how long do you wait to ride after feeding?

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Kezzabell2

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I've always waited at least an hour

But in conversation the other day, I asked for my horse to not be fed as he's was being ridden at 7am. some one said you should feed fibre before riding to reduce the chance of ulcers??

Am I just really old school?
 
I would wait an hour, plus do quite a bit of walking before any "work" so its more than an hour.
I personally would always feed something - just a mini feed of chaff and carrots or something before riding early but there is someone at the yard that doesn't.
I am pretty sure that's what I was told in pony club...it was a few years ago though!
 
So my boy has fast fibre and molasses free hi Fi, so would thst be ok?

Luckily someone was up at 6 so fed them all and I'd already split his feed into two so he'd eaten a bit before he was ridden
 
Mine gets a couple of scoops of HiFi molasses free for breakfast so if I need to ride before work she gets given half about 30 mins before I ride and the other half when we get back.
 
I always give some hay to munch while I do other things, I never ride first thing in the morning without. But not a lot - just 10 minutes with a haynet. If other people are feeding and I am about to ride I give a tiny feed out of sympathy.
 
I used to regularly ride straight after feeding and several times got "told off" by fellow liveries, but I only feed a half scoop of fast fibre for supplements so unless they withheld grass / hay from their horse for an hour prior to riding I couldn't see the distinction.
 
Years ago the rule was to feed at least an hour before riding - that was when large amounts of straights tended to be the norm.

Nowadays the thinking is that it is best for the horse to have something in their stomach to help guard against ulcers.

If I am riding early in the morning I tend to give them half their breakfast before riding.

In the wild the horse evolved to take flight at a sign of danger - not an hour after they had their last mouthful of grass.
 
He always has haylage so I don't wait for after that but for his feed he has Speedibeet, pony nuts and chaff which I usually feed while mucking out and doing jobs so he has about an hour before I ride after eating that.
 
I don't - mine are either ridden from the field (so will have a bellyful of grass), or from the stable where they always have access to forage, and their hard feed is minimal anyhow.
 
Few handfuls of chaff mixed with a bit of beet if riding early in the morning and then full breakfast after. If riding in the evening, then she will have come straight from the field, tacked up in 15 mins and fed after. No issues with ulcers or anything like that.
 
Horse should have access to forage 24/7 so should always have something in their stomac whether that be grass in the field or hay/haylage in the stable.
 
Surely depends what you doing when ridng, if I'm hacking it takes me 20 minutes to get to open fields for faster work so I wouldn't worry too much about giving her her fast fibre beforehand (which is mainly chopped straw).

If she was going into a lesson I wouldn't feed more than hay as her lessons are hard work for her and I know I wouldnt want a stomach full of heavy mash whilst doing that level of excercise.
 
I always give a big ish scoop of either fast fibre or chaff twenty mins before I ride on advice from vet. I then give them their proper feed about ten to twenty mins after ride spending on how hot they are.
 
I would never withhold feed from my horse he has access to forage 24/7 even before a ride. I would wait about an hour before riding after a hard feed.
 
All our racehorses got haylage immediately after morning exercise, they got their midday feed at 12.00 noon.
Once a horse has a hard feed, it can be taken out for a walk, but can't be expected to be cantered for for an hour.
If I was desperate to ride and canter or work, I would give a tiny feed instead of a full feed, but most horses get a big feed before their rest period,. Generally, rule of thumb, get up an hour earlier if horse needs a feed.
 
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Endurance horses eat and run and it's the same with water - it must be supplied every 10 km and they drink and run too.

Given that horses are designed to be grazing (eating) 20 hours a day and take flight the moment they are threatened, I think it's an old wives tale, along with don't swim after eating.
 
NZJenny said:
Endurance horses eat and run and it's the same with water - it must be supplied every 10 km and they drink and run too.

Given that horses are designed to be grazing (eating) 20 hours a day and take flight the moment they are threatened, I think it's an old wives tale, along with don't swim after eating.
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Yes there is truth in this, but many leisure horses are left 8 hours with nothing at all, if they are browsing all day AND NIGHT, no problem, but if you have an empty stomach and feed 2kgs of hard feed you will probably upset the intestine.
 
Just to clarify, I am only referring to hard feed, not hay or grazing, I'd never expect them to go an hour without having access to forage! It was a discussion about his breakfast, he always has more than enough hay to last way into the morning, in case anything happens and I cant get there!
 
I prefer to wait an hour if bellies are full of grass, but generally start them off with a walk anyway. We would not ask racehorses to run without with holding food for 2 hours. Many remove water as well.
 
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Bonkers2 said:
I prefer to wait an hour if bellies are full of grass, but generally start them off with a walk anyway. We would not ask racehorses to run without with holding food for 2 hours. Many remove water as well.
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...And that is why up to 90% leave training with ulcers.

Mine have 24/7 access to forage & I always feed a scoop of Alfalfa before riding to make sure the acids mat is full up ☺
It's made such a difference to my New Forest I can't tell you!
 
Milkmaid said:
...And that is why up to 90% leave training with ulcers.

Mine have 24/7 access to forage & I always feed a scoop of Alfalfa before riding to make sure the acids mat is full up ☺
It's made such a difference to my New Forest I can't tell you!
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!hr is considered the normal but if the horse as only had a snack or is only going to be walking we have ridden a lot soon er hat.
 
Milkmaid said:
...And that is why up to 90% leave training with ulcers.

Mine have 24/7 access to forage & I always feed a scoop of Alfalfa before riding to make sure the acids mat is full up ☺
It's made such a difference to my New Forest I can't tell you!
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The horses run once a month, witholding food a few hours is not going to give them ulcers.
No human wil eat breakfast then sprint 900m straight away
I don't think 90% have ulcers when leaving training, where did you read that?
 
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Interesting idea though, a lot of effort goes in to keeping racehorses sound and fit, so if feeding a petscoop of chaff before work would stop acid splash then one would think every trainer would do this, they generally get 20 mins walk before anything else. Whlie not fed ad lib forage they are usually fed six times a day, three short feeds and three haylage feeds.
 
TGM said:
http://www.vetmed.ucdavis.edu/ceh/docs/horsereport/pubs-Oct2012-sec.pdf

And another one, scroll down to Case Study Two, which is particularly pertinent to this discussion:

http://www.scott-dunns.co.uk/equine_gastric_ulceration.htm
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OK, in these instances the horses were suspected of having some problem, so maybe not too surprising at the results. Remember that most US horses are kept on the track where they run, so might never get turnout, and they often have fairly long careers.

In the second discussion, it suggested that the feeding regime was altered and further suggested that this led to increased success and decreased ulceration. While I agree these are good practices, neither of these studies tell us conclusively that 80% of racehorses have ulcers. What I am saying is they don't stand up to scientific analysis.

Re the endurance horses , this was in the US, we don't have details of management practices, but I would be surprised if this is the case in the UK where many are prepared by owner trainers, and we think [from posts on here] that they are kept out as much as possible.
They are also fed lots of feeds, partly because they have to eat on the go when competing.

It seems that in order to reduce ulcers to a minimum the horses should be kept in fields and not trained, while this is an extreme view, it would not be acceptable to competitors, or practical for many horse owners.

Awareness of ulcers is increasing, and a good thing too if it means horses are going to be fed and managed in a more natural way.
 
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