new owner how much to feed??

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megsowner

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Hi i have just bought a 14.2 cob mare after spending all my life wanting my own horse. Although i have hepled friends with their horses through the years i have very limited knowledge on feeding. I share my yard with a friend who has an Arab brood mare and what i have read my mare wont need the feed that she has. My friend intends to feed haylage but im unsure as never seen it fed before. If its ok how much and how much hay will i need if not. Please help!!
 
For a start we need more information about your horse.

Is she over weight? Under weight? Good dooer? Is she a plod, or is she lively? How old is she?
 
Do you know what your mare was fed in her previous home? If that seemed to suit her (ie kept her in the correct condition with the ideal amount of energy) then that might be a good way to start, although you might have to tweak things a little to take into account any changes in amount of grazing available etc.
 
thanks all, she is a bit overweight and she is just going to do light hack work with my daughter. Previous owner used to jump and show but wanted to get away from horses for awhile. She was fed chaff, pony nuts and hay but she was getting lots more work than she will get with me. At the mo she is just on grass.
 
If she is overweight at the moment, then I would just start off by giving her a token feed of a bit of chaff with a vit/min supplement or a low calorie balancer. If she is dangerously overweight then I would also look at ways of restricting her grass intake - muzzling, strip grazing, track system etc.

If when the grass has diminished and her weight is down to an ideal level and you want to stop her losing more, then you can give her some additional hay or haylage. Haylage is a good feed but can be more fattening and more tasty than hay, depending on the type of grass it is made from and the time it was cut. If it is more convenient for you to feed haylage then I would introduce small amounts and see how it goes. Is the cob going to be living out all the time or stabled at night in the winter?
 
Haylage can be a bit more of a problem with a good doer stable overnight because you need to give them enough haylage to last most of the night, but not to over supply them with calories. You may find that using a small holed haynet or double netting may slow the horse down so that the haylage lasts longer. Not such a problem in the field because they can always find a bit of grass to nibble at if they run out of haylage so not left with empty stomach for long periods of time (which can cause problems such as gastric ulcers etc).
 
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