who else feeds their horses all year round?

Big lad needs feed!!! He's such a skinny minnie
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Everyone thinks I'm crazy- especially because the feeds are huge (Alfa oil really fills a bowl!)
Am actually wondering what routine to do with him this year, as he needs two feeds a day and time to eat some haylege.
 
My boy gets fed all yr round, but then he is in work 5 days of the week. I feed s/beet in the winter and cut it in the summer. Apart from that he is on pasture mix and alfa-a (though sometimes I change the alfa-a to plain chaff in the summer). Forage always, either grass or hay.
 
My boy has had his hard feed reduced to nothing since about a month ago - turns out he can live on fresh air, well that and adlib haylage....and he's worked 6 days a week!
Could be cos the haylage is quite good but all four horses in his barn had all their hard feed cut as they were going a bit loopy
 
When we had ponies we didnt, but Sunny very definatly needs it, and last year we fed everything all year round, just because we never really stopped and they were getting alot of work, did feed less though.
 
when i first got skye in the summer she was a skinny thing so was fed to fatten her up as well as out 24/7. this summer she probably wont have anything as we have rich grass and she holds her weight well. in the winter all she gets fed is Hi fi lite anyway as she fizzes up otherwise and is fed ab lib hayledge.
 
Last year I stopped feeding them hard feed at Easter as they were out 24/7 and we have really good grass. I started feeding again at the end of September. My mare will probably still get a handful of chaff once a day throughout the summer this year just for her supplements. If I give her anymore she will be as round as a barrell!!!
 
I'll give you a sensible reply. I have loads of grazing for my three and even need to have it topped twice a year. So, due to that, in the late spring and summer months, no I do not give them anything. They remain in work and simply dont need anything. If the flies are bad, I set the muck heap so it smolders and they stand by it to get rid of flies.

If we have a really hot summer and the grass gets scorched, we usually still have enough grass that survies, but I always keep some hay to hand in case they need it.
 
No, he's fat enough as it is! He only gets a handful of hi-fi during the winter, and I'll stop that when he goes out in a few weeks.
 
We have quite limited acreage so not tons of grass in the summer. My mare is a bit of a fattie and maintains condition with just a token feed, but the two veterans get 'proper' feeds every day.
 
I see from your profile that you are in Scotland which having lived there my self i know that a lot of people turn out in the spring and dont suppliment their horses diets. With the risk of Grass sickness being higher in Scotland the advice from the 'Dick vet' is that all horses should be brought in and given a feed. Especially good are those with a probiotic content. If your horse is a good doer then a feed balancer ith a couple of carrots and a bit of chaff this has been thought help reduce tha risk of grass sickness. My old boy was treated like this, ie brought in and fed with Topspec and chaff another horse in the same field was not regularly brought in and fed and sadly contracted this terrible disease. Not saying this would be the same for you but all the evidence suggests that feeding is not just for energy but the nutritional support , as just grass even good grass is not diverse enough to provide all the vit and minerals a horse will need.
 
Hadn't occured to me to think you meant anything at all.....obviously not that quick!

Bert will get just a handful of HI FI in the summer if the grass is reasonable and that is just to shove his winergy and garlic in.

x
 
GTs -how rude. How the hell did horses survive for genrations with out human produced feeds and turn out rugs. I don't think this forum needs people like you - it is really not in the sprit of things
 
i feed all year round,little one only gets a hand of safe & sound really, jay will get his pasture nuts/sunflower seeds etc.

thank you everyone again
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Yep mine are fed all year round, but significantly reduced during the summer months. If i wasnt competing they wouldnt need to be fed. But i like to give them a small amount plus i know they are getting the required amount of vit and mins.
Bertie my old boy is fed, because he needs his joint supplement.
 
We feed all year round but it can be as little as giving them balancer to keep the vits and minerals correct.
 
we feed all year as well. People forget the horses do more work in the summer and hard feed is for energy not just weight. No wonder some animals go skitzo in the winter, they are not fed all summer and then in the winter they are stuffed with hard feed and doing less work and people wonder why they are hyper. They then buy a calmer for them but agian only use it in the winter.
 
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We feed all year round but it can be as little as giving them balancer to keep the vits and minerals correct.

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Thats all i give. They get what they require without over loading.
 
we feed all year round, but reduce it depending on how much grass we have. Apparently previous owners really struggled to get weight on Flash, but we're certainly not having that problem!
 
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