How much to feed

[Willow1234]

I've ridden horses for about 7 years now and got my "first real" horse a while ago- while I'm obviously not much of a beginner in riding itself, I dont really know how much to feed my mare? She has access to hay and grass 24/7 but I'm not sure exactly how much grain to feed her. As of right now I've been giving her one quart in the morning and one at night, is that too much? Too little? I havent found much advice online, and everyone I've asked personally has given me different answers. She isn't in very strenuous work right now, but planning to be worked a little more regularly soon.

 

[TreeDog]

There are so many factors that it's quite impossible to tell without seeing your mare. Can you feel her ribs? How long have you had her? Has she put on or lost weight since you've had her? Has she been wormed and/or checked for worms? Grass and hay is usually plenty (and sometimes even too much if unlimited) for most horses. Some people like to feed a vitamin and mineral balancer too if your forage is deficient in something.

 

[Shay]

There is a technical formula - 1.5 - 3% of bodyweight depending on workload. But within that you have to be able to guess how much grass she eats. (You can weigh the hay.) You are obviously not in the UK - we tend to measure feeds differently. But you are feeding just over 1 UK Litre measure of some form of grain - don't know which - twice a day. I can't find anything to convert a liquid measure into weight but that does seem to me to to be quite a large amount for a horse not in hard work. Can you weigh how much grain is in your quart measure? And which grain is it?

 

[Pearlsasinger]

A healthy horse in the prime of its life, which is not in hard work, no matter where in the world it is kept, is unlikely to need more than hay and grass to stay a healthy weight. Grain is not good for any horse, fibre based feeds are much better.

 

[Polos Mum]

Unless she looks underweight don't feed here anything more than grass and hay. If you can get a quality vitamin and mineral supplement that would be worth it but many are very happy without that.