Feeding to fight the fizz

If you have a fizzy horse, it can be tricky to provide the right feed to manage his temperament so you can enjoy your rides without too much anxiety on your part at the same time as maintaining your horse’s body condition, health and wellbeing.

Unfortunately, this can become even more of a challenge if exercise has to be limited for some reason, for example due to extreme weather or recuperation after injury. So, how can you feed to help keep a lid on things?

Top tip

Keeping fizzy horses confidently and positively slightly guessing, rather than focusing on what’s in a hedge or how fast they can go in a straight line, can help to distract them.

Energy balance

Fizzy is a term used to describe horses with a natural enthusiasm for life and quicker reactions to external stimuli. Typically, these are horses bred for speed, such as Thoroughbreds, Arabians and their crosses, although even some of the traditionally less excitable breeds can keep us on our toes from time to time.

However, a Thoroughbred kept for racing is unlikely to be described as fizzy, despite being fed large amounts of concentrate feed and being stabled for most of the time, because the amount of exercise he has and the duration of that exercise (energy output) matches his feed intake (energy input).

Essential exercise

The amount, frequency and duration of any exercise is an important factor in the management of fizzy horses and, for some, it can be more about keeping things interesting rather than having to ride for a certain amount of time or at a particular intensity. These types of horse often benefit from mixing things up, such as adding some polework to a schooling session or focusing on transitions on a hack. Alternatively, find a local gallop so he can let off steam every so often on a good surface in a safe and managed environment.

Essentially, exercise is a key factor in managing these animals, and while adjusting feeding regimes and the kind of feed given can help, it can’t and won’t change your horse’s specific personality. Rather, it’s part of the jigsaw of his holistic management and workload.

Top tip

If you struggle to provide enough turnout time, especially in winter, consider a yard with access to all-weather turnout pens or safe, enclosed all-weather areas where horses are able to have a run around.

Find out more about feeding your excitable horse in August Horse&Rider – out now!