Hay Rations

a horse will eat 2% of its weight in food per day [dry weight] so if nothing else is available ie no grazing or other food then a 500kg horse needs 10kg of hay per day. If the weathers cold then probably more.
my horses are approximately 700kg and 550 kg they eat 2 small conventional bales a day in winter sometimes more depending on how mucvh grass there is and how much is given in the bucket feeds.
 
If mine is overweight, then I feed 1.5% of her targeted weight.
If she is at the ideal weight, then I feed 2% of her weight to maintain it.

Native ponies, living out 24/7 in winter and on a token feed.
 
If you don't have a means of weighing it, a good guide is that a horse should always have a small amount (a large-ish double handful is what I aim for) left by the time they're turned out or given another net. If you want them to lose weight this should still be the case but the speed at which they eat (and therefore the amount they eat) can be reduced by using two haynets or a trickle net.
 
annagain said:
If you don't have a means of weighing it, a good guide is that a horse should always have a small amount (a large-ish double handful is what I aim for) left by the time they're turned out or given another net. If you want them to lose weight this should still be the case but the speed at which they eat (and therefore the amount they eat) can be reduced by using two haynets or a trickle net.
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Perfect. You read my mind!!!! I can't weigh it. HAve tried double netting him, he got really quite frustrated with it. But maybe I need to try again. We have moved and he is stabled during day, will change to night. And paranoid he is not having enough. He is perfect weight at the moment. So want him to be much in but not gaining. Don't have any way of soaking it either. He is older so keen to keep weight down for joints.

He walloped me round the head with his remains when i doubled netted as if to say you bloody try it!!! Was funny but felt so sorry for him. Lol. I will just stand back or duck this time.

Thank you.
 
tallyho! said:
The recommended winter feed forage ration is 1.5% according to the BHS.
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Mine would be a welfare case on that.

A few years back she was off grass entirely for a few months and she was having 4% of her body weight in forage plus a bucket feed and was far from overweight! You have to feed the horse in front of you.
 
Kat said:
Mine would be a welfare case on that.

A few years back she was off grass entirely for a few months and she was having 4% of her body weight in forage plus a bucket feed and was far from overweight! You have to feed the horse in front of you.
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I wasn't saying it was right or wrong Kat...
 
The problem is that even hay has a certain amount of water content, so the 2% dry matter is not the same as 2% of the horse's body weight in hay. And many horses will eat far more than 2% of their own body weight and be a perfect weight.
 
He would eat all day. When I loaned him out years ago, he got to an embarrassing shocking 700kg i was unable to check on hI'm. We soon got that gone and loan ended. He is now a fair bit older and a healthy 585kg. Although lots of grass to move onto. So dout he wI'll do porly this winter like last. I double netted him for tomorrow with a little extra and will see what happens.

I was just curious re rations although he is a typical lad and has his own rule book. !!
 
I'd ignore "weights" and work on what works for your horse. A someone else so rightly pointed out, weight doesn't take into consideration density and/or quality and/or sugar content.

Right now I'm feeding adlib last year's timothy hay so it's very dry and quite "rough" (low sugar and requires lots of chewing) - quite a different beast to 10kg super sweet haylage!

(The BHS is 3 decades out of date in terms of nutritional advice... much like the NHS!)
 
WindyStacks said:
(The BHS is 3 decades out of date in terms of nutritional advice... much like the NHS!)
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I know, and it's worrying. Just got their magazine and was slightly dissappointed to read that... although I will give them the benefit of the doubt that they probably meant 1.5% for overweight horses?

Who knows.
 
I agree you should feed the horse in front of you. I have two native ponies. Last winter they were both given the same ration of hay. My Haflinger looked like a hat rack and my NF looked like a blimp!

Edited to add: I did correct the rations.
 
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HaffiesRock said:
I agree you should feed the horse in front of you. I have two native ponies. Last winter they were both given the same ration of hay. My Haflinger looked like a hat rack and my NF looked like a blimp!

Edited to add: I did correct the rations.
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Were they being fed in the field or stable? If in field, perhaps the NF was stealing the Haffie's portion?
 
1.5% on light work, up to 2% on medium work or more if they are in hard work - and calories can be burned to keep warm as well as work or exercise of any kind. And that is just a guide.
Feeding is an art, because of all the unknowns, like how much DM there is in the grass, how many calories are being burned, how much their particular system utilizes the food, and that is why you feed to what the horse requires and responds to. It's balancing act between trickle feeding and feeding the right amount, and although there is science underlying it, it isn't the be-all and end-all.
 
I am surprised that 1.5% per day is being quoted - I understood it to be AT LEAST 1.5% forage dry-matter (which depending upon the analysis of the forage is more than 1.5% of weight) Anything less is for very specific diets under strict veterinary supervision.

When I slimmed down an EMS pony the ration was 1.5% of actual weight or 2% of target weight , whichever is greater. So for a pony going from 500kg to 400kg then the ration was not 7.5k but 8kg dry matter. This actually translates into more than 8kg, as all forage has some water content even dry hay.

The two ponies I have now weigh just over 700kg between them, when they are off the grass and on hay only they are eating the best part of 20kgs per day allowing for water content in the forage and a little wastage and leavings.
 
I think it depends on the individual and the work/weather. I think 1.5% is for maintenance on
good quality hay or grass, if you feed soaked hay for example you can feed more.
 
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