Feeding Times

[Skitten]

Thanks for all of the replies! I was really concerned about the feeding time because both the book I’ve read and my experience with barn routines (that being both large barns with hired help and one-person-run stables) said to feed same time daily.

I always have little things to do and would have hated to return home 30 mins late for feeding horses. Now that I know the secret I won’t have to worry about it whenever I get my pony. That would really help on vacations when I’d have to have someone else do it

[Cross_Country]

I think there are logistics that have to be applied if you are inquiring about a boarding facility verses horses who are cared for at a private farm. I also think horses who are traveling a lot & being competed heavily & regularly are in their own category.

In my opinion, I have gathered that the general consensus is this: For horses who have a fairly low key life or schedule, a variance in feed times is healthier as it does not trigger anxiety in the horses over anticipated feed times. For horses with intense & constantly changing competition & traveling schedules, a set feeding time can become one of the few stable & regular activities in their lives that create an opportunity for regularity in their ever-changing schedule.

I keep my horses at home & prefer feeding in a set window of times rather than exact feeding times.

My horses have free choice hay (& seasonal grass) provided 24/7/365 days a year. Stall doors are left open with access to fields 24/7/(nearly)365. They really are only locked in if there is lightening present or predicted.

This schedule works for the horses beautifully, & gives me some flexibility with my work schedule which varies greatly from day to day. This schedule also seems to make things easier on my farm sitters when I need to travel. Most importantly, it keeps my horses calm & flexible about feeding times.

That being said, when I used to board, I think the situation was very different because with the exception of the last place I boarded my horses at, NONE of the boarding stables were willing to provide free choice hay 24/7. So my horses were standing without food for portions of each day & night and they were legitimately hungry at feeding times. This gave them anxiety & created, at times, digestive issues. Plus, when I was driving to the barn during a window of time that I anticipated being able to work my horses, it was a little inconvenient if the horses were being fed at a different time than I expected. Ultimately, your question is about seeking opinions in what benefits the horse the most, so I guess convenience for planned rides shouldn’t really enter the equation. I have found that my horses truly do not care if they are being asked to work during a feeding time now that they are kept at home (even if we are away at a show or clinic), but when they were boarded & they stood without food in front of them multiple times per day, they WERE upset if they could not eat their food “on time”. I suspect this was a legitimate physical discomfort for them as well as an anxiety issue. All of my horses experienced colic issues at one time or another while boarded, with the exception of the last barn I boarded at where they were out 24/7 & were fed free choice hay. None of them have had colic issues since being moved home a number of years ago. This tells me they have benefitted immensely from their current feeding schedule, which is as follows (if you are still reading & this hasn’t gotten too long!):

I feed a combination of alfalfa cubes/beet pulp/grain that is tailored to each horse and fed 3 times a day, given in a general 2 hour window.

-AM feeding is between 6:00-8:00am.
-Lunch is between 1:00-3:00pm.
-Dinner is between 9:00-11:00pm.

My horses are seldom excited for a meal… they sort of amble towards the barn when they realize I am in it. Sometimes I have to call them in & wait a few minutes for them to arrive (even in winter).

If we are experiencing extremely cold temperatures, I AM very mindful of spreading out their mash & grain meals in a way that keeps the window of time between their PM feeding & AM feeding on the shorter side.

I think, if you are boarding, your personal preference has to be modified by what you have available to your horses in regards to hay amounts and the turnout/grazing situation.

[trubandloki]

@Cross Country;8501627

For horses with intense & constantly changing competition & traveling schedules, a set feeding time can become one of the few stable & regular activities in their lives that create an opportunity for regularity in their ever-changing schedule.

I think if any horse needs a variable feeding schedule to not be upset by changes it is the horse that travels and shows a ton. There is no way to predict what time a horse on the road will get fed so why set them up for the stress of their dinner coming three hours late because the show is running late?

[Cross_Country]

In theory, I agree, and I used to think that way too. But after traveling with a lot of horses, for a lot of years, I have found that my horses experience less digestive upset when on a somewhat regular feeding schedule while traveling. They typically handle classes or clinic rides like pro’s if they happen to be during a feeding time.

Ultimately, I think there is one factor that GREATLY affects how the horse’s digestive system & emotions process feed times:

Is the horse given free choice hay??

That being said, my version of “set times” probably has more variance than someone who doesn’t subscribe to feeding during windows of time.

[merrygoround]

Free choice hay or grass, plus a guaranteed source of water, are the secrets to a peaceful horse 365 days a year. Grain feedings can arrive in a reasonable time window but should have some consistency within a 2-3 hour time frame, with at least 4 hours or more between feedings.

[NorthwoodsRider]

Horses out 24/7/365 with round bale when not on grass. Free in and out access to the barn/stalls. Once daily “grain” (beet pulp & ration balancer, except for one hard keeper who also gets a weight builder) feeding. Horses are at a neighbour’s farm 1km from my house. I work 12 hour shift days/nights. When I’m on days off or nights they get fed around 3pm, when I’m dayshift they get fed at 7pm when I get home. They don’t “expect” feed until they hear my car coming down the driveway. If I happen to drive DH’s truck, I will actually have to go call them in from the field. When I am out of town, farm owner takes over and feeds in the morning because that is more convenient for her. They are happy and healthy and it works for all of us!

[Nestor]

Personally, I don’t stick to a strict schedule with my retirees at home. It’s approximate. Breakfast might be anywhere between 6-8am, lunch 11-2pm, dinner 4-6pm, nightcheck 8-10pm.

If your horse colics because they get their grain a 1/2 hour late, there are other issues, IMHO.

Most boarding barns have a set schedule, but in my experience, it’s so the boarders know when their horse is fed and can plan accordingly. Most important consideration is their dinner grain feeding, as so many horse owners ride after school/work. My dressage horse misses dinner grain often, because I get out of work at 3 and so I’m riding when he would otherwise get his 4pm meal. So he gets it around 6, after I’ve finished riding and he’s cooled out. He survives just fine!

[BroncoMo]

I agree with most everyone else’s comments. It has absolutely everything to do with what is being fed, not when. Growing up we fed twice a day, grain and hay. We by no means were feeding tiny amounts of hay, but it still wasn’t free choice. We had quite a few colics of all kinds. The vets shrugged it off and chalked it up to the number of horses we had (between 25-35 at any given point), and altitude (over 10,000 feet in elevation, not sure if there’s any link there, so just ignore if you like). Upon moving to a more horse-conducive area and starting on free choice hay, the number of colics we had plummeted. It is nearly non-existent now and I realize that the feeding regimen I grew up with wasn’t the best; might be more common, but it wasn’t how the horse is made to eat.

I currently feed most everyone free choice round bales of grass, and supplement with 3 x 3 x 8 bales of alfalfa. The grass eating ones get a flake a day of alfalfa (would have to measure to know exactly how heavy), and I have a handful that are on free choice alfalfa; if I could afford to do so, they would all be free choice alfalfa… Absolutely love it. During the week they get grain and their alfalfa on a fairly regular schedule simply due to my work schedule. I feed at 5 in the morning before I leave, and around 5-6 in the evening when I get back. On the weekends, as someone said before, no way in hell I’m waking up that early to go feed on a day off. They get grain when I get to it. I believe it is good to vary the times so they don’t throw a fit at a show when food doesn’t arrive right when they want it. They know they’ll get fed. It just might be a little while. I firmly believe free choice hay is the secret (shouldn’t be a secret). Reduces the chance of ulcers, keeps them happy (don’t really care when grain arrives), and is how horses are meant to eat. No way I’d ever go back to rationed hay.

[dani0303]

My get fed with my work schedule, which is very erratic. They end up getting fed in the morning any time between 4-8am and between 4-7 at night. They don’t seem to care as long as the food comes eventually. They live outside and have free choice hay so they’re never really starving