Horse out 24/7...

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Fox07

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Would you still feed your horse if they were out on grass all the time and were ridden 4-5times a week on hacks with a few fast canters? Just turned mine out for the Summer and not sure whether to keep on feeding him the same, he currently has 2 handfuls of Dobson and Horrell pasture mix and 2 Handfuls of chaff. He isnt fat although he is an arab x cob. Any advice would be great! Thanks
 
Mine live out permanantly and are fed all year round. In summer all they get is a scoop of chaff though with a general purpose supplement to make sure they're getting all the right vits and minerals.
 
Play it by ear - that's what I'm going to be doing.

I suspect that unless I ride the socks of him Thumper is going to get very rotund, so his feed has been reduced dramitcally already. It left him out last night, and suspect that will be it now.

But he'll still get a balancer even if not 'hard feed' per se.
 
Ours aren't out 24/7 yet (fields still wet) but last summer Bob had Lo Cal Balancer and chaff with vits & minerals. It was only a handful of feed really, probably not worth making up!!! I just kept an eye on his weight to make sure it didn't go up or down too much.
 
You only need to feed if he is losing weight, however I would provide a little daily snack with a broad spectrum supplement added to it
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my welsh x cob is out 24/7and i give him a handfull of happyhoof with garlic in thats all now unless he starts to drop his weight
 
Merlin is out 24/7 on very good grazing
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and all he is getting is enough chaff to put his linseed oil and joint suppliment in . . . . too scared to feed him any more incase he splits
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My TB 'pleasure horse' is still fed despite being on fab grazing.
He's already dropped some condition as he spends all his time wandering around trying to 'cop off with' the mares and/ or playing boys games with the geldings....... eating is way down his adgenda!
 
Really does depend on the horse. My exmoor gets a handful of Happy Hoof and supplement added to that. It's not a big handful, either! The shettie gets half a handful. Not very scientific, I know! They also have a salt lick in the field.
 
Depends how fat he gets! My two are out 24/7 now and one is a skinny and is still fed (albeit much, much less than when he's in) and the other is a fatty and just gets a handful of chaff for his vits and garlic.

I have been told that spring grass has similar protein levels to competition mix, which is a bit scary, isn't it! Mine are certainly feeling very fresh on it.

You may have to feed a bit again once the spring grass burns off in the height of summer, but then again, you may not.

Fab isn't it - so cheap!
 
My gelding is out 24/7 but is still fed twice a day, the content of which is altered to suit throughout the summer depending on weight, workload etc.

A lot of horses at my yard are out 24/7 with no extra feed though, it really does depend on the horse and what you're doing with them.
 
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