Holly Lisle's
Vision
Sunlight
and Air:
Feeding A Fictional Horse
By
Mary K. Wilson
©
2002, Mary K. Wilson
Too
many fictional horses exist on air and sunlight.
In countless stories, a horse and rider gallop for miles, without any
thought being given to the horse's stamina and energy levels, both of which are
directly related to good nutrition. When
it's time for war, these same steeds valiantly dive into the battle without
worrying about enemy weapons, unless it's crucial to the plot.
Then, the poor horse dies in a big, heroic battle, and the rider finds
another steed to abuse.
As
with humans, good nutrition lies at the foundation of proper horse care.
Horses require food in large quantities to function properly.
The diet of a horse depends on its workload, its age, and its stage in
life.
Most
fictional horses work for a living. Whether
as a knight's mount, a plow horse, or a king's hunter, these horses exert large
amounts of energy in the course of their daily lives.
A horse under light work may need only 1½ to 2 pounds of hay per 100
pounds of body weight
and ½ to 1 pound grain, if that much. Given
that an average horse runs from 1000 to 1200 pounds, your character is looking
at feeding at a minimum 15-20 pounds of hay or forage a day.
This means if the horse is on the road, it will need to stop and graze at
several intervals through the day.
A
heavily worked horse will need 1 to 1½ pounds of hay and ¾ to 1½ pounds of
grain a day (again per 100 weight). Grains
can be as simple as a mixture of oats and corn for a country character to an
elaborate version of sweet feed that is fed to horses today.
Sweet
feed, a staple in many barns, is a mixture of oats, corn, and other grains laced
with molasses. When a fresh bag of
sweet feet is opened, the sweet aroma smells good enough for humans to eat. Some manufacturers add pellets containing nutritional
supplements to their sweet feed.
Mares
in foal and weanlings need even more food than described above, while horses
"out to pasture" need less.
Other
foods such as beet pulp, milk products, and corn syrup can be added to the grain
mixture to give it a different taste or to form a special mixture. A king's barn may feed horses as lavishly as a show barn
would do today. Barn managers and
grooms also carry with them their special recipe for bran mashes and other
delicacies to improve the condition of a horse.
Your
character should also keep in mind the cost of feeding a horse.
If he travels and doesn't carry his own feed, then he will need to
purchase it at the inns where he stables his horses. Most inns should keep a "house blend" of horse feed
on hand, but just like full-service boarding barns, they will charge a premium
price.
A
horse in campaign most likely will be fed from the ration wagon, which will
carry feed for horse in{should this be "horse AND rider"?} rider, and
on a farm, the farmer will keep some stock of grains on hand to feed the horses.
Can
a horse exist on sunlight and air? If
it is properly explained through the particulars of a fantasy world, I don't see
why not, but keep in mind that real horses need real food.
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