How little hard fed does a big horse need

Flibble

Flibble

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I am almost frightened to post this as late last year I was trying to reduce feeding costs but :

My Horse is rising 7 16.3 ISH with a lot of thoroughbred stabled and fed ad lib good quality haylage.

Last summer we had weight problems but since he has been in 24/7 and ridden daily he seems to have piled condition on.

He is not fat but looks really good and felt far too well over christmas and didnt eat all his feed so I reduced it.

I have used a weigh tape to keep an eye on weight loss and he looks astonishingly good and shiny.

He is fed Winergy Equilibrium Condition plus HiFibre Cubes and Pink Powder.

I wont say how much as someone is bound to say good grief he needs more than that but honestly how much does a horse 'Need' if in average work and looking good with ad lib haylage?
 
If he's putting weight on, he's eating more than he needs. If he's losing weight he's not eating enough. As long as his weight is relatively stable and he has a healthy condition score, he is getting the right amount
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Most horses, unless competing regularly and working hard, are only in 'light work' according to the feed bags - worth bearing this in mind - I was reading my feed bag with interest last night!

Just make sure he's getting all his vits and mins
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Sounds like he is a healthy happy horsey
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i only feed hard feed in additon to forage (grass/hay/haylege etc) IF the horse needs it - ie if they begun to drop weight - if they are fit and healthy and a good weight on just forage then i'd just give a suppliment to ensure enough vits and mins.
 
qr- A horse needs what it needs! If the horse looks good on a handful then that is fine, sod what people think it should be having. Feed by the horses individual needs not a stereotype. 20 people would feed the same horse differently anyway, so go by your horses condition.
 
My 16.2hh doesn't get much at all really. He's on really great hayalge, has just enough hard feed to give him the energy he needs and have him looking well - and that's it.

If feed him very much by eye - and dropped his feed considerably over Christmas due to lack of exercise because of the weather. And have not upped it yet.
 
I have a very active 17h idxtb who doesn't have any hard feed. He does need a lot of fuel though and I keep him on a high fibre diet (hay/haylage, hifi lite and speedibeet) and he does very well. I would go back to hard feed only if I started competing again as I think he would need it.

I have to confess I've never gone by recommendations, always by how they look and are in themselves.
 
The key is the quality of the forage - the better it is, the less of anything else the horse needs. Mine barely get any hard feed at all (in fact the 11.2 pony gets more than the 16.2 hunter) but they all get generous quantities of good quality haylage 3x a day.

It amuses me how much feed companies "recommend" on their feed sacks - not that they are trying to sell more of the product or anything ...

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I have a 17hh warmblood who is a big horse in that he is broad as well as tall. He is in 24/7 at the moment doing a couple of schooling or jumping session a week and on the walker. He looks and feels extremely well and is fed nothing but good quality hay.

None of my horses are getting any hard feed at all, they all look well, are sane and well able to cope with their work load.
 
The feed bag will recommend how much to feed a horse based on the levels of vitamins and minerals are in the hard feed, with this in mind if you feed under the amount it is not the hard feed that matters it is just the lack of vits and mins, if he looks good then there is nothing wrong wioth just feeding a high fibre diet with a balancer or vitamin supplement.
Sugar beet is great at providing super fibre and slow release energy so i would personally recomend feeding some with just a basic chaff and a vit supplement, but there is no reason why you cant just feed hay and vits in a handfull of chaff.
 
I agree with the others, as long as you meet the horses vits and mins requirements, high fibre is the best diet, mine is on ready grass with a balancer plus ad lib haylage and looks the best he ever has, if it aint broke don't fix it
 
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qr- A horse needs what it needs! If the horse looks good on a handful then that is fine, sod what people think it should be having. Feed by the horses individual needs not a stereotype. 20 people would feed the same horse differently anyway, so go by your horses condition.

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Absolutely - it's doesn't matter on the size of the feed.

I give massive feeds to my 7 yo ISH but it consists of a small amount of balancer with loads of fibre. People always comment on the size of the feed but i have a contented horse who's in great shape.
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My "growing" mare is on nothing but a handful of Fast Fibre to get her calmer in her, and hay. She has more than enough enerygy, hence the calmer!!
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I know horses that live on a handful of chaff and others that need 6kg of hard feed a day, all having the same workload.

So feed whatever is needed to maintain condition, if it's less than recommended by the manufactuer than I'd feed a balancer to ensure he's getting enough vitamins and minerals.

Like people, horses are individuals, some are good doers and put weight on if they so much as look at hard feed (cream cakes!) whereas others can eat what they like and burn it all straight off
 
Your answers make me feel so much better. It makes me wonder how he was fed before I bought him as he was a rake so I automatically thought poor doer.

He looked fairly good last winter then dropped off a bit in the summer as the grazing was poor.

I lunged him tonite and while I was lungeing him I thought to myself if this was anyone elses horse I would say it was a little too well fed.
 
So do you think just drop to a few high fibre cubes and the pink powders ??

I will have a chat to the Naf girls on monday.

Editted as I was racking my brains trying to work out why he didnt do this well last winter.

Easy Peasy he was on Part Livery now he is on DIY he gets ad-lib haylage!!
 
I feed my 17.1 good doer below the recommended amount on the bag so I supplement with vits and mins. Perhaps this isn't necessary as he probably gets all the nutrients he needs from his hay, grass and the sugar beet I add to his feed, but it gives me peace of mind!

He's the right weight and looks and feels very well. If you are happy with the way he is, then I really wouldn't worry at all. There's some saying about the 'masters eye', but can't remember it!
 
My IDx mare maintains weight beautifully on soaked hay, Just grass and 3 scoops (the small rectangular ones) of cool mix. She hunts and events on this.

The TB mare is on the same, and drops a small amount of weight over the winter but picks up in the spring.

They get vit supplement plus hoof and joint supps too though which prob cost more than the feed TBH
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I have never fed a horse the level of feed indicated on the bag

Fiona
 
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Editted as I was racking my brains trying to work out why he didnt do this well last winter.

Easy Peasy he was on Part Livery now he is on DIY he gets ad-lib haylage!!

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You've hit the nail on the head there! So often when people are asking about feeding poor doers they immediately concentrate on what is being fed in a bucket, but usually the most crucial part of the diet is what goes in the haynet! A lot of 'poor doers' are not actually getting the correct quantity or quality of forage.
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I was always told you feed a horse according to the work done, reading the many posts on this subject, I suspect many people 'over-feed' their horses. When I was hunting two days a week, we fed oats, when at rest, we fed bran. Life was much easier then, we didn't have the choice of so many 'made up' feeds available, so we fed according to the horse's needs, and our ability!
 
Blinkin Heck I didnt know how ittle I knew until I got this bloke.

My previous horse lived on Fresh Air!!

So I have reduced his hard feed so he is getting enough to put a Vit supplement in (1/2 kg Winergy condition plus a beer mug of hi fibre cubes twice a day).

I dont want to do any sugarbeet molassed or unmolassed as it would be a nightmare getting it soaked.

I have two bags of Winergy Equilibrium condition to use up so I am thinking migrate from that to the spillers hi fibre cubes alone and should i add in come unmolassed chaff ?

This is a guy who went bonkers on anything with sugar in it and ballistic on alpha A.
 
Keep it simple and dont forget spring is not far off, my lad is in the top end of light work at the moment and a very good doer, he's on lower than the recommeded intake of hifi and alfabeet but on a very good supplement and ad lib hay, and is in perfect condition.You have to take a little bit of what people tell you and make your own mind up about things, took me 3 years to get it right with my lad!
 
If horse is happy and healthy on a handfull then it doesn't need any more! My boy is 16.1 and still growing and gets a handful of hi-fi lite, handful of alfa lite and a cup of high fibre cubes twice a day with equivite added. Plus Add-lib hay. He is bright eyed with a glossy coat an plenty of energy
which says it all to me.
 
For a start, I'd keep him out 24/7 if you can as IMO keeping them in actually makes them pile on the pounds due to the obvious lack of movement. You can also reduce the feed down to pretty much nothing during spring/summer/autumn if he has the right amount of grass. Right now is the same - you feed ab lib haylage so if he's fine on that, why give anything else? All he'd need is really just a token amount of feed purely to add the pink powder to, or simply give him a vit & min lick. No horse NEEDS feed unless they can't maintain condition etc. I feed my horse on a conditioning feed as he is always slim but this helps him maintain it and he competes well off it. Otherwise, the ponies just get a token amount of Speedi-beet so I can add their vit & min and joint supplements to it!

Why's he on the "Condition" feed when you think he's too fat?
 
The OP's reference to 'weight problems' was a bit confusing to those who haven't seen the rest of her posts. The original weight problem was that the horse was lacking condition, hence being put on a conditioning feed. However, since being kept in and given ad lib haylage he is now in very good condition, so feed regime needs to be adjusted to stop him getting fat.

To the OP I would suggest weightaping him regularly to keep an eye on whether he is maintaining, losing, or gaining weight. If he is still gaining then you could probably drop the bucket feed down to chaff plus Pink Powder, as the Pink Powder will supply vit/mins as well as a probiotic. If he starts to lose more than you want then you can opt for a higher calorie chaff and/or increase the chaff quantity.
 
I have a 17hh 4 year old youngster and at the moment does a few hours work a week (very quickly!). I tend to bulk on hay rather than feed she gets a scoop of Hi Fi Lite a small amount of Lo Cal balancer and some super calm. But will eat just under a bale of hay during the evening. If she is chewing she is happy!

Whereas my my yearling will get Alfa A (this is loopy juice for my 4 yr old so I avoid at all costs), a few freeze dried nuts, stud balancer and speedibeet if really cold I give him a bucket of Graze On. These will be smaller feeds given 3 times a day.

My good doer TB (she is a joke) never known a TB to live on fresh air but this one never looses condition loads of hay Lo Cal balancer and Hi Fi Lite but she gets a joint suppliement do like the codlivine supps for a nice shiny coat.

I spent a lot of years showing and it broke my heart to see what people did to young horses a young horse should be just that.

Fibre for the young. My best supp oil cheap from SM. If I can afford the Joint Supp Codlivine. Less is more especially for the bigger breeds they do go through skinny phases over feeding a horse is the same as under feeding.
 
If they are in good condition, fit and feeling and looking well, then very little TBH, I feed my horses by "eye" and constantly monitor them to make sure they are looking fit (I like them to look event fit) and not fat with wobbly bits!
Their feeds are written on a white board, and if one of the boys looks like they've put a tiny bit on the amount on the white board gets adjusted, and vice versa so they are not overfed or fat.
Haylage is weighed out, and they are fed the best quality stuff, so I feed less hard feed.
I feed way under the recommended amount to my 17.2 (he's in medium work) and top the vits/mins up with top form pellets or pink powder/equivite, whatever I can get hold of, he is on half a scoop of oat and barley free mix, and half of a hifi chaff and looks fab!
 
Thanks as TGM has kindly said I was having problems with his condition hence conditioning feed. I dont think he is too fat he looks well and he is feeling too good if you get my drift.

As I said I had not latched on to the fact that now he gets more haylage he does not need so much feed.

It does make me wonder how much he actually had last winter when he was on Part Livery and I used to get told he just ate all his haylage quickly hurumph!!
 
I can remember reading a report in H & H about a driving cob that went hunting at the weekends. I don't recall exactly what it was fed, but it was virtually no hard feed, basically chaff and sugar beet pulp. It got plenty of hay, but it was really working very very hard on not much.
 
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