feeding

parsley

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I think that roughly I need to feed 2.5% of my horse's bodyweight in feed and that as he is only in light work it needs to be about 75% forage and 25% concentrate with no more than 2kg of concentrate in one feed. He is about 670kg so he needs aboput 17ks of feed a day with about 4.25 kgs of concentrate. I would like to look at feeding him stratights and am not sure of the proportions I need to feed.

Does anyone know if I have got the above about right and also can anyone recommend a book/s on equine nutrition that is suitable for someone who doesn't have a degree in the subject?
 

Happytohack

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Yes you have the proportions about right. My own horses are all good doers, so I reckon they need 2 - 3% of the bodyweight in feed per day. A 500 kg horse would therefore need between 10 and 15 kg per day. Traditionalists think that this amount should be split 75% forage (grass/hay/haylage) and 25% hard feed. My own horses have a high fibre forage based diet. Therefore they have grass and in the winter are fed ad lib high fibre haylage with a small quality of high fibre feeds including vits and mins. They are never fed cereals or molassed feeds. If you want more information on feeding a forage based diet, check out Simple System feeds website for loads of information.
 

parsley

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Thank you
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tiggersdad

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Information given by the feed manufacturers is aimed at selling feed rather than actual experience and requirements. Native types or cobs may manage on two percent requiring only forage with a vet min supplement. Most horse feed is now waste from human food and processed to look attractive to us humans. I think most horses would be best kept on unlimited forage although haylage might have too many calories. The working horse from the past would have hay straw and chaff not the straights mentioned in the books, the working class could simply not afford to buy it!
 

parsley

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My two were turned out last winter with adlib haylage and one feed a day. The Welsh one stayed the same weight but my cob lost about 75kg. This winter I will try and feed him a bit more. I have been making a few enquiries and opinions seem to differ. Some people feed their own mixes and others say that feed companies have spent millions of £ developing nutritionally sound feeds. I really need to get out and find some literature on it.
 
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