage, Richards reports. However, there is no substitute for getting a professional analysis. For that purpose, FeedXL recommends EquiAnalytical in Ithaca, NY to its subscribers. Getting a hay sample analyzed is typically less than $30 and well worth it, Richards notes. Accurate information on a horse’s current diet equals accurate recommendations to balance it. Increasing interest in equine nutrition is following parallel trends in human nutrition. This includes the Do It Yourself approach to becoming an informed and responsible consumer. “This is a way for horse people to easily assess how good different products are and how they will suit their own horse’s needs,” Richards explains. Richards is considered one of Australia’s preeminent equine nutrition experts. Through her company Equilize Horse Nutrition P/L, she had created the Equilize Nutrition Software as a CD-ROM-based precursor to FeedXL. Meszaros and Vagg had teamed up to create high-level breeding and genetics software. After a few years of product development, the trio introduced FeedXL to the Australian horse market two years ago, then to New Zealand. Last year, they began offering it to horse owners in the U.S., where the concept is catching on quickly. Individual owners with between one and three horses represent the majority of FeedXL’s subscribers at present. The online service offers affordable subscriptions for just about any quantity of horses, and in terms from monthly to yearly. It is easy to start with one horse, then add more or extend the subscription. Diet profiles can be regularly updated to keep pace with changes in feed sources and/or the horse’s health, workload or living conditions. Plans range from $15 per month/$45 per year for the Lite plan for one horse, to $90 per month/$270 per year for the Pro plan for 30 horses. The Lite plan offers standard diet analysis and is suitable for casual riders. The Pro package includes comprehensive diet analysis and is best for trainers, high-level competitors or recreational riders with a keen interest in nutrition. Access to a wealth of equine nutrition information is a side benefit of FeedXL subscription. The site is constantly updated with a variety of in-depth articles on the subject and an active members’ forum enables users to swap questions, suggestions and results and receive one-on-one assistance with feeding problems.
For more information about FeedXL, visit www.Feedxl.com. |
