What and how much do you feed

P

Peterboy1

Well-Known Member
Joined
17 April 2016
Messages
62
Visit site
Just wondering what others feed their horses (I know every horse is different, but anyway) Mine is a 15.1 cob and most of the time lives out without a rug apart from the odd night where he is in. He is only lightly hacked a few times a week atm. I give 3 large handfuls of dengie Alfa-a oil and three large handfulls of cool mix. I've not had him long and he is doing less work with me but I've kept him on the same food as his old owner and looking to re-evaluate in a few weeks, but do you think it would be worth it?
 
My boy is out at night, in for 6 hours during the day. Warmblood, 8yo, 17.3hh. Small haynet of low quality hay when in.

1-2 hours work (schooling or hacking) 5 times a week, lunging once a week.

He is fed a handful of chaff and some mint to make it tasty, so he isn't left out at feedtime (once a day in summer, twice a day in winter). In the winter he will have half a scoop of calm and condition added.

Sounds like your cob is getting a lot, I wouldn't feed him at all as he has access to grass and is barely in work, I would then go from there to see if you need to add or if he is fine like that. However, please don't just stop it, it must be phased out.
 
My mare is 13.3 and is out overnight 7-7 on a bare paddock with a grazing muzzle, and has a total of 7kg of forage over the course of the day, which is divided into: 5.5kg 12 hour soaked and rinsed hay, 1kg of non-mollassed chaff and 500g dry weight soaked Agrobs Weisencobs. By dividing the type of forage means she is picking all day, rather than running out of hay at lunchtime (which she would do if she only had 7kg hay!)
 
IMO he's being overfed for his level of work. In my mind he should have no feed (unless a small handful of chaff if you give supplements). Grass only would suffice at this time of year.

Dengie detail workload as follows:

WORK LOAD
Convalescence/Resting Horses on box rest, or turned away.
Light work Maximum of 1 hour per day hacking, mostly at walk with some trotting and cantering, or 30 minutes of schooling, mostly at the trot with some canter.
Medium work Schooling, dressage, show-jumping, novice or intermediate 1 day eventing or hunting 1 day per week.
Hard Work Advanced one day events. 3 day events, hunting 2 days per week, polo and all forms of racing.

Loads of people over estimate their level of work. Most at our yard are in light work, with some light to medium.

I would start to cut it down if I were you. he's a cob, he can probably live on fresh air, I know mine can and he's doing only a bit more than your lad.
 
OP I'd probably look to re-evaluate that feed if it were me.

I have a sports mare, lactating, with 4 month foal at foot. Foal is spot on condition wise, mare is overweight. They are on moderate grass 24/7 with access to mineral block at the moment, no hard feed.

In run up to weaning foal will get balancer and will continue on that post weaning.
Mare will get nothing but restricted grazing & soaked hay until the baby bulge has gone and she is back in work - even then she will just get low calorie chaff and vit/min supplement, even when competing all over the country
 
16h ish, worked 3 -4 times a week, just started autumn trailing. One cup topspec lite balancer am and pm. Ad-lib haylage in winter still with balancer. Got asked out hunting if was feeding him oats as bit bouncy (first time put this year) haha.

Most horses don't need any hard feed just a mineral/salt lick or balance and forage (grass or hay/haylage in winter)
 
My two are 16.3 and 17hh hunter types. They're both 20 and pretty good doers. One never changes weight-wise, he's a perfect 5/10 condition score all year round. The other fluctuates a bit between a 4/10 in the winter and a 6/10 in the summer as he's very responsive to grass, he loses weight on poor grass and puts it on on good. He can go from looking a bit lean to a bit fat in about 3 weeks!

Neither is fed anything in the summer, they're out 24/7 on plenty of good grass. In winter, they're out on grass (which will have been rested for about 5 months over the summer so starts off good, but gets eaten through by about January) in the day and in overnight with ad-lib haylage. They're fed a stubbs scoop of unmolassed grass chaff, 1/4 scoop (dry) of Fast Fibre and between 1/4 and 1 scoop (they get more as winter progresses and the one starts to drop weight) of Sarace Re-Leve and 1/2 a mugful each of linseed. This is all low sugar as one has a sugar allergy and it's easier to feed them both the same thing. If I'm feeling generous or he's being a bit slow eating, the one who hasn't got a problem will get a slug of molasses over the top of his feed.

It's a bit difficult to gauge how much you're actually giving him as you might have small or huge hands, but assuming you have normal sized hands, 3 large (as in both hands together?) isn't a huge feed. If you've dropped the amount of work he's doing, you could drop the feed a little or switch to a low calorie balancer instead.

Personally I'm not convinced balancers would add much to my horses as they're clearly doing very well on the grass they get, but some people like to know they're getting their vitamins and minerals. Bear in mind he might drop a bit over winter, which is pretty normal, so I wouldn't be too worried if he's a little on the plump side now.

Welcome to horse ownership. Hope you enjoy him for many years.
 
14hh Heavyweight Cob, now she's out on grass and barely worked besides hacking a few times a week, she gets a handful or two of plain oat straw chaff just to get her supplements in her a couple times a week.
14hh Yearling Haflinger x Cob, out on grass being a baby, again couple times a week, gets a scoop of stud balancer and maybe some plain oat straw chaff just for prolonged chewing time.

If they're in for whatever reason overnight, I usually give them a little scoop of fastfibre in with their dinner, mostly because I have loads left over and I'm trying to use it up haha! They seem to enjoy it.

Main thing really is that it's all high fibre, low sugar, low starch (with the exception of the stud balancer).
 
My gelding is a 16.2hh heavyweight warmblood/carriage type horse. He's out on grass (or adlib hay in winter) 24/7 and gets a handful of oats to mix in his supplements.
 
In summer mine gets half a scoop of speedibeet and half a scoop of Alfa A daily to get hoof suppliments into her. She is being brought back into work 4-5 days a week. Living out 24/7.

Winter, she gets rolled Oats, Alfa A and Speedibeet twice a day. I up / lower the quantities depending on how her weight looks, she was out of work last year and her weight just started to drop off until I swapped her onto this and she started to look much better within a few days. She always has access to hay (both in the field during the day and ad lib in her stable over night).

I am not very scientific, I feed by eye and its always worked.

ETA: She is a 16.1hh, 15 year old middleweight warmblood. Usually holds weight well all year round.
 
A 14hh cob X in work 6 days a week and competing at weekends, out at night and hay during day- current feed- half a cup of balancer and a small handful of Mollichaff calmer.

16hh ISH, navicular so very gentle hacking and walk and trot in school maybe once a week- same as the above mare.

Both horses get half a cup of hi-fibre cubes in a treat ball each day too.

I don't believe that the majority of leisure horses are in anywhere near enough work to warrant the amount of feed that I witness a lot of people give. My winter feed increases slightly in quantity and goes to 2 feeds a day rather than 1 as now, and the amount of hay I feed increases.

Both are incredibly good doers, however, even the sports horse who is actually mostly TB.
 
Last edited:
17.1hh WB gelding aged 19, weighs in at 660KG, got grass belly most of the year but can clearly see ribs when stood at a certain angle and feel them, in light work six days per week, competes (or will be competing) approx. once per month dressage/SJ unaff level, fun rides.

He is fed on Dengie Good Doer (as much as I can fit in my hand) a mug of pasture mix and carrots and apples, with his supplements added x twice per day. In the winter I will add pony nuts, usually a very high fibre nut in his feeds and in his snackaball. Can be colic prone so have to watch his grass intake like a hawk and strip graze.

He has two nets a day approx. 20lbs. and has access to large net for two hours per day whilst in sandpit in winter, and twelve + hours of grass overnight.
 
When deciding on feed keep in mind the good old feeding rules and reasons
Reasons for feeding.
Maintaining current condition, reducing or increasing condition, providing the right nutrients for work being done.
Deciding on type and quantity
Feed according to work being done, stage of fitness, riders ability, horses age, temperament, size, type.

Feeding cause you feel a bad owner for not feeding is not a good response and is often the reason people feed when it's not required. You won't thank him when he's bucked you off and he won't thank you for his sore feet if fed too much.

Its a good idea to weigh your feeds so that you are consistent in how much you feed. Or at least use a container to measure the feed. Helps with the budget if you know how long a bag of feed lasts.

Look at the amount you work him and compare with the previous owners work load. Look at your grazing, how does it compare with the previous grazing he was on. Cobby types can live on the smell of an oily rag and may not even need extra feed. When you need extra energy some plain oats may be all that's needed.

I have a Clydesdale, she has nothing extra at all in summer, just a good quality mineral block in her paddock. She's 13, weight under control, never been lame, and worked most days. In winter she has just hay wen its frosty. I am in NZ so our grass does grow year round, just not much in winter.

Get yourself a weightape and measure him weekly.
 
I've got 7 here - all sporty types, and all pretty good doers, bar one. The 4 "normal" ones are on 1/2 a scoop of Safe and Sound twice a day, the laminitic has 500g of balancer, split into 2 feeds, the skinny one has 3 feeds a day (1 scoop Alfalfa, one scoop Cushcare) and the mini has a single handful of Safe and Sound (and cleans all the buckets). They are on poor grass, and have approx 10kgs of hay a day, plus barley straw to pick at - apart from the mini, who is in a pen with the laminitic, and gets a small armful of hay in his shelter, plus whatever he's brave enough to hoover up from under the snapping jaws of his friend.
They are all well covered, but not fat.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top