Every day horse owners are becoming more educated about what goes into their horse’s bodies, and hay is not getting overlooked. The demand for tested hay is high, and producers are beginning to provide analyses in order to entice consumers.

While I am a firm believer in independantly testing the hay that is in your barn and not relying on the test from tons of hay to ensure what your horse is consuming, a base forage analysis is a way to narrow the list of potential suppliers. Once you have an analysis of the hay in your barn, its easy to get started building a diet around it.

In this class we will walk through analyses of many different types of hay and in some cases get to see samples of hay that has been tested. You will learn how decipher DE, WSC, ESC, NSC, ppm, %, Dry Matter and more. You will learn that the best hay for your horse is more than the best hay. It’s the hay that suits your horse’s current life stage, health status and workload.