Call me a numpty...

T

tigers_eye

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Ok, feel free to point out if I've made some gross error here (I did fail maths at school).

After 20+ years of looking after horses and *shock horror* only weighing feed and hay at a yard where I was paid to do this I decided to weigh William's intake today.

Assuming he weighs 500kg, 2.5% of his body weight is 12.5kg right? I didn't even get as far as weighing his feed (two flat scoops of competition mix per day), as he's munching through 17kg of hay a day
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. I learnt my management from my mum, and except in the cases of the real fatties, I was always taught give them as much hay as they'll finish up, so I'm not about to drasticly cut back his hay. I am however now much clearer on why my feed bills are what they are.....
 
But..... if he looks good on it and has the right amount of energy why are you feeding too much?

*another potential numpty here*
 
That is a lot of hay a day .....

Imagine a small bale of horsehage - now that weighs 20kg, but the same volume of hay (don't forget horsehage pressure packed) would be far higher given the water content in horsehage higher than hay.

However a greedy horse stabled 24/7 and given adlib ....
 
1 scoop of mix is approx 1.4kg by the way.

If he's holding his condition and not gaining weight then why change it? But guess you cold try cutting back if you wanted.

imo you can't apply that rule to all horses, after all like people they all have different energy requirements depending on work load and their BMR.
 
I don't think of him as that greedy though, if anything is the slightest bit off or has drugs in it he won't eat. He doesn't eat his bed (straw). Both things my old greedy boy (Liberty) would do when the hay ran out... I look forward to him having turnout again though I must say.
 
Surely that depends on the scoop
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? I know I have two different sized ones. The ones he gets two a day of are the (admittedly most common, so prob the one you are talking about) round bowl-type scoops. So if you're right then he's eating 20kg per day.
 
I feed as much hay as they want to eat. I would far rather they stuffed themselves on fibre. Also is that based on them going out as well?
 
Im from that same school TE.
Always have fed my horses as much hay as they can eat. Actually Snoopy could probably live off hay and still be a telly tubby.
 
Mines on probably similar amounts, and she is looking rounder than she ever has... but she gets no hard feed...
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Would much rather stuff with hay an cut down other feed stuffs! Thoroughly enjoying feeding this way, as never could with Goddy as he wouldnt eat much hay... Suppose it depends how expensive hay is
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The only catch is there are other reasons for having fibre available to horses as much as possible, not just nutrition.

I was a working student for an "ultra BHS/Pony Club" person and we weighed everything the horses got at every meal!! Took forever.
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But the horses also had either grass or hay (Canada so no haylage) when they were turned out, which seemed a bit to defeat the purpose of weighing all their other groceries!
 
I dont wieght anything, I feed by eye and by what the horses are doing, the have ad lib hayledge in their stables at night and are turned out during the day, I fill their haynets until I can just about lift them to hang them, frankie always leaves a bit, Pk leaves a lot and the two boys pretty muh polish off the lot bar a few dregs on the floor. I wouldnt like to think of them in with no hay. but at £30 per bale it isnt cheap is it!
 
If it aint broke dont fix it! I would not worry you have been around horses long enough to know what you are doing despite what the books say
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I am sure I would get a shock if I started weighing my horses hay. I am not going to though as they all look extremely well, have enough energy to do their job etc. TBH with horses there are no rules, just guidelines.
 
The textbooks can only give a rough guide for an average horse. Can be a useful starting point if you have a new horse and don't know what he was fed before, but after that you just have to adjust things according to the horse's condition and energy levels.

Apart from the fact that different horses have different calorie needs, the different types of feed and hay have different calorie values as well. So 12.5kg made up of top quality dry haylage and conditioning cubes will keep a horse much fatter than 12.5kg of low quality hay and high fibre cubes!
 
I wouldn't even dream of weighing the amount of hay Oskar gets through per night. He eats hay like you've never seen a horse eat. Hoovers the stuff. But he's not a fattie, and doesn't get a lot of hard feed for his work load, and I'd prefer him to get as much forage as he needs. Luckily hay in included in our livery.......
 
I'm like you TE and have always fed as much hay as they can eat. My boy is at a perfect weight this way and I feed hard feeds as an addition if he needs it.

Never failed for me yet..
 
I wouldnt worry - if he looks good and is leaving nothing and is not obese then keep feeding the amount normally
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fwiw, my horse gets large haylege nets, one in morning and one at night. The morning one usually gets refilled around 12pm! One big round bale of hayledge lasts our yard 3-4 days... a yard of 6 horses
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