''If a horse isn't in work, I don't see the point in feeding it much''

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Horsey_Gal

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A quote from my next door neighbour!

Her horse is a skinny/ribby TB in a bare field with overgrown feet and a dull coat!
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"If a horse isn't in much work, I don't see the point in feeding it much"

......um change that to......at all!
I would agree in principle that work is equal to the TYPE of food you give it but no food? By the sounds of it no grass.... thats IMO is starvation diet and a diet that equals one thing....TROUBLE
 
I completely agree with her, but.............! None of mine work due to being on retirement livery. They are stabled although are turned out from 6 am to 10.30/11ish 7/7 a week. They have 1k of mix plus hay 3 times a day-the last is at 10pm. My vet is constantly on at me because he reckons they are fat
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Almost all normal 'Joe Blogg' horses are over fed and could do their job on hay only-feeding mixes and all the newest gunk makes US happy and empties our bank accounts before the end of the month
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Fibre is the God Send for most horses, not hard feed. Your friend should do all the usual checks and bung her horse full of hay and sugar beet if he/she is only wombling around a field. M.
 
My horse is in light work he dosnt get ridden everyday he lives out 24/7 and in the summer only has grass nothing else and he looks fantastic.The only time he has anything else is when the grass slows he gets hay and alfa a oil through the winter thats it and he still looks fab.
 
If a horse is in light work and on adequate grazing then there is no need to feed. Horses are made to survive like this! In winter I might give mine some hay and if it's cold a few nuts...what is the deal with stabling horses too? Particularly through the summer (if it is possible to leave them out) ?
 
I used to think that as well. It was pointed out to me that in the UK our pasture is almost always lacking in some of the minerals and vitamins that are good for our horses. So I use a balancer all year round. It was quite surprising, because my own horses that had always got bellies during the summer are actually slimmer when having the balancer. I think their coats and hooves are better now too.
Most of them just get a mug a day.
 
I love the idea - but TB's don't always work that way. The section d x I have lives on fresh air all year round - but my TB mare I had to feed all year round to keep her looking good.
 
No, far better not to feed it anything and have it look like a hat rack, eh!!!
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I had mine on poor grazing once and had to supplement it with hay during the summer. I agree hard feed may not be necessary, but maintenance feed of some description in this case surely is in order.
 
my connemara gelding gets alpha a and mix in the summer plus lots of hay due to the lack of grass but hopefully will have winter grazing.
my tbx get alpha oil and mix and hay . she needs to be kept on food to keep her built up for the winter months as i struggle to get weight on her.
the yearling just on chop and her phase 2 mix.
all summer i do tend to feed once a day. and they are in every night.

yep they cost me a fortune! but worth it
 
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I love the idea - but TB's don't always work that way. The section d x I have lives on fresh air all year round - but my TB mare I had to feed all year round to keep her looking good.

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Ty's an ex racer and he lives off thin air! only reason he has a small feed in the summer is for supps.
 
My god, no wonder obesity is a problem with horses in the UK!

Mine got fed when she needed medicine. And food was a handful of chaff and a carrot. all the rest of the time she existed on hay and grass.

Horses managed fine for thousands of years without Baileys and Spillers - they don't really need it now!

Although, i suspect the vast majority of horse owners could do with learning some paddock management. If a horse that isn't in work can't live off grass then you've killed the pasture - end of!
 
Gosh - now I know where I'm going wrong. No wonder my daughter's pony looks crap - she only gets a diet of grass and a handful of high fibre cubes, she must be missing out on all those 'extras':

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The poor neglected love is in full work too!
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Gosh - now I know where I'm going wrong. No wonder my daughter's pony looks crap - she only gets a diet of grass and a handful of high fibre cubes, she must be missing out on all those 'extras':

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The poor neglected love is in full work too!
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Now that is an ILPH case if ever I saw one
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. You should be ashamed of yourself woman
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. Mairi.
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PS, beutiful pony and in wonderful condition
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My god, no wonder obesity is a problem with horses in the UK!

Mine got fed when she needed medicine. And food was a handful of chaff and a carrot. all the rest of the time she existed on hay and grass.

Horses managed fine for thousands of years without Baileys and Spillers - they don't really need it now!

Although, i suspect the vast majority of horse owners could do with learning some paddock management. If a horse that isn't in work can't live off grass then you've killed the pasture - end of!

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here here, Mairi
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Feel like I'm jumping on the bandwagon here but I can't remember the horses of my youth being skinny and the only "hi-tech" feed we had access to was Spiller's cubes (and as our horrified DC said they were made of coconut matting we avoided them like the plague)! And those were the days when ponies really worked; hacked 8 miles to the farrier, 10 miles to a meet or show, worked all day then hacked home.
Today I get fed up of hearing about "naughty" ponies that are fed the diet of Grand National runners; go faster/jump higher supps that have to be balanced by calmers, grrrr,

"climbs of soapbox"....
 
If a horse isn't in work you shouldn't feed them!

People seem to go mad over vits and minerals, which as a retailer I should think is fantastic. However its clever marketing - how do you know your pasture doesn't have correct vits and minerals have you had it tested????

Again agree with that fact that most people overfed and feet quality has got worse due to high grain feeding and no work.

People like to see fat horses, its as people as fat people, we need to change our attitude or suffer the consequences.

I am as bad as anyone, I like mixing up feeds, however now its got expensive and other than oats mine don't need it!
 
It's a tough one as so many people have weird and wonderful ideas about feeding. We got one on our yard 8 yr old pony just been diagnosed with arthritis, and the owners feed it buckets and buckets of feed, its out of work and fat as a pig, they really don't see that they are damaging the horse. It really annoys me. But then on the other hand you have people that wont feed there very under weight arab(another on my yard) because it sends it loopy, yes a competition mix will do that!
There is just so much choice these days its confusing but this also means that there is more suitable feed choices for all types of horses.
 
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