Newsdate: April 23, 2025 11:30 am
Location: GUELPH, Ontario

Hay season is just around the corner, making this the perfect time for horse owners to cultivate their forage knowledge. Equine Guelph is offering its popular Introduction to Forage short course from May 5–16, 2025, and this two-week, fully online course is a must for anyone looking to understand how to evaluate hay or boost their pasture productivity – important skills that can result in a more cost-effective feeding program for their herd.

Horse reaching through stall window to snatch a bite of hay from outside.

Whether you’re growing your own hay or use a supplier, knowing what you’re feeding is key to your horse’s health—and your wallet.
© 2016 by Makarova Viktoria New window.

Small adjustments in how we look at our hay, or when and how we manage grazing, can result in positive changes:

• Visual assessments can help us better predict which hay will be more appropriate for our equine partner and/or how we will need to manage their hay intake and the rest of their diet for the year.
• Lab assessments can give us even more information – and offer a relatively straightforward and inexpensive way (can be less than $80 CAD) to better understand the hay. 
• Pastures can recover from spring flooding if you limit damage from grazing and treading on vulnerable roots. To protect the roots, give paddocks a rest and delay grazing until plants recover. Horses should be removed from fields before their growth drops below 3″ – 4″.
• Stocking density directly impacts the ability for your pasture to meet your horse’s nutritional requirements. If you don’t have enough acreage to support continuous grazing, it is important to supplement hay and manage turnout and pasture to prevent overgrazing.

Whether you’re growing your own hay or use a supplier, knowing what you’re feeding is key to your horse’s health—and your wallet. This course gives you practical tools to make informed decisions about hay quality, pasture use, and overall forage management. Learn how to assess hay visually or through lab testing, and how to manage your pasture for optimal longevity this year. 

Leading the course is experienced forage specialist and author, Dr. Paul Sharpe. Said a past participant, “Dr Paul Sharpe was a wealth of knowledge throughout this course!” Dr. Sharpe brings years of experience and makes the science easy to understand, even for new horse owners. He is an exceptional instructor and fosters an online learning environment that encourages questions and dialogue.

This course will help you:

• Be hay-season ready: Learn what to look for when buying or baling hay this year
• Evaluate forage with confidence: Get the knowledge you need to choose appropriate quality hay and avoid waste
• Save on feeding costs: Make smarter feeding choices and get the most out of every bale
• Maximize pasture health: Tips to get more grazing days and reduce hay dependence
• Dive into online learning: Discover an engaging and supportive online environment 

The course requires only 5–10 hours per week, and you can log in whenever it suits your schedule. Participants receive a Certificate of Completion from Equine Guelph, and Equestrian Canada members can earn 3 points towards their NCCP Coach/Instructor Professional Development Activities Updating hours.

Register now and reap the benefits of your new knowledge when that hay harvest arrives!

About Equine Guelph

Equine Guelph is the horse owners’ and care givers’ Centre at the University of Guelph in Canada. It is a unique partnership dedicated to the health and well-being of horses, supported and overseen by equine industry groups. Equine Guelph is the epicentre for academia, industry and government – for the good of the equine industry as a whole. For further information, visit www.equineguelph.ca.

Press release by Amy Sales - Story by Nicole Weidner, Equine Guelph