Hay only diet, yeigh or neigh

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Horsekaren

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It is easy to get confused when walking into a store to buy horse feed with the huge variety of choice.
It got me thinking is there any need for it all :S
Would our horses school and behave better without all the grains and sugar from these feeds? Can they get all the nutrients they require from Hay and Grass alone? as they once did in the wild?

Has anyone tried a hay only diet and did you see any decline or improvement?
What are your reasons for feeding your specific feeds?

I am feeding my horse a majority Hay and Grass diet with a small token feed once a day of Fast Fiber, calmer/ biotin.
My reasons for this combination is he needed to gain a bit of weight so started on 1 scoop of Fast Fibre but I haven't stopped this since the weight gain/ Calmer to combat the sugar in the grass in spring/autumn/ biotin because I hear its good for strong hoofs.

Keen to hear opinions :)
 
Marketing!!!! The main reason I give bucket feeds is as a carrier for the necessary supplements (two special needs horses lol) but it does depend on whether the forage contains all they need. Even more worth getting it analysed if that's all you feed, but still worth it if not - fodder is a large percentage of their diet anyway
 
Mine get grass and hay only diets, in the main.

Balancers, pre-mixed feeds and most supplements are nothing other than a marketing ploy with no supporting evidence or benefit asides from anecdotal and placebo type effects, in my opinion :o...

Mine get a handful of grassnuts if they need to be given any medicine (Prascend for the oldie and antihistamines for the baby horse), and may get fed some straights in winter if they drop too much weight (alfalfa, grassnuts, linseed and oats), but otherwise nothing other than forage! They've also never looked better or healthier, and all are now keeping almost too well :o.

To add, the oldie is 24 and used to be fed excessive amounts to try and keep weight on, though she is partially retired now. I have a 14 year old out at adv med dressage, training advanced at home, she gets worked hard to keep the weight off with fast work, jumping and hacking all part of her routine too. Baby horse is 5 and being hacked and schooled, she is still deciding if human carrying is for her :o, she definitely does not need any hard feed to encourage her rouge behaviour :eek3:!
 
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A lot of horses will do just fine on hay and grass if it's good quality forage.

My boy is a pretty good doer, I started him on just hay and grass but his coat and feet weren't the best so I decided to start him on a supplement. Our grass isn't rested and the quality of hay isn't always great so I wanted him on a balancer to make sure he got all his vits and mins. He now just gets a handful of chaff and a balancer.

If you've got good quality forage there's no reason you couldn't try him on just hay and grass, most horses should do fine on it if they're not in heavy work.
 
We have 3 very good doers and 2 relatively poor doers, in summer they are all fed only grass, but our field is not 'just' grass, so they can browse a variety of herbs and wildflowers to get the nutrients they need.
 
I would hazard a guess that 60-70% of horses (excluding ponies - we all know that 99% of them are fine!) would manage absolutely fine if not very well on good quality forage and lots of it. Very few horses are worked hard these days - even most competition horses I know are in medium work, and many would still come under the light work classification. I might even say that my estimate is a little cautious.

I think a good part of it is marketing, the usual paranoia of horse owners (believe me, I get it too) but also modern grazing. We just don't have as much grass any more so most grazing is overgrazed, not rested enough which means the grass gets poorer and poorer every year. Modern livery yards aren't ideal for poor doers if you want to avoid hard feed. I also think that people underestimate how much hay is needed in winter - it needs to basically replace the total grass consumption. Often if you can up the quantity of hay (or consider haylage if appropriate) then the problem goes away.
 
Mine have been on hay and grass only last few months, they used to get a handful of alfa A oil and readi grass but that was more to make me feel better (Im a feeder) neither are in work and both quite porky, in fact my cob mare is way too fat so I stopped that, mare is still way too fat but my gelding is looking the best he's ever looked
 
mine is on hay and grass with one feed of half a scoop of alfa a,formula4feet and her supplements.. as she is half tb and 19 and we have hardly any grass i feel she needs a bit of feed, i will just increase the alfa a and the hay if she loses any weight as i dont want her to go intp the winter underweight.... she is looking just about right at the moment and not at all fat. she is hacked out 6 days a week for an hour or so and has plenty of energy...
 
If the horse has no access to fresh grass, then a hay only diet id going to be deficient in several vitamins (notably Vit E), which degrades when grass is dried. Therefore a good forage balancer is recommended if fed a hay only diet.

Both of my horses are grain/cereal free. Blitz hasn't had cereals since I bought him at 7mos old, and Tartine has been cereal free for at least the 4 years I have owned her.

Both horses have various issues, which are managed by adding specific supplements to their forage only diet, which is mainly related to the levels of minerals (tested). T gets a specific blend of supplements to support her muscles/muscle metabolism.

Most of the horses on my yard, except for a couple of difficult oldies, could go competing at their current level with a forage only diet. Any "lack of spark" currently shown is due to a lack of fitness, not inadequate coarse mix.
 
Mine lives 99% on grass which is her preferred feed anyway. She gets Agrobs hard feed and linseed when she works in the summer and everyday in the winter. She's 24 and in moderate to hard hacking work. The vet says she she's in great shape.
 
I used to feed only hay and/or grass but as he's aged he is no longer holding his weight as well as he ages and has poor quality skin & digestive problems. He is now fed as a result unmolased sugar beet, copra, linseed and grass chaff. This contains a balancer, digestive & joint support. He eats nothing other than grass over the summer by choice.
 
Even our oldies, who are still in light work, eat only grass, hay and Agrobs Wiesen Cobs, with salt, linseed oil and Aloe Vera juice. We are just beginning to introduce linseed, to maintain weight, but one of them isn't keen.
 
Most horses will live happily on grass and hay however once you start to put more athletic demands on them the picture changes just like human athletes need an athletes diet equine athletes need more care than those just doing gentle hacking .
Also if grass Is being restricted because the horse is fat the horse will have more need of a balancer than one living out in a twenty acre meadow .
My horses diet is mainly forage we use haylage not hay and feed a good quality balancer I am also careful to make sure they get enough good quality protein when they are working harder usually in the form of linseed and oats .
I also use the supplement myoplast sometimes .
 
Def yes but mine isn't ridden. He's a good doer and a pony. He lives out all year on restricted grazing with Top Chop Zero to ensure good fibre intake.

He has hay in winter xx
 
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