Feeding horse on grazing

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Tabbatha12

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Hello, I'm new here and I just had a question.
I was thinking about getting a horse but keeping it on grazing 24/7 but I didn't know what I would need to feed 😕 should I feed him hard feed and hay aswell as his grass or not? I have found one, he has been on grass before, he is a cob, 15hh. I was thinking about just feeding him baileys local balancer but I didn't know whether I needed it. I'm just trying to get an idea of cost 😊
 
Feeding will depend on many factors: his weight at the moment, the amount of grass and acreage, the intensity of his work, etc. My very simple rule is if he's fat, feed less (or not at all), if he's thin feed more. Many cobs in light work and on adequate grazing don't actually need any extra feeding at all, or just good hay at this time of year. Depends entirely on the circumstances and the individual horse (but don't believe what you read on feed bags!).
 
My cobs do well on hay and a handful of chaff with a vit and min supplement - they also live out 24/7.

As the grass runs down I just up the hay (not the bucket feed). They also have access to a salt lick, and obviously water at all times. Cost wise, I go through a sack of chaff approx once a fortnight, and replace their supplement once a month, so are minimal.

One of mine hunts twice a week on this regime, and looks fab, and still has loads of energy!
 
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There are a lot of factors to take into account :)

How much grass is there and what kind of grass is it?
What kind of horse is it?
How much work will the horse be doing?

I currently have a field with an IDxTB, a ClydesdalexCob, a Warmblood, a NF pony and a Section A living out all year round. The field is 20 acres of rolling hillside - the grass is not fertilised or improved, and there is a lot of gorse, woodland and some marsh land. The horses are restricted to 6 acres during the summer, and then from October to April, they live on the full 20 acres.

Depending on the weather, they start getting small amounts of hay in December - they are currently on two leaves of hay each per day, one in the morning and one in the evening. They enjoy the hay but are not desperate for it - once they become hungrier, the amount of hay we offer will increase.

All of them are in good condition - the IDx and the NF wear no fill rugs on rainy days but otherwise are happy without. The ClydieX wears a rug with a light fill. The Warmblood wears a 200g rug with neck. The Section A doesn't wear a rug. The field has natural shelter from trees and the lie of the land but no field shelter. They all look a bit large, because the wet grass + hay diet leads to big bellies - horses who are stabled during the winter on dry hay tend to stay more svelte! However although the bellies are big, the parts where we condition score remain reasonably constant throughout the year - the Section A tends to get a bit too fat and we try to make sure she has regular exercise to counter this. The IDx is in constant light work all year round, but not enough to warrant any additional feed.

All of them get bucket feeds because we know the grass and hay around our area has some minerals in excess (iron, manganese and aluminium) and some minerals are scarce (copper, zinc and magnesium). So rather than feeding a "balancer" which just adds extra of all minerals, we give a small bucket feed of speedibeet and chopped hay, to which we add a custom made powder containing only the minerals that are lacking. All the horses do well on this. They don't need the calories in the feed which is another reason not to feed bagged balancers, they just need something to which we can add the mineral powder. They do enjoy their buckets though, and it is a good way to make sure they all appear out of the vast field at about the right time twice a day (if they're not waiting, they come to a whistle).

So basically, how much your horse needs in addition to grass depends on whether the horse holds their weight well, whether they're exercising more than a few hours a day or whether their exercise is fast/challenging, whether the field has a lot of grass or not much, whether the grass is a good type of grass for a horse, what the weather is like... Best way of working all these out is to observe the horse and see if they stay warm, happy and fit on your grass, and if not, add extra hay - and finally, if that doesn't work, add rugs and bucket feeds.
 
Wow thankyou, i can't really answer the questions because we don't have the horse, and we don't know what size the field will be or the grass quality. But I will take your answers into consideration :)
 
I won't repeat the good advice on here but it's impossible to know in advance what any one horse might need. If you're drawing up a budget I'd suggest feed could be anything from nothing to perhaps £40-50 per month, and hay potentially the same - all dependant on the horse, the field and the weather!
 
Mine are
1 psg dressage horse 17.2h.
2 mares competing elementary and medium dressage.
1 retired 28yr old tbx.

out 24 7. I have 14 acres of grass. They get 10 acres of it november to march. The 4 acres are used 1 acre rotated weekly in summer. If the 4 acres needs resting I use 4 acres of the 10 winter acres for 3 to 4 weeks.

Out 24hrs. Routine is checked 2x day.

Feeding is copra cool, soaked oats, plus pro balance and salt.

Id start by feeding something simple like fast fibre plus minerals vits, hay and grass....add in more energy as needed.
 
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