What do you feed your horse and how much does it cost?

[marmalade88]

I’d be focussing on the quality and quantity of hay or haylage rather than the hard feed. What is he getting and how much? That the bulk of his diet which will make the most difference. My TB gets ad lib hay; he’ll eat a large slice and a half over night, in for 18 hours at the moment. Plus reasonable turnout in the day. His only feed is a scoop of hifi molasses free (previously on agobs muesli) as a carrier for his multi vit supplement and glucosamine. So he’s fairly cheap. When in hard work, which he isn’t this winter given my current work life, I’ll supplement with rolled oats, bran in limited quantities, and cold pressed linseed oil. These are cheap compared to pelleted feeds.

 

[sunnyone]

One of the really good things about living here in Aquitaine France is how cheap it is to feed horses. Bales of hay are €2.50 a bale, last year we only got through 30 bales per horse. This was fed ad lib to supplement the grass, which grew almost all winter. As they are out 24/7 they have the choice of grass or hay at all times. I've got 4 racks per shelter for 3 horses to ensure everybody gets a fair share.
Each horse then has, in winter, half to a whole scoop of maintenance cubes at around €13 for a 20kg sack once or maybe twice a day depending on how cold it is.
They also each have an apple a day summer and winter. I'd prefer carrots but I can't find unwashed ones and the washed varieties go off within a week.Prices for apples vary and I tend to look for crunchy varieties which can be more expensive.

 

[Lady Jane]

How much hay/haylage does he get and is it good quality? Adlib quality forage should be your baseline and it won't necessarily be cheap!

 

[Birker2020]

I feed Healthy Hoof, Heygates Traditional Blend and cheap hi fibre nuts with Myoplast and Acid Ease.
The Myoplast is costing a fortune but hoping one more tub and that's it. The Acid Ease is because he's a bit girthy but I am not suspecting gastric ulcers, just previous rough handling with the girth. But just in case. We shall see.

 

[shortstuff99]

I feed mine equidgel and grunhafer. In the winter I then add protein flakes (from agrobs) and a vit and min supplement as grass dies. They all get adlib hay and the advanced dressage horse gets haylage in the winter too. Probably costs me around £30 a horse per month I think.

 

[jnb]

I feed :
1 bag Thunderbrooks Hay Cobs (I know, but cob won't eat Agrobs) - £19
1 bag Fast Fibre - £14
1 x Equimins Advance Powder balancer - £24
MagOx - about £5 worth
Micronised Linseed - under 1/4 mug a day - £3 ish a month
Salt
Riaflex Complete HA - £42

So £97ish a month? I don't think that's a lot tbh

 

[Cortez]

Feeding horses in the UK seems so very convoluted (and massively expensive). Of course there are people who footle about with every supplement under the sun in other countries (as with so many things, I believe the trend originated in the US).

 

[throwawayaccount]

my 10 y/o retired mare gets
- 1 scoop of dengie hi fi molasses free chaff for dinner, a bag of this lasts about 2 months, think its about £12
- 1/4-1/2 scoop of pony nuts for dinner, I get a bag of this every 6 weeks, £6
- msm (£10) biotin (£15) and cod liver oil (£25) supplements; she gets a scoop /pouring of this in each dinner.
- equibrillium fruit or veggie bag, sprinkle of this on each meal- this is £8 a bag and it lasts me 4/5 weeks.

the biotin has lasted me 6 months as I bought a refill bag and I buy the big cod liver oil to also last me a while, so this will last a few more months. msm lasts about 5 weeks.

 

[First Frost]

My three - 2 Connie's and a Connie XTB get a cup of Speedibeet and Baileys performance balancer.
Costs about £60 per months for the 3 of them.
They also have either reasonable winter grazing or ad lib hay.
I try to keep things simple and they all look very well and cope fine with a good level of work.

 

[Noble]

My previous horse, 17hh TB who was worked 6 days a week, had most importantly ad lib haylage/hay. He also had one bucket feed a day this was simply soaked grass nuts, micronised linseed, vit/mineral powder and salt. He was always in lovely condition and cost approx £30 a month in bucket feed, the biggest outgoing was the vit/mineral supplement.

 

[scruffyponies]

Not sure exactly what mine are eating at this time of year, but I can tell you that the fattest pony spends most of his time in the river with his head under water.

Bless him, he saves me hours of weed-clearance!