Horse Feed ~ Help Please :)

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RainbowBrite777

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Hi Everyone

I am currently studying but don't have a horse to answer this myself, and I need examples of actual horses and their diets. Can anyone help please. I need the following info:

Description of a horse in detail height, weight, type, age, temperament, type of work they do. Give quantities and types of feed the horse is normally given when/if stabled. Briefly explain why these particular feeds have been chosen.

It's just so that I can see how much food a horse requires against the work they do etc.

Any help is greatly appreciated!
 
OK . . . I have a 16.3hh Polish warmblood (type), he's 15, is quirky, has a high adrenalin drive and will stay hyper once wound up. He is stabled from about 4.30 p.m. until about 8.00 a.m. (less if he works in the evening which he does three days a week), works six days a week, and has suspected ulcers. We feed him a very low starch/sugar, high fibre/forage diet so he gets ad lib hay in the summer and a mix of hay/haylage in the winter . . . hard feed is a unmolassed chaff, Dodson and Horrell ERS Pellets, micronised linseed and two supplements: pure MSM to help his joints and magnesium oxide to help his feet. In the winter he also gets Speedibeet and/or Copra depending on how hard he is working/how much he is competing.

Amounts (in each feed):

- third scoop (stubbs) chaff
- third scoop ERS Pellets
- quarter scoop linseed

(plus, in winter - split between two feeds)

- quarter scoop (dry weight) Speedibeet
- quarter scoop (dry weight) Copra

When he's in full work he competes (hunter trials, dressage, jumping) at least two weekends a month - sometimes more), works six days a week (combination of schooling, lessons, hacking, on the walker, lunging) and travels (on average) to competitions an hour or so each way. He used to hunt, but not any more . . .

Hope that helps.

P
 
15.2hh 550kg. Medium weight hunter, good doer, five year old gelding, kept barefoot so low sugar high fibre diet is a priority. In about five days work two days off, daily work varies from 40mins to 1.5hr hacks, with walk, trot and canter, one schooling session and a couple of short jumping sessions a week ( often, after one of the 40 min hacks) sj competition about once a month now. In at day in summer and out at night, in at night/out at day in winter. Summer, grazing an unfertilised paddock, and eating one large-small holed haynet of dry haylage a day, no feed, no treats. Winter, ad lib haylage at night, breakfast and dinner are the same: 2/3 scoop of soaked speedie beet and 1 scoop of unmolassed grass chaff with general supplement, up to two cups (daily) of linseed meal added for condition if needed.

Additional note, last winter no linseed needed, the winter before three cups per day as he was still growing and changing shape... Its my back up conditioner but i doubt it will be needed this winter even if he is still in five days work a week as he tends to get sufficient energy from his hay/haylage and only really has a winter feed because im a softie now!
 
This guide shows how much variation there is between the weights of feeds and may help the OP if answers are given in scoops.

http://www.baileyshorsefeeds.co.uk/feedingexplained/calulcator2/scoopweighttable.htm


My horse is 16.2, on the lighter end of middleweight ISH he weighs around 575 possibly a bit more as currently in light work only and carrying a little more than ideal, weighed on a weighbridge at 560 when slightly underweight so a fairly accurate guess rather than by the very inaccurate tape method which is way out for him.
Currently out over night, in on adlib haylage during the day, has about 1 kg of grass nuts, before soaking, divided into two feeds each day, will require more in winter as he is not a really good doer on haylage alone but have not yet decided what to use this year.
He has supplements added to the feeds.
In light work 6-7 days a week, often doing something twice each day, he is rehabbing following injury so mainly walking up to 11/2 hours a day.
Temperament, he is generally sensible but gets sharp if bored, currently bored as not doing much.
 
Description of a horse in detail
height: 15hh
weight: about 500kg I think, not entirely sure, maybe 550kg. About where he should be on condition score scale, bang in the middle.
type: Connemara, poss connemara cross cob
age: 8yo
temperament: tries hard, very nice person, enjoys working and learning, generally bold and brave but can be anxious and overreactive, sensitive and a bit sharp. tendency to get stressed.
type of work they do: bit of everything - mainly low level eventing, dressage, show jumping, hacking, recently started team chasing and sometimes hunts. In an average week he will school 3x (up to an hour), jump once, hack x2 (up to 2 hours, lots of hills), and one of those sessions will be substituted with a competition every 2-4 weeks.

Give quantities and types of feed the horse is normally given when/if stabled. Briefly explain why these particular feeds have been chosen.

He has been out 24/7 all summer and is currently doing that level of work off reasonable grass, a handful (when dry) of Speedibeet, Pro Hoof supplement, a tbs salt and half a mug of micronised linseed. I've recently switched him to this from Dengie Healthy Tummy. He is much less sharp and spooky on this new feed, keeping weight on better, but has also lost some sparkle so I need to have a think about adding something else in. Once he comes in at night he will continue to eat the above unless he drops weight and feeding adlib hay doesn't solve the problem. If more feed is needed, I will start by increasing the linseed and go from there.
 
Hello

Mine is a 5 year old 15.1 warmblood x (possibly connemara) weighing in at 356kg on a weightape.

He is a stressy horse by nature, tends to spook when on his own, but in a group will happily take the lead. Is quite loving, but definately a cheeky one. Likes to work/ think/ please but gets bored very quickly and will make his own fun to combat this.

Workload is light as is currently being brought back into ridden work slowly, but will lunge/ hack inhand between 3 and 5 days a week dependant on weather and behaviour. Will hopefully be my (small) event horse in the future so workload will adapt to what he is comfortable with phyically.

Feed is chosen with stress, growth and development in mind. ( previous history before being given to me at 2 1/2 years is he was starved at around 1 years old then taken on by someone else who proceeded to back at 2 years old at an immature stage which led to issues with his back and hips (tight muscles and possible kissing spine) which is now being seen to with a 2 year rest period working with the physio and the farrier.

Current diet per day is

Meadow grass haylage ( quite dry) between 16-24lbs, depending on appetite but pretty much ad lib for him.

Up to 1kg (2 stubbs scoops) dengie healthy tummy
1.3kg (1 stubbs scoop) baileys racing light ( his alternative to baileys top line conditioning cubes)
225g ( 1 baileys cup) baileys stud balancer.

If at all stressy or travelling to a small show, he has 20g baileys digest aide added to help settle his stomach.

This is what he has looked and felt the best on so far after trying many feeds, as he can be a fussy eater but can also become fizzy on some feeds.

Hope this helps
Sorry for the essay
 
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