The Friesian: A Delicate Gut In A Heavy Frame

Friesians look like they should eat like a draft horse. They should not. The breed carries a well documented tendency toward digestive sensitivity and impaction colic, and the frame hides condition well.

The three common mistakes

1. Too much hard feed. Big horse, big scoop — and a hindgut that cannot cope with the starch load.
2. Not enough long stem fibre. Chopped and pelleted feeds pass too quickly.
3. Inconsistent water intake, especially in winter, which is the classic impaction setup.

Build the ration from fibre

Start at 2% of bodyweight in forage and only add concentrates if the work genuinely demands it. For a 700 kg Friesian that is 14 kg of hay a day before anything else goes in the bucket.

If your Friesian is losing condition on 14 kg of decent hay, the answer is usually dentistry or worms, not more grain.

Feather and skin

Heavy feather traps moisture and the breed is prone to chronic progressive lymphoedema. Nutrition will not cure it, but adequate copper, zinc and omega-3 support skin integrity. A forage analysis tells you whether your hay is already supplying enough.

Practical plan

• Meadow or Orchard hay as the base — softer, easily chewed
• Soaked fibre feed to guarantee water intake through winter
• Salt available at all times
• Small, frequent meals rather than two large ones