Does anyone feed their horses only gras and hay

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Yardbird

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Just wondering if I could just feed my good doer cob grass in the field and hay in the stable at night and some equibites?
Currenly fed fast fibre and pro balance. Only fed to give him minerals.Thinking to change from FF to a chaff like Thunderbrooks but then thought , why bother , why not just give an extra slice of hay .
 
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I fed 11, mini donkey to TBx, 2 -37 year olds. I feed very little hard feed now at all. Donks have access to mineral block, Natives get literally handful of chaff with naf general supplement. Then the 3 poorer doers get 1 scoop chaff, 1 scoop pony nuts and Blue Chip Balancer once a day. They then all get adlib hay, initially ate loads but now they know it not going to run out its slowed down a lot, I use 3 round bales a week.
 
Yardbird said:
Just wondering if I could just feed my good doer cob grass in the field and hay in the stable at night and some equibites?
Currenly fed fast fibre and pro balance. Only fed to give him minerals.Thinking to change from FF to a chaff like Thunderbrooks but then thought , why bother , why not just give an extra slice of hay .
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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 :)
 
yep! Connie X type who is a pretty good doer. gets grass 24/7 in summer and haylage when stabled in winter. nothing else. He doesn't need hard feed and it only hots him up, making him silly. He gets plenty of work, is fit and healthy and happy on the above. If other stabled horses get hard feed he gets a bucket with a carrot in to keep him quiet!
 
If they can get what they need from the hay & grass then yes. Will save you some money too. I feed mine a bit of timothy hay as she would much prefer to stay out so its her reward for coming in.
 
So, do you feed any kind of minerals to balance the lack of them in your forage?Thank you for the replies, they are much appreciated.
 
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Yes in summer, although they have a smallish feed in winter (to make them keen to come in more than anything as I hate traipsing round the field in the dark looking for them. They don't show any evidence of vitamin / mineral deficiency so I don't worry about a supplement or balancer.

I'm a bit cynical about feeds in general and think the whole mineral and vitamin deficiency thing is just a ploy to make us spend more money. As long as your grass / hay is decent and fields not over grazed it will give a healthy horse exactly what he needs. Extra calories for a poor doer, a horse in hard work or in winter is a separate issue.
 
my mare lived off grass and hay only for the first 7/8 years that I owned her! its was only when I moved yard and had a smaller field, with less grass and the hay price had gone up and she was mid 20s that I started feeding her!

she is 30 now, she is still on the same diet, lots of grass, adlib hay during the winter and gets 2 small feed scoops' worth of fast fibre! and she looks amazing for her age!
 
all the nags at my yard are fed at different times in the evening, so there isn't a mass door kick for the ones that aren't fed!

my boy gets fed in the mornings, during the winter because all horses are fed by the first person on the yard, and he would kick the door!! but he doesn't get anything when he goes in at night!

they only expect something if thats what they've always had, but I'm sure they will soon get out of the routine, just like they do when they are out 24/7 and you stop feeding for the summer!! they still come over for food for a couple of days but as soon as there's nothing offered, they go away and find something else to eat!
 
Mine are stabled at night, and they do get fed then, but because they need a bit extra in winter and not because they expect it. If they come in and their feeds aren't there - usually because I'm going to ride, but sometimes stop feeding in spring while they're still in if the grass comes through strongly so they don't need it - they look a bit miffed for a few seconds and them tuck into their hay and forget the expectation after a couple of days.
 
If they bang the door then just give them a slice of hay when the others are fed, or a chopped apple or something if you really need to give a bucket - they just expect food at that time, not necessarily the food everyone else is getting.
Mine live on grass and hay, more hay in the summer and just grass and whatever is in the field in winter, they don't get hay in winter as they just don't need it. They have access to a mineral block and salt blocks but only use them sporadically. They do have a reasonable collection of plants in their grazing and edible hedges etc which they do eat as well.
 
Ours have hay all year round, whether in field or stable. The only bucket feed they get is grassnuts and dried grass chaff, if they need it. The only supplement is salt, except for the one that needs Aloe Vera to keep her tum healthy. They also have access to salt licks.

I am very sceptical about strongly marketted horse feeds/supplements and having had horses with bad reactions to a number of feeds and mixed supplements, I only ever feed single ingredients, so that if there is a bad reaction, the culprit is easily isolated.

Ours always come in to hay, so they don't look for a bucket.
 
Pearlsasinger said:
Ours have hay all year round, whether in field or stable. The only bucket feed they get is grassnuts and dried grass chaff, if they need it. The only supplement is salt, except for the one that needs Aloe Vera to keep her tum healthy. They also have access to salt licks.

I am very sceptical about strongly marketted horse feeds/supplements and having had horses with bad reactions to a number of feeds and mixed supplements, I only ever feed single ingredients, so that if there is a bad reaction, the culprit is easily isolated.

Ours always come in to hay, so they don't look for a bucket.
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How do you give the salt when they are not fed?
 
Yardbird I usually feed some salt and a balancer in a little S.beat.
I was thinking I might damp the hay and sprinkle the balancer and salt on it.
 
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mine has an apple flavoured salt lick, not sure she eats much, although this morning she had a green ear where she'd rubbed it on. She has Oestress so i need something to feed that in without the added sugar of a carrot or apple every day. She does walk faster to get in and clearly looks forward to it.
 
Mine get nothing but grass and hay (soaked). They have access to a salt lick. They are, if anything, on the tubby side and certainly don't lack energy! BUT, they are all easy-doing breeds. Not every horse can get by on forage alone.
 
I certainly wouldn't feed flavoured licks of any kind, goodness knows what their ingredients are! And I would be amazed if there is no sugar at all in a flavoured lick.

If your horse needs a particular supplement like Oestress and you know that it is beneficial, that is very different from just falling for the marketting dept of the big companies.

ETA, I have a mare who was bought obese and had to be on a diet for several years, so her ad-lib forage was oat straw chaff but now that she is older, she is finding it harder to maintain weight. So she has soaked grassnuts and grass chaff (Graze-On) to keep her weight/energy up. If she needs anything more, I will add in soaked Speedibeet.
 
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Oh dear, it seems i am a horribly cruel owner!:)

My 13 Highlands are all still at grass but now have a 4x4 of barley straw to nibble at in case they need roughage. When the grass has gone, they will get hay bulked out with barley straw and a Red Rocky salt block as a lick (my soil is deficient in copper and cobalt).

This applies to all ages, from foals to oldies.

None come in at night and none are rugged (they grow their own). Most of the shelter is natural; a small wood, gorse bushes, and young trees.

I am 80 miles from John o'Groats in the Highlands of Scotand. A few miles up the road, minus 25 was recorded a couple of years ago.

I do believe in feeding on condition. That means a quick regular feel of ribs to judge what they need. I don't believe any animal should be obese.
 
Hi, when mine is in full work he gets feed, but this year he has been resting and has had grass and dry hay, and a handful of Formula 4 Feet, with a sprinkling of salt. He also has a salt lick. He look FAB!
 
I do not feed through the summer, my natives head would explode, he is too hot & doesn't need the weight. But I must stress we have LOADS of grass. But once grass looses lushness I feed a balancer, started feeding that after work in Aug & feeding daily since Sept. Then once he is in at night, daily turnout, hay & balancer bulked out with fast fibre or chaff.
 
My 2 yr old & HW cob are quite happily living off the land atm and look amazing!
They have access to a 10kg Red Rockie which they both use and a Himalayan lick. The 2 yr old will get extra in winter of he starts to drop off. If I soak hay in winter I do tend to feed a pelleted vit/min as soaking takes most of the goodness out.
The NF competition pony gets fed a fair bit but he needs it! Horses for courses as they say :-)
 
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