Does anyone feed their horses only gras and hay

Our little 3 year old is looking lovely living off grass and hay atm. She may need a little feed when we start backing her next year but we'll see how we go :)
 
Kezzabell2 said:
Why?

I expect cake every day but I don't get it when I go to bed at night!
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Horses are designed to have something in their stomachs 24/7. Leaving them in a stable overnight with nothing is a really fast way to give them ulcers. It's not about being nice ..... but if you want to give them cake, you go girl!
 
NZJenny said:
Horses are designed to have something in their stomachs 24/7. Leaving them in a stable overnight with nothing is a really fast way to give them ulcers. It's not about being nice ..... but if you want to give them cake, you go girl!
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haha obviously the horse will have hay, I don't think it needs a feed!

to be fair, I don't even care for cake haha, was just being silly :p (im a crisp girl and I've not eaten them for 11 weeks, 2 day, 5 hours......) not that I'm counting haha
 
Queenbee said:
Depends if you want to continue feeding a balancer/supplement. I see no problem with it, ben is a hunterweight horse, he lives off grass and hay... last winter i started giving him 1/2 a scoop of healthy tummy around January, but realistically this did very little, I upped his intake of hay... I feed him a bit of healthy tummy because he looks forward to it and it gives me a warm fuzzy feeling, but the reality is that he could easily survive on a buffet of hay and his grass :)
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I love the way you said feeding your horse Ben - healthy tummy- gives you a warm fuzzy feeling! Fab :D
 
I'm another who just feeds grass and hay and salt lick. Cobs both in great condition and full of energy. Even kept a TB like this. She looked great (perfect weight, energy and shiny coat). They get carrots after working. Never had any issues with others on the yard getting a bucket feed, but they've been tucking into hay at the time :-)

I'm now craving a bit if cake though....
 
Both of my Arabs for the last 4 months have only had grass and hay, one was on box rest for 3 months so didn't need bucket food and heven now needs to drop a bit of weight now his back in work, the other one was looking good to so I didn't buy anymore when it ran out I might start again once winter kicks in but they only get chaff micronised linseed and maybe copra so will see how they get on, both have salt licks in the stable which they do enjoy and I had someone say how well they looked last week so it can't be doing them any harm.
 
100% YES!!!!!

My Clydesdale lives on a billiard table - to keep her weight under control and it gives her plenty of exercise - and when its frosty here in NZ (not often in my area) she gets hay. Our grass still grows a bit throughout winter so feeding her is sooooo cheap.
 
Mine gets grass, hay when she comes in to be ridden, and equibites. She's absolutely fine and people comment on how well she is looking. She's a good doer so doesn't need the extra calories of a feed, and definitely doesn't need the energy!
 
Mine gets grass, soaked hay and a handful of happy hoof just to carry his hoof supplement (he came with crumbly hooves and they are looking much improved!) He looks very well on it and is very cheap to keep!
 
Yes. Absolutely.

...only gets 'feeds' if the work level increases enough for him to really need it. But pottering about and a bit of schooling and hacking, he only needs grass and hay.

Judging by the explosive gallops we had in the cut fields yesterday - he is not needing any more energy and certainly doesn't need any more weight on.

(He is a good doer, 14.2hh, 21 year old stallion that is in light work)
 
my 4 connies are on grass, ad lib 2nd or 3rd cut haylage, and they get the teeniest amount of Pure Feed Easy, a bit of linseed if I especially want their coats to be shiny (if we are showing, or I am about to clip), they have a Himalayan salt lick and that's it. They work hard and even the one that was playing PC polo all summer whilst also eventing & doing camp & so on, was definitely not lacking in energy & looked fantastic. They have amazing rock crunching feet and wont be getting any extra just because they are now hunting. The big baby ISH gets a proper scoop of Pure Easy because he came looking terribly poor, our grass isn't good this year and he is now in full work
 
LCH611 said:
my 4 connies are on grass, ad lib 2nd or 3rd cut haylage, and they get the teeniest amount of Pure Feed Easy, a bit of linseed if I especially want their coats to be shiny (if we are showing, or I am about to clip), they have a Himalayan salt lick and that's it. They work hard and even the one that was playing PC polo all summer whilst also eventing & doing camp & so on, was definitely not lacking in energy & looked fantastic. They have amazing rock crunching feet and wont be getting any extra just because they are now hunting. The big baby ISH gets a proper scoop of Pure Easy because he came looking terribly poor, our grass isn't good this year and he is now in full work
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Excellent, just shows you, if your horses thrive on the grass/hay then that's ideal! I'm sure some folk think I'm not 'caring' as our boy does not get 'breakfast' and 'dinner' like theirs do. :-/

But he just doesn't need it and fibre forage is the best and it's what they're system is designed to cope with. He looks great!
 
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