Feeding hunters/pc horses

RuthnMeg

RuthnMeg

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I've always grown up with knowing that if your horses is in medium to heavy work you up their feed a little. I class hunt horses who go out maybe twice a week, hack and possible school between times and have 1 day off as in this work catagory. I would feed more to TB types (possible sterotyping) than I would something more 'cobby'. I would also allow them to have a stuffed hay net twice a day with a few hours out at grass too.
So, imagin my surprise and confusion when the yard in which I now work part time (mainly hunters who also do some PC things) are fed '1 scoop' of chaff, watered down. 1 horse has a handfull of pastermix. My own horse, (who is not currently in work) gets large scoop of pony nuts and chaff, plus carrots and apples and a large section of hay while living out 24/7.
I wasn't sure if the feed chart was right - so I asked. answer was;
'I don't want the horses to get excited, rather they were lazy and thin than hot headed and difficult to stay on'.
Shall I say, I bit my tongue and carried on mucking out!!
Honestly - what do you guys think to this, and I don't mind if you agree to me or them.
 
14.2hh - good
Off work maxi cob - good (thats Murphy!!)
15.3hh - (chestnut rearer from previous thread the other day) - hes ok, but the hunt season has a long way to go!
16.1hh mare - she is quite 'grey houndy' and I would be worried if this feed regime continued.
15.1hh tb type - again, much like the mare.

Have to add, they are still all on their toes, and their coats are good.
 
well!! only you know how well they look or dont!! personally it doesnt sound enugh to me but is the haylage/hay ad lib? are they fat and shiny? each horse has different needs according to type and work done! but you are there part time, and unless you are willing to stick your neck out i doubt things will change! are the owners happy? maybe your YO/employer needs to up her prices and up her feed! only you can tell! and you might have to vote on your feet.............. and if they are hirelings well they need to be sane and do the job with numpties on board but dont need to be thin!
 
My 16hh+ hunter type was on just that until last week, when I deemed he needed to have some topline cubes added for conditon, until then he simply didn't need any more hard food than that.
 
Thnigs won't change - yet. I won't get too involved unless my opinion is aked for. The answer that I got did surprise me, hence I thought i'd get a second opinion on here!!
 
What type of chaff? Some have much more energy in them than others. D is on good doer which is the lowest calorie chaff you can get, if I fed her soomething like Alfa A oil I'm sure she'd be very different.
 
I hunt my horses on quality ad lib hay and a few pony nuts and hi fi. So I think thats OK. It doesn't hurt them to be a bit thin (IMO). Not that my half bred Irish horses do thin anyway!
 
I don't think it matters what they are fed as long as they are healthy and have the energy to do the work they need to do. It doesn't sound enough, but unless their ribs are showing, then it must be.

There is a bit of a fashion at the moment for horses to be kept far too fat, with ribs not able to be felt never mind seen. I'd rather see a hunter on the thinnish side than the fattish side.
 
sounds like you are on a private yard! you could sneak thaem bigger scoops in their feed, but you will either have to bite your tongue or walk!! As long as they are having ad lib hay/haylage, and are wormed and teeth done then they will be ok. not ideal but ok
 
If the horse looks and feels well on it then I don't see what difference it makes! Mine was hunting on a handful of high fibre nuts and a scoop of chaff daily, plus adlib haylage. I would only up the feed if the horse looks like he needs it, not "just because".

Why does your horse need so much feed when he's not in work? Being facetious but that's the other side of the coin... I wouldn't feed a horse who isn't working that much!
 
2 native ponies currently in race training for Boxing Day, also do a lot of PC/RC activities.

They get 1/2 scoop chaff, 1/4 scoop fibrebeet and are currently getting more or less adlib haylage. They are both very calm and chilled but have plenty of energy.
 
That's all mine get - unless they loose weight or lack stamina they won't get more. I think people feed too much starch and sugar and then wonder why their horses are stupid. Then they agonise about which calmer to feed, it's ridiculous.
If mine need more energy or weight then I will give them haylage to supplement their hay.
 
Agree with you SM. My daughter's pony hunts, showjumps, events, dressages and shows all off a couple of handful of high fibre cubes twice a day, plus good quality haylage. Only time she gets 'proper' feeding levels is when she is at Pony Club camp and working three hours a day without access to grazing.

In my book you feed for need - if the horse is in good condition with the energy to do the job required then the feeding can't be far wrong! A lot of horses can work quite hard without significant hard feed if they are on good grazing or have plenty of good quality forage. Some, however, can't maintain their condition and energy levels on forage alone and then it is time to introduce higher levels of bucket feed.

If the horses in the OP are in good condition and are performing their job well then it seems the feeding regime is working. However, if one or two of them are losing weight then their feeding needs to be reviewed - it is possible to give bucket feeds that are low starch and low sugar which will help them maintain condition without heating them up.
 
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I've always grown up with knowing that if your horses is in medium to heavy work you up their feed a little

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I disagree with that. If your horses are loosing condition, or don't have the engery to do the required job, you up their feed a little. Their diet should be based on their condition, not their work load (although their condition is obviously linked to their work load).

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I would also allow them to have a stuffed hay net twice a day with a few hours out at grass too.

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Again, I disagree. It sounds like you limit their fibre/forage intake? It's what horses are designed to eat and I would never limit their hay/halage/grass in exchange for feeding hard feed.

Most horses I know could easily manage medium to hard work on just adlib good quality hay or grass and a token feed. And quite a few who would still get obessily fat on that regeim!
 
My 4 year old who is hunting once a week (2 or 3 hours) as well as being exercised every day and Sunday off only has half a scoop of conditioning cubes and 2 large double handful's of mollichaff twice a day with vegetable oil in. He has as much hay as he can eat and he looks amazing.

I'd much rather feed less hard food and let him eat as much hay as he likes. He seems fine on it.
 
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