why feed breakfasts?

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tiggerette

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If the horse is being ridden less in the darker, colder months, and has a sufficiently warm rug to prevent too much energy being used up to keep the horse warm - why do people feel the need to double the amount of hard feed being fed to their animals? I find it a bit concerning when I see owners of good doers/cobby types (obviously appreciate older, lighter framed horses need a bit more help) feeding big breakfasts and dinners, when come the spring grass they are struggling to get the weight off their horses. Horses are meant to be lighter in the winter so they can afford to put on a few kilos in the spring without their health suffering!
 
Do you mean cut out breakfast altogether or less for breakfast/tea.
If you mean no breakfast then why?? If breakfast is the most important meal of the day for humans shouldnt horses get brekkie too???

If you mean less in each feed but still a breakfast than that's better and I can see some of your points. However for people with poor winter grazing some feeds provide the vitamins and minerals that cannot be found in bad grass.
 
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Do you mean cut out breakfast altogether or less for breakfast/tea.
If you mean no breakfast then why?? If breakfast is the most important meal of the day for humans shouldnt horses get brekkie too???

If you mean less in each feed but still a breakfast than that's better and I can see some of your points.

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Not necessarily - horses and humans work very differently, both in terms of eating and sleeping patterns. It is a real anthropomorphism to suggest that breakfast is as important for horses as humans - it isn't. Equally humans do not need to trickle feed all day to keep their guts working.
 
I think breakfast is really important to line the gut before they go out - I wouldn't want mine going out with an empty tummy onto grass (especially ice cold snowy grass) It also stops them pigging out if they've got a bit of fibre already in their stomach - so for me - no I wouldn't go without - I don't however feed hard feed, only fibre based diets.
Kate x
 
Mine get breakfast during winter.
1) It takes the edge off any hunger and means that when being led out/handled they listen to me instead of being distracted by any possible source of food
2) I like the keep their weight pretty steady all the year round without seasonal gains and losses
3) Breakfast is mostly fibre but they like it and get quite excited about it.
 
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Equally humans do not need to trickle feed all day to keep their guts working.

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damn!
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I think breakfast is really important to line the gut before they go out - I wouldn't want mine going out with an empty tummy onto grass (especially ice cold snowy grass) It also stops them pigging out if they've got a bit of fibre already in their stomach - so for me - no I wouldn't go without - I don't however feed hard feed, only fibre based diets.
Kate x

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See if you can do ad lib hay/haylage then this isn't really an issue is it?

I do feed breakfast to this horse, but wouldn't necessarily to every horse.
 
I guess people feel that sometimes their horses need more nutrients due to less nutritious grass etc and that hay isnt enough and they cant pack more into 1 feed as they know horses have smaller stomachs / cant digest bigger feeds. And maybe the spread of nutrients twice a day is more efficient than once a day - dunno. I think most horses would be fine just with a hay feed as long as their one bucket feed contains all the vits/mins they need. The important thing is to trickle fibre feed for horses especially the stabled ones and especially for stabled ones it helps break up the boredom as well.

I actually only give mine breakfast (they live out 24/7) as that fits with my routine better.

I have heard that feeding at night (i.e. whilst the horse is less active helps them get the most from their food)
 
My two live out 24/7, and are getting breakfast and tea, which is just hifi as the are not having any hay. Especially in this weather it makes me feel better knowing that they have both had some dry/unfozen food in them. If they were on hard feed I can see your point and wouldn't have the routine I have now. If my horses were fed at all over the summer I would probably give them their feed split into two, as I would then be keeping the same routine going into winter. When they were stabled especially over winter I fed breakfast so they are less likely to gorge themselves when they are turned out especially when there has been frost or snow.
 
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I think breakfast is really important to line the gut before they go out - I wouldn't want mine going out with an empty tummy onto grass (especially ice cold snowy grass) It also stops them pigging out if they've got a bit of fibre already in their stomach - so for me - no I wouldn't go without - I don't however feed hard feed, only fibre based diets.
Kate x

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See if you can do ad lib hay/haylage then this isn't really an issue is it?

I do feed breakfast to this horse, but wouldn't necessarily to every horse.

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Thing is you can't guarantee when the horse last had something - mine has two large haylage nets over night - both empty on a morning - she could've finished them off at 6am or at 4am - I'm not to know - so I'd rather be prepared
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Kate x
 
I dont normally feed breakfast as I have a good doer so doesn't need it. However, the past few days the weather has been horrible so I have given her a scoop of Dengie good-doer just to line her tummy.
 
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When they were stabled especially over winter I fed breakfast so they are less likely to gorge themselves when they are turned out especially when there has been frost or snow.

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I agree with this this is why I feed in the winter.
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Ours get chop, speedibeet and some hi-fibre nuts for the vits and mins, once a day in the autumn/winter and nothing in the summer. We have deliberately 'poor' grazing and feed haylage in the quantity required to keep a hint of ribs beneath the skin. We have a mixture of TB's and natives and a warmblood and feed by eye.

I abhor fat horses or ponies and they don't get huge buckets of anything at any point or time of day!
 
Mine get the same bucket feed morning and evening all year round - I just up their hay quantity in the winter to help them keep warm up here. If I still lived in the south I wouldn't bother.

I don't have any grazing and I don't rug either but they are in overnight. So mine have 3-3.5kg of food a day, split into two feeds at 6.30pm and 6.30am and more or less ad lib hay. Must be working for them as their weight stays pretty constant.

And humans would be much better off if they did trickle feed - not for gut function but to keep blood sugars level.
 
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Equally humans do not need to trickle feed all day to keep their guts working.

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Aw d*mmit there's my excuse gone then! Now where did I put that bag of crisps
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?
 
I feed breakfast and dinner. Because I want to feed my horse slightly more and am aware of how much a horse can eat and digest properly in one go, I split the meal down into two, therefore catering to the 'trickle-feed' rule that horses work on.

As for doubling the intake - horses only digest a certain amount, don't they? So by feeding more, doesn't neccessarilly mean the horse is going to get fat? Thats how I've read it.

Surely, if you are concerned enough to post on it, maybe you should offer some advice to the people concerned?
 
Genie (Welsh Cob, good to do) doesn't get breakfast and won't do in the forseeable future. She gets adlib hay/haylage and a tiny evening feed. Her weight is monitored and so far it works.

However Mazzie (Argentine TB) had two feeds a day to make them smaller instead of just one huge feed in the evening.

I do know some people who feed exactly the same all year round without changing the amounts etc.... needless to say their horses are rather on the large side....

For me it depends on the horse as to whether they have breakfast or not. As we all know different horses have different requirements!
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i feed breakfast because at this time of year theres not much grass and hes turned out 9 till 5 so he at least has had a meal in his tummy but im very soft with him haha
 
Between OH and I we have three horses, three completely different types.

Firstly my 17 yr old pony mare who puts on weight with good grass, but looses weight in winter - she WILL NOT eat breakfast, because she wants to go out for her wee and roll.

Then I have her yearling daughter - as a weanling she had breakfast and tea, as she needed a bit more food, without too much in each meal.

Finally OH's boy, a 17yr old TB who is a poor doer, who also windsucks - he has breakfast and tea, plus when they stay in all the time, we split those down further to breakfast, lunch and tea - so he doesn't get too much in each meal.

I would dearly like my girl to eat breakfast, but she just won't. Yearling has got over her skinny phase at weaning and is on a small tea so she gets her balancer, with adlib hay.

They shouldn't be hungry of a morning, they are all on adlib forage - if its gone in the morning they get more the next night.
 
Well firstly there is next to no nutrients in the grass in winter, there is a lot more in summer, so horses are going to need more help. I feed breakfast and dinner as it lines the stomach before they go out onto frosty grass, to make it smaller rather than 1 huge feed, she needs the extra help to keep weight on in winter as she loses it quickly with no nutrition in the grass.
 
Ours only ever have tea. And ad lib hay in the field at the moment due to the weather. Ordinarily they just have a few slices morning and night as there's plenty for them to pick at.

I feel they may come out of this weather a bit on the tubby side but I'd rather that than the worry of them colicking if they don't get enough to eat in these extreme conditions.
 
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I think breakfast is really important to line the gut before they go out - I wouldn't want mine going out with an empty tummy onto grass (especially ice cold snowy grass) It also stops them pigging out if they've got a bit of fibre already in their stomach - so for me - no I wouldn't go without - I don't however feed hard feed, only fibre based diets.
Kate x

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Ditto this exactly! I had a mare who coliced very easily in frosty weather so always feed a breakfast, it's always fibre based and my two now don't get their coarse mix increased only split between 2 feeds.
 
I always do breakfast, even in the summer.

Jim has it because it allows me to give his U-Gard twice a day. This is important to him. Also when the weather's frosty I like him to have a bowl of fibre in his guts before he goes on the grass. And yes, he does have ad-lib hay & there's always some left but when I go up in the morning he's rarely eating it & I like to know there's something recent in his tummy.

Little Un gets a handful of diet chaff because I can't face full scale welsh cob tantrums first thing in the morning!

Breakfast also gives me a few quiet moments to check how bright they look, if the boxes are normal & change rugs. Their breafasts are usually only low calorie fibre feed.
 
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I abhor fat horses or ponies and they don't get huge buckets of anything at any point ortime of day!

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Don't get me started on this! I can't stand fat horses and am constatnly amazed at the amount of feed that some are given when already overweight. Mine gets breakfast only because everything else does - it consists of a few high fibre nuts and a tiny handful of chaff, taken out of his evening feed so that he isn't getting any extra. Evening feed consists of a few more high fibre nuts and 3 handfuls of chaff for joint supplement. Until various arthiritic ailments meant I've had to retire him from hunting, he was going to be hunting once every couple of weeks on just that ration too. I am cruel
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