Feeding grass / hay...That's it. Nothing else. Also in SY

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lazybee

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Everyday on here I read about:
Various supplements
Linseed
glucosamine
Molasses
Alfalfa
Balancer
minerals
magnesium
barefoot diet
Calmers
1001 different types of herbs
hacking mix
sugarbeet
bran
carrots
apples
brewers yeast.
1001 manufacturers magic mixes
The list is endless.

My horses are out 24/7 all bar one is working as he's too young. They live on grass and what ever else they browse from the hedges (They often eat leaves from here or there and young twigs brambles etc) and a bit of hay in the winter. THAT'S IT. They don't lose condition in the winter. No health issues and four out six shoeless. The youngster, (not working) grows hoof like mad and needs trimming once a month.

What I was wondering, are owners getting away from the natural equine diet too much and could this be causing many of the common problems we see these days? Horses aren't designed to eat grain. Are too many people taken in by feed manufacturers? I really don't think it's the rocket science some owners believe it is. There must be others out there, surely I'm not alone. Or have I just got lucky pasture?

Discuss
 
Mine gets grass and horsehage with a salt lick. Since stopping the recomended daily supplement of vits and mins along with speedibeet and hi fi chaff she's gone from strength to strength. Had a bit of fast fibre over winter and that was it.

I do think that over supplementation is as bad as having a deficiency and it means the horse's body has to work harder to get rid of the excesses produced, as well as potentially creating imbalances elsewhere, yet we are told that horses need a balancer by nearly all the manufacturers.

Keeping it simple is easier and cheaper and if the horses are doing well and thriving I see no point in spending hard earned cash on expensive supplements.
 
mines on redigrass, hay and normal grass
(and a handful of nuts for her ball - no sugar)

NO supplements etc - she got/had gastric ulcers so therefore needs a very simple diet


shes looked the best she has been in 18 months - :)


so yes - i do not agree with feeding supplements for the sake of.... :)
 
My risng 3 yr old is on grass and hay and has a salt rock in her field.

I posted recently about her being foot sore, she has very hard feet but slow growing and with the ground being so hard she was wearing her feet down too quickly. I was advised on here to feed her some vitamin and mineral supplements, magnesium etc....well i already had some daily vitamin and minerals feed supplement so gave her that with some chaff ( hasnt been getting hard feed since Christmas) she ate it for 2 days then turned her nose up at it.
She is out 24/7 now with hay over night and a salt rock available 24/7 too and Im planning on getting her a paddock lick ( her grazing is good but individual turnout with electric fencing, no hedges!) just so she has an option if needed.
 
Mine gets what he finds in the field end of (haylage in the snow only) ....my loan gets a handful of chop with his mobility sups but that is all. Both look awesome. They have great feet and great coats and need nothing more.
 
My DWB currently looks like an emancipated greyhound.

Not enough grass.

I can't magic up the grass. Hay isn't filling the space. Therefore she's on:

TopSpec Balancer (Competition)
Re-leve
Equi-Jewel
Speedibeet
And in every night, rugged and stuffing her face on haylage.

A week of the above regime and she's starting to look less like a rescue case. Disclaimer: she drops weight stupidly quickly vet checked. She lives out as much as possible, is clipped to cope with her workload, rugged to suit weather conditions (usually!), and fed in accordance with her needs.

It's horses for courses ;)
 
I have an ID & a Dutch WB, both I would describe as being in light work. They have hay, couple of scoops hi fi molasses free twice a day, small addition of carrots & apples, mineral lick and whatever grass is available. They both look really well with lovely shiny coats.
 
Jess has half scoop Alfa a, 1/2 scoop pasture mix, small amount of supabeet (will come off when finished this round I made up) and a glug of oil twice a day! She asleep has hay in field morn and evening! She lost a lot of condition last winter and wanted to make sure she survived this winter. Food will be cut down as soon as grass starts growing!
 
We do not have enough grass in our fields for the horses to live off so in the winter they get haylage twice a day although not in summer. Mine gets two mugs of Bailey's lo cal balancer and a handful of alpha a every day too all year. She lives out 24/7/365. I kind of know what you mean re all the "stuff" that can be fed but I think these days people ask a lot of their horses all year round there are also more foreign breeds around that maybe need more to keep them going. When I was young you more or less turned your horse away for winter unless you were hunting it. Now with the all weather arenas, indoor schools etc there are year round shows for all disciplines so horses have to keep going.
 
Our TB and WB/TB have lived out this year. They have had hay and feed twice a day (build up mix, sugar beet, chaff and balancer). Having taken their rugs off in the better weather for the past two weeks they too look like veteran rescues cases. On Friday we started a regime of three, bigger, feeds a day.
There is no one answer.
 
My girls don't have any hard feed during the summer months / once the grass has come through. However, in the winter grass is sparse and so they do get additional feed

However, what they get is Alfa a, and fibre cubes if I'm feeling generous ;).

So they do eat only fibre basically

I recently had my girls teeth done, and the dentist commented on how good their diet must be, as after 18 months, they needed very little work done, and he said this was due to correct diet :D. I was pleased :D
 
Ours are out 24/7 (a TB, a cob and a Welssh Section C). They get penty of haylage in winter (though not ad lib) and the two tiny feeds a day - the TB gets a bit more. No supplements at all, sensibly rugged in deepest winter but rugs off every day the sun shines, January or not.

I'm deliberately going back to the days of my youth, when horses were fed far less complicated diets, and frankly, were healthier. So yes, I agree with you, even if I haven't quite achieved your standard yet - but I'm getting there!!
 
Ok, there IS a lot of marketing involved but the other thing that must be taken into account is whether or not your grazing is able to provide a natural diet.

Large acreages of old leys with plenty of herbs and hedgerows are much more likely to be able to do this than either rich mono-species grass or small patches of horse-sick scrub. If you are lucky enough to have the former then treasure it, your horses will thank you!
 
lazybee said:
What I was wondering, are owners getting away from the natural equine diet too much and could this be causing many of the common problems we see these days? Horses aren't designed to eat grain. Are too many people taken in by feed manufacturers? I really don't think it's the rocket science some owners believe it is. There must be others out there, surely I'm not alone. Or have I just got lucky pasture?
Click to expand...

Compared to me...obviously yes... :)

Most of the horses on the yard are a tad ribby at the moment as they're all out 24/7 instead of filling their faces on haylage over night - and the grass is really poor... I also choose to feed at regular times for a variety of reasons that suit me...

a) The turn out is mixed on 23+ acres on the side of a mountain and quite difficult to negotiate in areas... Instead of playing 'hunt the horse' when I want to ride or do regular care maintenance they are all politely waiting by the gate to come in...

b) The TB is on hoof supplements (obviously working by the change in his feet) and the hard feed gives a supplement route...

c) I only feed Fast Fibre or L Mix depending on the horse and in quantities that supplement the state of the grass as required by their physical appearance and on an individual basis... TB gets far more grub than the native pony who needs weight monitoring..

d) Now they're all out as a very amicable herd - throwing lumps of haylage into the easily accessible areas could create arguments and not benefit those lower in the pecking order... Before getting into the personal issues of who is feeding who's horse...

e) When it's raining I'd rather dig out hooves, health check or give medical interventions like injections in the stable/barn than on a mountainous terrain...:)

The opportunity for a feed whether it's a good meal or a measly snack provides a routine (for me) that's about far more than the feed...

:)
 
In the wild horses can browse and eat what they need.
We often see horses eating soil, their body is telling them they need something.
Stuck in one field out horses can browse a variety.
I am all for sticking to simple things, my horse gets pure feed, grass and hay. But I thing in most horses will need at least a broad spectrum suppliment or balancer.
 
I have competed on just grass, and would again. However when neccassary I do feed, Alfa, alfa beet, fibre nuts, equijewel, and equilibra.
 
It's funny that you mention the 'barefoot diet' in your list, as this is purely and simply a diet which the horse has evolved on.
 
Depends on the horse and the pasture :)

We have selective bred competition horses that aren't good doers not like the native ones living amongst 100s of acres of pastures and herbs etc to selective feed on.

Yes horse should naturally drop a bit of weight in winter and then add a bit over summer, but if your horse needs more than your fields can offer then it needs additional feed.

You have to work with what you have (field and horse wise! :) )
 
Although my lad is out at grass 24/7, the grass isn't that great so he is on:

Balancer
Speedibeet
Alfa A Oil

plus ad-lib hay


As he has EMND, so I need to ensure he has a higher vitamin E diet (hence the Alfa A oil, although its mainly its fibre based).

If he was a good doer on good grass, then I wouldn't touch his diet
 
Grass, plus hay when there isn't enough grass.

Anything else depends entirely on the horse.

I feed by eye, not by what the book or the back of a packet says I should or shouldn't do.
 
In the winter when my horse is stabled at night and the grass quality poorer than summer she gets seaweed and a small amount of fast fibre to mix it in.

In the summer she gets grass and if she is stabled during the day to get her off the grass she has hay.

Funnily enough she has a shiny coat, looks very healthy and it in no way affects her fitness :rolleyes:
 
I have Hippo on a joint relief supplement and a general purpose one that includes biotin. She gets one scoop of Hi-Fi Lite and a handful of Easy Mix along with aforementioned powders.

Aside from that, just grass now. Hay in the winter, or if she's in.
 
Mine just get grass and hay and live out 24/7 apart from the very worst weather. As I am still waiting for summer fields to grow on a bit more the big one gets some Readigrass also. They also have ad-lib hay. He gets oil in his Readigrass and I keep a bag of HiFi nuts around also for treats/bribery/if the weather turns very cold and he needs some extra.

One is a reasonably poor doer ID (in what I would consider very light work) who is clipped and rugged and the other a small companion pony.

Both look well, the pony a little too much so - I prefer both to be a little on the lean side going onto the new grass so they don't get overweight through summer. It's natural for horses to look a little ribby this time of year IMO.

I struggle with the ID as he's allergic to everything :rolleyes: An unknown alfalfa allergy really knocked him for 6 this winter and at one point he was very poor. Atm, it appears we cannot feed sugar especially anything molassed, anything too high in, barley in any more than a miniscule amount and any kind of Alfalfa. So that pretty much leaves grass and hay!

He hunts, does long pleasure rides, schools and jumps on just this diet with plenty of energy. However, if he needed more I would add some more energy, in the form of high quality fibre if I could, to his diet to provide it.
 
I've just got a 4yo who needed to put on weight. I've done this with fast fiber, pony nuts, hifi lite. He's looking smashing on it, still has a way to go. But he is on good grass and if in at night he has ad lib hay.

I am also one for less is more in terms of ingredients, and I prefer high fibre diets. Adding oil if necessary.
 
Agree with keeping it simple (mine just has a simple unmollassed grass chop and small amount of speedibeet to moisten to carry her minerals in). However undoubtedly some horses in hard work/ in poor condition / have special requirements do need something different as some grazing and hay will not support the deficiency. SMy mare is a good doer so is on restricted grazing. She has mineral supplement because I don't believe she gets all the nutrition from 1 acre of grazing
 
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