Fiber Fresh Fiber Protect

When planning a diet, the most important consideration is that a horse must receive an absolute minimum of 1.5% of its bodyweight in forage fibre – e.g. hay, pasture, and/or Fiber Fresh per day. The remaining diet must then be balanced according to the quality and composition of that forage fibre and the physiological demands of the horse e.g. growth, lactation, extra energy for exercise, protein etc.

FiberProtect can be fed on its own in the feed bowl or mixed with supplements. When introducing to the diet, increase daily amounts by 0.5kg increments until the desired quantity is reached.
We recommend feeding a minimum of 2kg per day, but there is no limit on how much FiberProtect can be fed.

When extra energy is required increase the amount of FiberProtect first. If even more energy is required in the form of concentrates or grain, only feed up to half the weight of FiberProtect in the diet, creating a healthy 2:1 ratio mixed; e.g. 2kg FiberProtect and 1kg concentrate in the feed bowl per meal. This ratio is ideal to buffer the stomach against excessive acidity caused by grain. It increases saliva production, slows intake and increases digestion and metabolism of both the grain and fibre portion, and maintains healthy gut function and hydration.

Feeding FiberProtect at the correct ratio increases the digestibility of concentrates by 20-30%, therefore the amount of concentrates fed can be reduced. How much to reduce this by will depend on the individual horse and can be reviewed by regular body condition scoring and weighing.
Indicatively, most sport/race horses do best on 4-6kg of FiberProtect per day in addition to added energy such as grains/concentrate feeds, and fat/oil.