What do you feed your horses

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Holidays_are_coming

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God it really is such a mine field, madam has been fed on pure feeds all summer however it will cost a lot to feed the recommended amount, and Im not she would eat that amount what do you all feed your horses.............................
 
To be honest, what others feed their horses isn't going to help you a lot, because individuals have such different needs!

I always start with the basis of plenty of good quality forage - grazing, hay, haylage, and then not much bucket food is needed. A lot of horses can do well on that alone, with perhaps just a vit/min supplement added if necessary.

What do you hope to feed for? To maintain weight because horse won't maintain condition on forage alone? Or to give extra energy because workload is heavy or horse lacks oomph? Or as a base for medication?
 
Well she has to have a fibre based feed due to ulcers, she has alib hay/grazing and is working quiet well at the moment on Pure Easy although she does feel a little dead when I school her but that is most likely to be a fitness issue.
 
I'm feeding pure feeds at the moment aswell. Horse is getting pure easy, pure condition plus his farriers formula and linseed oil. He is getting 2 decent feeds a day and is looking super on it. I thought the pure feeds seemed quite good value as i find I don't need to use blue chip or top spec which really puts the feed bill up!
 
My system's very simple and I raise or lower quantities according to workload, weight, age of horse, even the temperature at the time (on hot days they eat a lot less forage, by choice).
I tried Pure Feeds but I think my own made-up feeds are very similar but cheaper. PF were alright but I didn't like having to order such large quantities.
I feed twice a day, and give a third (late) feed of just Graze On, Hi Fi and Sugarbeet for anything competing or light of condition.
Out at grass and usually with pretty much ad-lib hay.
Basic per bucket: between 1/2 and 1 scoop of Graze On (or Readigrass)
+
between 1/4 - 1 scoop Hi Fi Unmolassed.
Between 1/4 and 1 1.2 cups of Baileys Stud Balancer
Additives (depends on horse's needs, some get none, some get biotin, seaweed, herbs etc)
Electrosalts
Soaked sugar beet (between 1/4 and 1/2 scoop per feed)
If more energy required, I add Alfa A.
If horse is a fussy feeder and I don't see any evidence of ulcers, possibly add a handful or more of a Baileys Comp Mix as a palatable top dressing.
All feeds always made very wet and soupy to avoid choke.

That's it. pretty simple and pretty limited really.
 
kerilli said:
My system's very simple and I raise or lower quantities according to workload, weight, age of horse, even the temperature at the time (on hot days they eat a lot less forage, by choice).
I tried Pure Feeds but I think my own made-up feeds are very similar but cheaper. PF were alright but I didn't like having to order such large quantities.
I feed twice a day, and give a third (late) feed of just Graze On, Hi Fi and Sugarbeet for anything competing or light of condition.
Out at grass and usually with pretty much ad-lib hay.
Basic per bucket: between 1/2 and 1 scoop of Graze On (or Readigrass)
+
between 1/4 - 1 scoop Hi Fi Unmolassed.
Between 1/4 and 1 1.2 cups of Baileys Stud Balancer
Additives (depends on horse's needs, some get none, some get biotin, seaweed, herbs etc)
Electrosalts
Soaked sugar beet (between 1/4 and 1/2 scoop per feed)
If more energy required, I add Alfa A.
If horse is a fussy feeder and I don't see any evidence of ulcers, possibly add a handful or more of a Baileys Comp Mix as a palatable top dressing.
All feeds always made very wet and soupy to avoid choke.

That's it. pretty simple and pretty limited really.
Click to expand...

I feed virtually the same but I also add Tiger oats and replace the hi-fi with Alfa A for extra oomf as required and feed linseed meal and brewers yeast all year round.

I also feed "soup" as my mare is very fussy about water, it has to be either perfectly clear and fresh or stinking and horrid for her to drink so I make sure she has soaked hay and soupy feeds so its less of a problem when she spits a mouthful of hay in all 4, yes four carefully placed water buckets and will then not drink from them over night!
 
I was feeding winergy equilibrium medium and condition but it was working out very costly!

So swapped to alfa a oli and baileys endurance mix for low level eventer and Saracen biolife balancer with alfa a for older horse which gives all the nutrients he needs.

Both have ab lib hay too and all day grazing, although hardly any grass at moment!
 
I have just started feeding spillers lay off mix and chaff as my horse has a liver issue and having had peritonitis I am limited to what I can feed.
 
Put all mine on Pure Fibre Balance. So much easier, they only need a scoop a day for all vits & mins. Add mag oxide .

Did have them all on the minerals required from grass analysis but after winter they decided they hated it.

Haylage (ponies soaked hay) in winter or when on restricted grass.
 
Adlib haylage during the day out at grass on a night.
Two feeds per day- 1/2 spillers happy hoof, 1/2 pony nuts, 300g d&h balancer, plus any suppliments (I.e after hard sweaty work electrolites etc...) served really sloppy twice a day.
In winter if he is looking poor, split the feeds into 3 and add 1/2 sugarbeet and occasionally do 1/2 happy hoof 1/2 alpha a. But he always has adlib haylage.
Just before you think its a lot of food my boy is 17.2hh!!
 
TGM said:
To be honest, what others feed their horses isn't going to help you a lot, because individuals have such different needs!

I always start with the basis of plenty of good quality forage - grazing, hay, haylage, and then not much bucket food is needed. A lot of horses can do well on that alone, with perhaps just a vit/min supplement added if necessary.

What do you hope to feed for? To maintain weight because horse won't maintain condition on forage alone? Or to give extra energy because workload is heavy or horse lacks oomph? Or as a base for medication?
Click to expand...

Sorry to hijack, how did you make your sig? Ive been trying all day and frustrated now!
 
I feed readigrass, fast fibre, equijewel, triple top up (I feed this as a supplement in half quantities) and add in a good all round supplement.

He also gets a mix of hay and haylage
 
I drove myself crazy with trying to figure out the best feed untill I felt my head was going to pop and I took my horse off everything and went back to basics.

For about a year and a half now my horse has been on grass and soaked hay (as much as he can eat). Then I feed Hifi original and fibre nuts in varying quantities depending on condition (spent most of this summer just on a scoop of hifi per day as the grass was mental!). I add pink powder, just because he's a TB and I think it helps with his tum and making sure he gets what he needs.
If he drops off I add supermarket oil to his feed.

I love fibre nuts. Can soak them in oil and speediebeet to make them calorific or just feed them on their own, or mix them with chaff, feed a handful or feed 2 scoops and they dont make any difference to temprement. They have vitamins and minerals in them as well. I looked at the ingredients in the Winergy low and pure easy and it was basically the same ingredients as cheapo fibre nuts.

I find this diet, cheap, safe and hassle free. I never spend more than £25 a month on feed. He always has plenty of energy for whatever work i'm doing, normally a medium amount of work and he looks good on it :).

I'm v impressed with everyones feeding on this thread, lots of fibre! I'm surprised by how little actual hard feed horses need when they are on a high fibre diet :).
 
Mine is on ad lib soaked hay off the floor at night - as much as she wants.
Out at grass during the day.

She has 2 feeds a day. Both have 1/2 scoop of graze on. Selenevite, msn and salt added.
She's had this all summer as she is a very good doer! But she's now got no energy ive just this week introduced spillers slow release energy cubes. Hoping this will have the desired effect.
 
Taz gets 1/4 scoop of soaked speedi beet, 1/2 scoop of hi fi lite, 1/2 scoop of stay power museli ( for a bit extra oomph) and he gets spillers lite balancer to make sure he gets everything he needs
 
Jups lives out 24/7 at the moment (will be in at night over the winter) - he has 1 small feed a day of soaked lucie nuts, handful of red bag grass nuts, 2 scoops of micronised linseed and a vitamin/mineral supplement.

Bloss has 2 feeds a day (out at night and in during the day with ad lib haylage) - she has 1/2 scoop soaked lucie nuts and 1/4 scoop red bag grass nuts per feed and then her supplements (same in each feed) - 1 scoop micronised linseed, 1/2 rosehips, ulcer calm, vitamin/mineral supplement, hilton herbs shake no more and agnus cactus. She will be off the ulcer calm and shake no more shortly and hopefully will stay off them.

The micronised linseed is fab for weight gain/condition etc -so you can increase/decrease quantities easily (bloss was on 2 scoops per feed but shes a bit fat at the moment so have decreased to 1 scoop per feed).
 
Always really interesting to read what others feed....

Indy has been a difficult one to feed, he shows some signs of ulcers which went after a course of Omazeprole. He was on Saracen Re-leve and doing brilliantly until everyone seemed to run out of it locally. He currently gets Alfa A unmollassed, Readigrass and Simple Systems Red Grass Nuts, plus Omega Rice to help bulk him out and linseed. He's doing really well on it 10 days in so I might just leave him on it. Will add Lucie Nuts in winter as he wont eat beet.

Rascal is coming back into work after 7 months off and gets the same chaff as above but the SS Blue Nuts as they are lower energy. He also gets Linseed and a joint supp as he has had his hock injected.

I do feed both of them 365Complete which has been a revelation, its a complete supplement with msm, pre and pro-biotics etc so a small scoop in each feed and that's pretty much everything they need. Bought a 4kg tub which worked out £12.50 a month per horse - bargain...!
 
I am old school in the way I feed - grass nuts, sugarbeet and fibre normally in the form of a chaff. Also add a multi vit.

I fed Pure Feed last year but it worked out reasonably as 1/2 price. This year will go back to old ways. I feed by eye and normally up the food in Feb as ours always drop off slightly.

Things will be adjusted if the horse needs more weight, energy etc but I tend to only feed solids and not mixes which makes this really easy to do. I love Badminton Horse Feeds products so tend to fall back to them if I need something more conditioning etc
 
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At the moment my good doer gets a small section of haylage, a handful of Dengie good doer, 1/8 scoop of re-leve, 50mg linseed, MagOx, Pink Powder and Brewers Yeast. He is out at night.

In the winter when he goes out during the day I'll up his haylage and then if needs be then I'll up the hard feed and add speedibeet. He'll lightly hunt over the winter and the aim is the have him running a bit light by spring.
 
You need to work out what your horse needs, and look through the feed manufacturers and find what your after.

I have used a variety of different feeds in different circumstances.

However bear in mind if you are leaving feed for a yard to give, it needs to be as least complicated as possible.
 
I've completely gone back to basics with my boy and I am so pleased with his weight/condition, muscle tone and energy, however, I will caveat that he has EMS and primarily Dressage oriented, with the odd Jumping clinic and Endurance training ride, so doesn't need instant energy. He has in each feed:

1 mug Speedi Beet (before soaking)
1 mug Alfalfa Pellets (before soaking)
1 tablespoon cooking/table salt (cheapest one in supermarket)
70g Micronised Linseed (probably half a mug)
10ml Aloe Vera Juice
Equiminns Advance Concentrate Meta Balance Formula 2

He is out on grass all day and has 1 hour soaked hay over night (normally about 12lbs at this time of year but he doesnt eat it all)
 
Having a horse that is allergic to life (!!) has resulted in me feeding grass chaff and grass nuts plus a vit/min suppliment. And given he is fat, he doesn't get much of that either!
With that he gets grass and soaked haylage.

I mean seriously, has anyone else heard of a horse allergic to linseed !!!!
 
ihatework said:
Having a horse that is allergic to life (!!) has resulted in me feeding grass chaff and grass nuts plus a vit/min suppliment. And given he is fat, he doesn't get much of that either!
With that he gets grass and soaked haylage.

I mean seriously, has anyone else heard of a horse allergic to linseed !!!!
Click to expand...

Lol, we have a mare like that on our yard. You name it, she can't have it. Gets colic/choke/lami/ties up/gets lumpy skin/puffy legs at the drop of a hat. Lord only knows how she has made it to 17!

She's retired now and a very good doer, so just on a diet of fibre cubes and grass chaff in a lovely sloppy feed three times a day. No additives, just a vit & min lick in her box so that she can help herself as and when, then ad lib soaked hay + all day turnout.
 
Chestnut Horse Feeds.... easy peasy, Japaneesey (well, not Japanese but you get the idea).

Horse in moderate work (eventing fit); 3 round scoops a day. Hes a fussy eater but actually CALLS for his AlphaEasy ! Its no mess, no mixing, easy to take to shows/overnighters with you. It comes in a 1 metre square darlek-like dustin bin and has a shelf life of 3 months once delivered to you. Its got wheels and is fully weatherproof so can be stood in the yard. The lid locks down so cant be broken into by wandering muzzles. No need to store sacks anywhere and no messing about with weighing. Roll it round and dish it out.

Add ad-lib haylage and hes done.

And its cheaper than most feeds on the market.
 
In summer grazing 24/7 and a handful off healthy hooves when he leaves the field to make him easier to catch (blimmin pony brain!), which he absolutly loves. When in the run up to competing he gets some redcell and spillers instant response so he has more sparkle, introduced slowly before any one complains.

In winter it depends on how he is as he tends to become sharper in the winter so doesnt need feed for extra sparkle and depends on his weight. Last winter he got chaff and speedybeet with haylage and straw mixed previous winter he just got hay.
 
Where I am the grazing is quite poor so they have haylage in the field, as much as I can get in them.

Feed wise, slight variation between the two but as a minimum -
1/2 scoop speedi beet - soaked
1 scoop Alfa a Oil
2 mugs rolled oats
1 mug linseed
1 mini scoop brewers yeast
teaspoon of salt

They get this twice daily at the moment, I want to get them a bit fatter as my mare lost little bit too much last winter so building up now to last
 
Grass, a small amount of hay and Simple systems - forage based contains no cereal. I feed my 17 hh mare 1 x scoop Lucie nuts, and 1/4 scoop grass nuts soaked with their Total Eclipse supplement. All gets soaked and makes a mash type feed. She loves it. In winter I add half a scoop of pura beet. Thinking about adding micronised linseed this winter.

Not only does she look great all winter living out 24/7 rugged and clipped it is also very cost effective. I have reduced my feed bills since changing.
 
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