Do people feed their horses according to their own appetite?

Doormouse

Doormouse

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This probably sounds really odd but I have noticed a theme on our yard and wondered if anyone else had seen the same at all.

1 livery has an enormous appetite, her plate is always piled with food and she snacks alot too. She does have a big horse so obviously it needs a larger feed than some but when the horse was being picky about eating I suggested she cut down the huge bucket of food and either split it into 4 feeds a day or just gave her a smaller amount for a few days to encourage her to eat again. She gave her one small feed and then the amounts started increasing again and are back up to huge and the horse isn't eating it again.

2nd livery eats like a sparrow, always has tiny portions and usually skips meals. Her mare needs quite a bit of food as she is young and growing but no matter how many times I say she needs to increase the amounts it always creeps back to tiny portions.

Anyone???
 
Hmmmm....an interesting concept?!

I like to think I feed mine according to their workload and condition so are treated as individuals. But I do think people 'humanise' their horses too much nowadays, making feeding too complicated, and feed unnecessary amounts when good quality forage is really only what most horses need.

Will be interested to see what others have to say....
 
No.... I eat a lot myself, but I realise I have a Native (youngster), she gets sprinkling of her balancer twice a day as hard feed goes, and is growing nice and steady. She lives out 24/7.
 
Sidney said:
I like to think I feed mine according to their workload and condition so are treated as individuals. But I do think people 'humanise' their horses too much nowadays, making feeding too complicated, and feed unnecessary amounts when good quality forage is really only what most horses need.
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No more evident than in rugging lol. But the marketing men for the feed companies have a lot to answer for - most equines don't do enough work to justify all those cereals and sugars etc found in cubes and mixes. Completely agree about the good quality forage and maybe a small feed as carrier for any supplements or as a treat after work. I used to know an owner who overfaced his horse with a huge bucketful daily and yes, he is a person who loves his food.
I haven't noticed a correlation between owners appetites but the majority of horses are overfed. Bit like the majority of people in this country!
 
JillA said:
No more evident than in rugging lol. But the marketing men for the feed companies have a lot to answer for - most equines don't do enough work to justify all those cereals and sugars etc found in cubes and mixes. Completely agree about the good quality forage and maybe a small feed as carrier for any supplements or as a treat after work. I used to know an owner who overfaced his horse with a huge bucketful daily and yes, he is a person who loves his food.
I haven't noticed a correlation between owners appetites but the majority of horses are overfed. Bit like the majority of people in this country!
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I would agree entirely that many horses are overfed and often over faced by large buckets of food twice a day which if all that food is necessary should be split over several feeds.

What surprised me so much was that the younger horse who is light and needs more bulk feed and more hay still gets a tiny feed twice a day and not really enough hay and is beginning to look a bit like her owner!!!
 
Interesting thread that made me think.

Personally, I have a very good doer and an average doer. They share hay in the field and the very good doer gets a token feed of fast fibre when worked and the not so good doer gets a stubbs scoop of conditioning nuts mixed with half a scoop of soaked beet once a day, and they both look fab.

Another girl has a pony and 2 horses. The pony and one horse are good doers so she feeds them all the same, to the detriment of the less good doer who looks a bit too lean for my liking. Another woman feeds her TB mare like she is a race horse! The bucket of feed is huge and the TB really fat! I have never in all my years of horses seen an obese TB, but she just thinks TB = FOOD!!

So, not really to do with owner appetite, more feeding for type or convenience rather than individual circumstances.
 
In a way yes... I like things to snack on through out the day, usually fruit or nuts, my horse is NEVER without hay and does well on that. He then just gets 1 feed a day at the moment of 3/4 a scoop of fast fibre, this is more because it for his supplements and he then is VERY easy to catch when he's expecting dinner and another livery brings him in for me. But he's not doing a lot at the moment, so deosn't need a lot and when he picks up work again when it's light later (no floodlights) his feeding will change - but this is what's right for him in the winter. It just so happens it's similar to what I do in the winter - in the summer I usually can't be bothered to eat, whereas he eats like, well, a horse.
 
I've never thought about it until now, but you may be on to something here OP. It doesn't happen at my farm as I feed all the horses here according to their individual needs. However ... where treats are concerned I have found that those who snack a lot here also treat their horses a lot. Those who are skinny minnies and don't munch constantly, don't treat their horses. Very interesting concept you've come up with though :smile3:
 
Spring Feather said:
I've never thought about it until now, but you may be on to something here OP. It doesn't happen at my farm as I feed all the horses here according to their individual needs. However ... where treats are concerned I have found that those who snack a lot here also treat their horses a lot. Those who are skinny minnies and don't munch constantly, don't treat their horses. Very interesting concept you've come up with though :smile3:
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That is very interesting because the livery who eats alot also snacks on sweets all the time and feeds her horse lots of sweets too whereas the other livery never gives her horse any treats at all.

I do really think that in some cases, where as someone said earlier, horses are too humanised by their owners, that they are fed according to how their owners eat rather than to their own needs.
 
And in the case of hay, the overfed horse has a haynet that you can't physically carry every night and most of it seems to end up on the muck heap every morning. I'm all for ad lib hay but not to the extent that they are wasting over 1/2 of it though.
 
Oh dear, maybe I am bucking the trend.....

1 of mine is fed according to the work he is doing - and as he is new and hacking 1 hr a day 4 or 5 days a week, its very basic ration, till I find out what makes him tick - hald small stubbs scoop of hi fibre nuts & hi-fi lite twice a day currently
The other is mini-field companion who is a chubber, however she also gets 2 feeds a day; the equivalent of a desert spoonful of hi-fi lite & 6 pony nuts drizzled on the top, this only because they share the same field....
No treats to speak of for either, except on random rare occasions.

Myself? I need to stop snacking, stop piling my plate......:redface3:
 
If I monitored worried and managed my own diet with the rigour I do the horses it would probably do me a power of good however I would have became one if those intensely boring people who have to travel everywhere with all their own food and who you can't go out with for a meal and laugh .
 
Mine gets nothing but grass and hay, although I do keep a bag of Speedibeet on standby in case he needs any medication.

I personally have a bad habit of forgetting to eat for er, up to a day or so at a time...whoops! This does not happen with any of my animals.
 
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Recently attended a very good talk given by one of the top balancer makers. We were told that feeds should be no bigger than the size of the horse's stomach (about half one of the large scoops for a 15hh) as anymore will just pass through the horse without being digested, hence you would be wasting your money.
 
I don't, I am a rake, don't eat a great deal as I eat when I am hungry so can mean I only eat once or twice a day. My horses are feed according to condition and workload is equal measure, My horses always have ad lib hay and hard feed (if any as they need it)
 
Yes that's pretty much the gist of it ^^ asmp. Depending on the size of the horse and the nutritional value of the feed, 3lbs to 5lbs is generally the maximum you should ever feed in one serving. I use balancers so a smaller poundage is all that's required to keep optimal condition on the horses. Chaff isn't used over here so the above is simply the concentrated feed.
 
Goldenstar said:
If I monitored worried and managed my own diet with the rigour I do the horses it would probably do me a power of good
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I feed straights and mineral balance, I won't let them have anything unhealthy or the horsey equivalent of fast food.

I then get home after a long day of work and/or yard and stick something unhealthy in the microwave.
 
No, my horse is a very poor doer, myself less so........

I think money has far more to do with feeding that owners eating habits. We have had changes in the packages offered on our yard and it is remarkable to watch horses feed change when the package changes - even those owned by the more affluent owners!
 
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