Guessing that grass livery will affect food needed?

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Arizahn

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As the title, really.
I'm moving Hippo onto 24/7 grass livery at the end of April. So I'd love tips on appropriate feeding! I've never kept a horse out 24/7 before.

Details:
14.3hh Arab mare, reasonable/good doer, aged eleven
In very light work - currently has either 15 minutes lunging/30 minutes schooling (dressage), or 15 minutes lunging/30 minutes hacking per day, and has Sundays off entirely.
Hoping to build up to 15 minutes lunging/60 minutes schooling (dressage), or 15 minutes lunging/60 minutes hacking, and would still have Sundays off entirely.

Current Feed:
1 scoop Dengie Hi-Fi Lite (half in the morning, half in the evening)
1/4 scoop Champion Easy Mix (half in the morning, half in the evening)
2 slices of soaked hay (evenings only) *Enough to stuff a large Shires brand hay net to the brim, basically*
Plus eight hours grazing

I'm guessing that once she's out 24/7 she won't need as much hard feed...is it still okay to give her a small evening feed after bringing in/riding, so that I can pop her supplements into it?

I've gotten a bit perplexed as to whether I'm feeding her enough, tbh...though she seems fine weight and condition wise. Currently I'm only giving her the feed in order to have something to pop her supplements into, obviously as I start to do more with her I will adjust feeding accordingly.

Sorry...just trying not to make a total mess of this changeover:o
 
I would drop to just one feed a day as you thought. If you are going up in the morning too, maybe a double handul of the dengie and a couple of carrots would be ok. Its really just a case of monitering it, I usually assess mine once a week to see if I need to up or down feed.
 
I bring in and feed fast fibre all year just to maintain a routine and to have a route for any supplements/meds as required - and somewhere dry to groom/check over etc..

The amount is drastically cut down when the grass is good compared to winter... My haylage amount has dropped to 3/4 bale in a month instead of 4/5 full ones since they've been out 24/7... But the grass is still pretty dire and they're a tad ribby so the feeds are still a fairly decent size - bar one pony who has teeny portions anyway as she maintains weight on fresh air...

I just kinda play it by ear depending on how they're looking... Once it rains and the grass blooms and they fill out a bit, their hard feed is a small amount to maintain habit rather than belly filling volume... :)
 
If the grass is good, then you should only need to give her some chaff for the supplements and nothing else, even if her workload goes up a bit. :)
 
Look at the grass, does it have meadow plants in it? Is it rich? is it looked after?
totally depends on the quality of the fields. Meadow plants give the nutrients horses need.
 
Thanks for all of this:)

Supplement wise, she gets biotin year round, stroppy mare when she's in season, and a general purpose vitamin/mineral when the grass is poor in winter. At the moment she also has a himalayan rock salt lick in her stable...will have to find a means of replacing this when she's out at grass.

I will take her off the Easy Mix then, gradually, and just use the chaff in the evenings. I will be checking her over everyday so if she starts to drop off I can adjust accordingly. I'm panicking over nothing, it's a habit of mine:o
 
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