An easy keeper, easy doer, or (

British English British English is the set of Variety (linguistics), varieties of the English language native to the United Kingdom, especially Great Britain. More narrowly, it can refer specifically to the English language in England, or, more broadly, to ...

) good doer is a

horse The horse (''Equus ferus caballus'') is a domesticated, one-toed, hoofed mammal. It belongs to the taxonomic family Equidae and is one of two extant subspecies of ''Equus ferus''. The horse has evolved over the past 45 to 55 mi ...

that can live on relatively little feed. The opposite of an easy keeper is a '' hard keeper'' (''poor doer''), an animal that is prone to be too thin and has difficulty maintaining adequate weight. Easy keepers tend to be found most often in breeds originally developed to survive under harsh conditions. Most

pony A pony is a type of small horse, usually measured under a specified height at maturity. Ponies often have thicker coats, manes and tails, compared to larger horses, and proportionally shorter legs, wider barrels, heavier , thicker necks and s ...

breeds are easy keepers, and smaller, hardy horse breeds such as the Arabian or types such as the mustang have many representatives with this trait. Many

draft horse A draft horse (US) or draught horse (UK), also known as dray horse, carthorse, work horse or heavy horse, is a large horse bred to be a working animal hauling freight and doing heavy agricultural tasks such as plowing. There are a number o ...

breeds, such as the

Percheron The Percheron is a horse breed, breed of draft horse that originated in the Huisne river valley in western France, part of the former Perche province, from which the breed takes its name. Usually gray (horse), gray or black (horse), black in col ...

, are also easy keepers, as are most

mule The mule is a domestic equine hybrid between a donkey, and a horse. It is the offspring of a male donkey (a jack) and a female horse (a mare). The horse and the donkey are different species, with different numbers of chromosomes; of the two ...

s and

donkey The donkey or ass is a domesticated equine. It derives from the African wild ass, ''Equus africanus'', and may be classified either as a subspecies thereof, ''Equus africanus asinus'', or as a separate species, ''Equus asinus''. It was domes ...

s. Though it varies from horse to horse. Things like workload, and turnout time, can influence the amount of food a horse needs. If overfed with a too rich, modern diet, the easy keeper is prone to

obesity Obesity is a medical condition, considered by multiple organizations to be a disease, in which excess Adipose tissue, body fat has accumulated to such an extent that it can potentially have negative effects on health. People are classifi ...

and other health problems, including

laminitis Laminitis is a disease of the feet of ungulates, found mostly in horses and cattle involving inflammation of the laminae. Clinical signs include foot tenderness progressing to inability to walk, increased digital pulses, and increased temperatur ...

and

metabolic disorder A metabolic disorder is a disorder that negatively alters the body's processing and distribution of macronutrients, such as proteins, fats, and carbohydrates. Metabolic disorders can happen when abnormal chemical reactions in the body alter the ...

s. Easy keepers may be confused with a

mare A mare is an adult female horse or other equidae, equine. In most cases, a mare is a female horse over the age of three, and a filly is a female horse three and younger. In Thoroughbred horse racing, a mare is defined as a female horse more th ...

that is

pregnant Pregnancy is the time during which one or more offspring gestation, gestates inside a woman's uterus. A multiple birth, multiple pregnancy involves more than one offspring, such as with twins. Conception (biology), Conception usually occurs ...

, but an easy keeper tends to gain weight all over its body, not just in the belly. Easy keepers are not always easy to distinguish from a normal horse that is too fat from simple overfeeding. An easy keeper, though, gains weight more quickly and loses weight more slowly than an ordinary horse, and when fed a standard diet geared toward an average horse, will gain, rather than maintain, weight. While keeping enough weight on an easy keeper is not problematic, modern

animal husbandry Animal husbandry is the branch of agriculture concerned with animals that are raised for meat, animal fiber, fibre, milk, or other products. It includes day-to-day care, management, production, nutrition, selective breeding, and the raising ...

practices are often a challenge to such animals, as a modern diet can lead to a number of health problems, including obesity and, in some cases, laminitis. Some easy keepers may be prone to insulin resistance or equine metabolic syndrome (EMS), and possibly are more likely to develop equine Cushing's disease later in life. Easy keepers with a susceptibility to various metabolic problems are also more prone to develop a "cresty" neck, and to not lose weight in that area, even when placed on a diet. Regularly monitoring the horse's body condition score on a regular basis assists in helping the horse maintain proper weight.

Feeding

While easy keepers often thrive in the wild and can survive where other horses might starve,

domesticated Domestication is a multi-generational mutualistic relationship in which an animal species, such as humans or leafcutter ants, takes over control and care of another species, such as sheep or fungi, to obtain from them a steady supply of reso ...

horses with this trait require strict monitoring of their diets. In particular, easy keepers require very limited amounts of

fructan A fructan is a polymer of fructose molecules. Fructans with a short chain length are known as fructooligosaccharides. Fructans can be found in over 12% of the angiosperms including both monocots and dicotyledon, dicots such as agave, artichokes, a ...

and other non-structural carbohydrates (NSCs), which are found in higher concentrations in fresh spring grass, cool-season grasses, whole grains, late fall grass that has been exposed to a light but not killing frost, and drought-stressed pastures. NSCs are lower in healthy summer pastures, warm-season grasses, and pelleted feeds. Proper

nutrition Nutrition is the biochemistry, biochemical and physiology, physiological process by which an organism uses food and water to support its life. The intake of these substances provides organisms with nutrients (divided into Macronutrient, macro- ...

for an easy keeper involves restricting the diet to mostly a low-NSC hay or very time-limited amounts of grazing on healthy

pasture Pasture (from the Latin ''pastus'', past participle of ''pascere'', "to feed") is land used for grazing. Types of pasture Pasture lands in the narrow sense are enclosed tracts of farmland, grazed by domesticated livestock, such as horses, c ...

s. Any

grain A grain is a small, hard, dry fruit (caryopsis) – with or without an attached husk, hull layer – harvested for human or animal consumption. A grain crop is a grain-producing plant. The two main types of commercial grain crops are cereals and ...

or other concentrated feed is only required in very small quantities, if at all, even for a horse that is getting regular work, but an easy keeper may occasionally require

vitamin Vitamins are Organic compound, organic molecules (or a set of closely related molecules called vitamer, vitamers) that are essential to an organism in small quantities for proper metabolism, metabolic function. Nutrient#Essential nutrients, ...

mineral In geology and mineralogy, a mineral or mineral species is, broadly speaking, a solid substance with a fairly well-defined chemical composition and a specific crystal structure that occurs naturally in pure form.John P. Rafferty, ed. (2011): Mi ...

supplements. When this is the case, a separate commercial supplement added to a very small quantity of feed that is not premixed with supplements is preferred to a premixed "complete" feed that has supplements added. A complete feed has to be fed at a certain quantity for the animal to obtain proper amounts of the added supplements, which is often more feed than an easy keeper requires. If a complete feed is needed because the horse is used for intense physical activity with high energy requirements, or as a supplement due to a hay shortage or when very high prices for

fodder Fodder (), also called provender (), is any agriculture, agricultural foodstuff used specifically to feed domesticated livestock, such as cattle, domestic rabbit, rabbits, sheep, horses, chickens and pigs. "Fodder" refers particularly to food ...

make a complete feed a cost-effective option, some specialized complete feeds are designed for ponies and easy keepers. These mixes are low in calories and NSC, but with necessary nutrition. In the UK, these feeds are sometimes called "pony nuts". In the United States, no special term is used, though such feeds are often labeled as "lite" feeds or marketed as a pony mix.

Management Management (or managing) is the administration of organizations, whether businesses, nonprofit organizations, or a Government agency, government bodies through business administration, Nonprofit studies, nonprofit management, or the political s ...

of an easy keeper requires not only monitoring of diet, but also regular exercise, ideally

aerobic exercise Aerobic exercise, also known as cardio, is physical exercise of low to high intensity that depends primarily on the aerobic energy-generating process. "Aerobic" is defined as "relating to, involving, or requiring oxygen", and refers to the use of ...

obtained by riding or

driving Driving is the controlled operation and movement of a land vehicle, including cars, motorcycles, trucks, and buses. A driver's permission to drive on public highways is granted based on a set of conditions being met, and drivers are required to ...

the animal on a regular basis.

References

Safer Grass website
*Adams, Martin
"Feeding the Easy Keeper"
''EquuSSource'', accessed September 29, 2007 *Ralston, Sarah
"Maintenance of the "Easy Keeper" Horse"
Publication Number: FS799, Rutgers NJAES Cooperative Extension, 1 December 2001 *Gray, Lynda F
"How to Keep Weight off Your Horse: Managing the Easy Keeper"
''SmartPakEquine'', accessed September 29, 2007

External links

* ttps://web.archive.org/web/20091129213716/http://www.shady-acres.com/susan/conditionscore.shtml How to Condition Score Horses Horse management