Who feeds according to horse's weight?

Coblover63

Coblover63

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Anyone here weigh their feed and hay and feed accordingly? Went to a talk recently on Cushings and EMS and the vet* was adamant that horses should only be fed 1.5% of their weight in a 24-hour period. In the question and answer sesh afterwards one lady was saying that her horse eats his permitted weight of hay (which she has also soaked previously to remove the sugars) within a couple of hours of coming in at night and she worries that by not having anything to eat for the rest of the time in his stable he will develop ulcers. Vet said there is no evidence to suggest that a horse without anything to eat will develop ulcers. Wish I'd thought to ask whether there was any evidence to show that the STRESS of not having anything to eat might trigger them :rolleyes:

My lot all live out 24/7 so I have to monitor their weight by eye, but it was a very interesting talk anyway.....

*Vet is very well-known and respected locally, by the way....
 
Coblover63 said:
Went to a talk recently on Cushings and EMS and the vet* was adamant that horses should only be fed 1.5% of their weight in a 24-hour period.
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Are you saying that the vet was saying this about ALL horses? Or just those suffering from laminitis or who are overweight? I can understand his stance if the second category, as laminitis is usually more life-threatening than ulcers, plus there are various ways to slow down the eating of forage if necessary.

Personally, I feed by eye, not weight, but there are lots of circumstances where knowing the weight of feed fed is useful, particularly where people are having problems putting weight on, or keeping weight off, horses. It can be easy to over or under estimate amounts of food fed, so weighing is a good way to double check you are doing things correctly.
 
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Yeah, weigh everything for my cob, he's a really good doer and lives on fresh air so I have to, as the weight creeps back on if I'm not really careful. He also only has 1.5% of his current BW a day, but will increase that when he's a bit lighter. He gets his rations split into 5 portions a day too, with the bulk whilst he's in overnight. Its a pain, but I find its the only way to keep him slim and happy. :)
 
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Mine get as much adlib hay as they can stuff down their throats- all a good weight with glossy coats, nice topline and a hint of their ribs showing.

No idea how much it weighs!
I would rather feed by eye than weight of food unless trying to restrict them due to being fatties or wanting to monitor how much a thin horse was managing to eat.
 
forage is fed ad lib, if he finishes a net over night he gets more if he is leaving some it doesnt worry me unless he is leaving a large amount.

for his feed i have a certain sized scoop in each feed bag and its the same qty for every feed, i feed this by eye, checking his condition and taking note of his energy/fitness levels increasing when necessary, i.e. coming into winter, an extremely busy competing month...

He's a sports horse, in regular work, competing every other weekend.
 
Are they taking into account any work the horse does, a horse getting 1.5% of its weight would be losing weight if worked fairly hard, my horses get adlib haylage, fed by eye and with their workload taken into account. The ponies are more restricted as they are all treated as if they are at risk.
 
No, & I'm pretty amazed that its possible for the average owner. After all, you'd need a weighbridge every few weeks, & the horse would have to be kept completely away from grazing. Both of which are possible, but not the norm for the average owner.
I just feed by eye tbh, ad lib forage at all times.
 
No I don't, I just feed what I feel is right and adjust it accordingly with the weather and their weight. I also give enough hay to hopefully keep them going all night if they are in.
 
I weight tape regularly to pick up changes before they are visible to the eye but feed by eye.

If they are putting on weight, I double net, soak etc to slow them down but keep them eating. Would muzzle in the summer again to keep them eating slowly but steadily.

They only get minimal amounts of feed unless they are dropping on adlib forage, in which case I would up the hard feed.

If my tb doesn't get ad lib feed he gets very grumpy which may be moods but may also be physical.
 
humm i'd be intersted in where you are as i went to a similar talk - vet said that horses can be all day without hay/forage if they need to loose weight (as in 24hrs) before you need to worry about ulcers etc.
he alsio said that a horse will never need any more than a LW rug on and that anything over is affecting the metabolism and increasing chances of lami etc - yes i agree in principles - but he said ALL horses -
oh and that no horse needs more than a balancer and chaff...
by which point i'm afraid i switched off and planned what conditionng feed to get next for HRH - and planned her new super duper HW winter wardrobe ;)

i do kinda get his points - many many horses at RC/local level - and many hobby owners (happy hacks etc) are totally over weight and fed the wrong things and rugged up far too much so that their food is not used in the way its supposed to when its cold (to keep warm) but used to pile on the weight. His talk was specifically about the higher insidences of lami found over winter up here as horses in no work are stabled, pumped full of high starch/energy feed, given ad lib hay and kept wrapped to eye balls - BUT - he kept say ANY/ALL horses - which wound me up.
 
If my horse is looking light she has more food, if she is looking fat she has less food :p She's a real yoyo with her weight tho, always has been.
 
I feed by eye, my boy is meant to get 5 scoops of dengie healthy hoof a day according to his weight, type and breed. He gets 2 on a usual day, 1.5 on a non working day and 2.5/3 in the depth of winter, which hasn't happened yet. He gets ad-lib hay.

I do rug him appropriately anything under 8oC gets 300grm run and 8-14oC gets a 200grm rug. If it didn't get any warmer than 5oC in the day he would be in a heavier rug 450grm but haven't had to go there yet.

I really don't like those that need to feed conditioning feed cause the horse is underrugged and cold at night.

He's a pure TB and is a good doer.
 
I feed to the horse's weight to an extent... My previous cob was obese when I got him and only had to sniff food to pile on weight so I was completely OCD about feeds - all hay nets weighed and triple netted to make them last, and regularly weighed feeds to make sure I wasn't sneaking a bit more in the scoop...:rolleyes:

I'm a bit more relaxed with current lad as he isn't such a good doer. He is out on average grazing all day (24/7 in summer) , unmuzzled, and has ad lib hay when in. I still weigh my hay so I know how much he is eating, and when he starts not leaving any in the morning, he gets an extra kilo. I still regularly weigh my feeds, but I prefer him to have ad lib forage, then by eye and weigh-tape, adjust his chaff/speedibeet. Everyone at the yard thinks I'm nuts, but I know exactly how much he should be eating, how much he is eating, of what, and can use that to guesstimate how much grass he is getting in the field - and it really doesn't take long once you're in the habit of it :D
 
I normally feed by eye unless the horse has specific dietary requirements.
I give ad lib forage (grazing and/or hay/haylage), then rug if needed to maintain weight and feed in accordance to the horse's age and workload.
All of the horses I've ever owned have tended to maintain a condition score of 2.5 - 3, so I must be doing something right. :)
 
It is very important that for the moment at least, that I feed by weight.

My boy is on box rest with an annular ligament problem, and I really don't want him to be overweight.

He is fed four soaked haynets a day and 2 feeds, all weighed according to his weight, well actually a little under as he needs to lose some, which he is at a steady pace.

I am very pleased with his weight loss although he was never gross. I do realise that some of the weight loss is down to lack of muscle but hopefully he will build up when back in work. If all goes well.
 
I have always understood you should feed forage at 1.5% of body weight for weight loss and 2% for maintenance. This is a combination of hay/haylage and grazing. This is where the problem lies for most of us. Many people use these figures to calculate hay/haylage only, forgetting the grazing, and if you do consider the grazing, how on earth do you estimate that. It obviously depends on hours out and quality/quantity of grass. But a pretty impossible task really.
 
Me! I weigh tape every 2 weeks. Bt I'm trying to get weight on him. If he gets to what I want then I will calm my over management and feeding obsession down!

I have feed profiles created on a website feed xl that helps me see how much grazing, how much of everything else he is getting, and what breakdown of calories he needs and gets from various food. Hopefully it will help me when he is fatter try make it cheaper to feed him!
 
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My boy gets ad-lib haylage, and I feed hard feed according to how he is looking weight wise and by the amount of work he has done. I use a weigh tape to monitor his weight.
 
Was the talk in Newton Longville by any chance? If so, I was there.

My very good doer mare hasn't had lami but is fed according to weight. Hay is weighed and soaked for at least 12 hrs, fed in a trickle net and lasts 11-12hrs overnight. Wears a muzzle when on grass for most of the year apart from the worst of winter (still muzzled now).

If hay is netted correctly it can be made to last almost all the night, it just takes practice to get the right net combo.

Molly was weighed (on scales, not tape) at 472kg, she gets 6kg hay overnight and 500g of "feed" (balancer and handful of chaff) them muzzled when in the field. She is fat score of 3 at the moment and looking great - lacking muscle but that is because she is recently off box rest for splint fracture surgery.

Muzzle will come off soon and hay will be soaked until it is too frozen to do so, but will still be trickle netted and weighed all winter.
 
Hi i'm new not only to the site but also to the horse/pony world- i've came on mostly to try to get to grips with my kids new hobby fast! basically my kids have been begging for a pony for ages and since my daughter has passed her 11+ i caved and have gotten her a pony (she went riding as birthday and christmas presents previously at a local yard) she is doing well but i'm nervous about how to look after the pony! He's out side in our bit of field atm and we get lots of help from the local horse feed place topcrop haylage but i don't want to lean on them too much.. so far they've sold me a few bails that they said would be suitable to a little pony and he loves their food... maybe too much?! How do i tell if he is getting fat? thanks
 
Please tell me you are joking. If not, please, please, please, move pony to a good yard where you can get some help with basic horsecare.
 
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