How often is your horse fed?

[GoodTimes]

Mine get free choice hay outside from 7am-8pm, once the field dries a bit more they’ll be out on grass/hay 24/7.
They get grain am and pm right now, and a huge pile of hay in their stalls (usually there’s some leftover in the morning). In the summer when there’s lots of grass they just come in once a day for some vit/min.

10hrs with nothing to eat is definitely asking for ulcers. Unfortunately it’s common, especially in show barns, or barns with limited turnout. If they’ll let you fill and hang hay nets for your horse then that’s what I’d start doing. Double bag it in a slow feed haynet and it will last a lot longer.

[bt1]

grained 4 Xs a day yep four times maybe a quart and a half each feeding and constant hay 24/7/365

[cayuse]

Pellets in the evening with their supplements and hay 5 times a day. This is for ponies/minis. When I had big horses it was grain twice a day and hay 5 times a day. They are kept at home so it is easy for me to run out and toss hay that often. “Last call” is at 10:30.

[pony_grandma]

Clean inside stored round bales all day for forage. Saves us a ton of money and feed time, we only purchase about a 100 squares for travel and any necessary stall time. Night time fed a hot water mix of alfalfa cubes, beet pulp, ration balancer, oats and rice bran. All keep good weight through the winter and zero colics in 46 yrs of horse keeping.

[FatCatFarm]

Twice daily; 24/7 turnout with free choice grass hay if there isn’t sufficient grass which usually means hay late October thru April and grass May to October.

[betsyk]

@PamB

Interesting. Thank you for the responses. My horse it in turn out (no grass - just dirt - no hay) between breakfast and dinner, which is about 10 hours or so. Makes me wonder if evening lessons (before dinner) would go better if she had had some lunch. Even just some hay or grass, which is not an option. Hay fed for breakfast and dinner in stall is also limited and always completely gone.

Years ago I boarded at a place that fed this way. Their explanation was that there was less waste if horses were fed in the stalls instead of outdoors (they were also lazy, and it was less work). Oddly enough there were many horses who did ok with it because they didn’t have to compete and were able to get all their assigned food into their own body. And, there was a group of devoted boarders who brought little pails of soaked beet pulp every evening for a bedtime snack. Nobody had heard of ulcers in those days and free choice hay wasn’t really a thing yet, either.

[dani0303]

Mine at home get grain once a day (2 qts each + supplements) because they’re easy keepers. They are out in a large dry lot with a 3x3x8 bale of hay that lasts them about 2 weeks.

My mare is boarded at my trainer’s farm. She lives out on grass pasture with hay 24/7 as well. She gets no grain because she’s a total air fern.

[pologirl27]

2x a day with hay and grain. If they are inside they have lots of hay, if they are outside they have access to grass unless there is snow on the ground. Their pasture always has something to nibble on. I think it is very important to have SOMETHING to chew on even if it isn’t terribly nutritious for ulcer prevention.

[DunByMistake]

Mine live at home and get fed twice a day. I am a generous feeder and they eat 3-4 hours a feeding. There is a few hours where their tummies are empty before dinner time (when it’s not grass season) but they seem to survive. If I did free choice hay, I’d have to find much lower quality hay or mine would be obese. My gelding would literally never move from the hay pile if it was there all the time. He also gets 2 large ‘grain’ meals a day so he can get all his GI supplements in.

My gelding is extremely ulcer prone and I personally haven’t had much success with the ‘keep feed in front of them all the time so they never have an empty stomach’ approach to ulcer avoidance. He lives on grass 24/7 in the summer and hardly lifts his head from eating and he still got ulcers last summer (even with his expensive feed/supplement plan). I had him boarded at indoor arena this winter and they fed him a mountain of hay (2 or 3 times what other horses got) because they knew he was ulcer prone. And he still got ulcers.

I don’t like riding on an empty stomach so when I ride in evenings, I toss a flake while I get changed, get my tack out, etc. That gives him something in his belly while riding which does make for happier horses. Then I give rest of feed after I’m done.

Maybe you could give your horse a scoop of alfalfa cubes while you’re tacking up so he isn’t working on an empty stomach?

[JumpingAddict93]

Hay 24/7 but grain morning and night. I would feed three times a day but I am not home during the day and dont work close by

[frugalannie]

I hate waste and I like healthy horses, We feed a forage based diet, so they get a margarine container of ration balancer twice a day year round. Spring and fall they’re out on grass 23/7 (1 hour is for bringing in for feed) and won’t eat hay although we usually keep a flake in each stall. Summer they’re out nights and in days, so they get a slow feed hay net full of hay when they come in mornings, and if they’ve finished might get a small flake early afternoon. Winters they get a full slow feed net at night, 2 flakes each on turnout in the morning and two flakes at lunchtime.

Between the slow feed nets in the stalls and hay boxes in the turnouts, we waste very little hay. Average winter hay use is 190 lbs per horse per week, and they’re all in good flesh.

[WhereDidMySeatGo]

I would be out of a place ASAP if they left my horse out on a dry-lot without hay for 10+ hours.

The barn I pasture board at feeds hay 3-4 times a day in the winter and they only stop when the horses are not interested in the hay. They feed a complete feed or a ration balancer or hay pellets depending on each horse’s needs once or twice a day depending on who is in the pasture. My mare gets a mix of complete feed and hay pellets 2x a day in the winter, and she usually gets switched to a ration balancer or low starch/low sugar feed in the summer.

[findthedistance]

I feed grain twice a day (and occasionally lunch if needed). Horses have access to free choice grass/round bale when out, and most get free-choice hay in their stalls as well. Hay is put in stalls once a day, but they get enough to last the whole time they’re in.

[allons-y]

Mine live out 24/7. In Winter, if its horrible, I keep them in the stalls with hay at night, mostly to be out of the wind and dry their feet… The TB gets his blankie too, but only rarely. In the summer they get concentrates pm only, no hay cause there is tons of grass. I usually have to rotate them thru smaller paddocks to control intake. In winter I feed hay multiple times a day. Summers only the tb gets any amt of concentrate. The other two just get a vit with a token handful to think they are getting yummies too.

[solarflight]

Access to hay or pasture 24/7. Horses that live in get grain twice daily. Most of them live out and are grained once.

I would not be happy if my horse was without food for 10 hours. That’s just a recipe for ulcers.

[quietann]

Where I board, hay is fed 7 times a day, concentrates twice, three times for a horse that needs it. Most of the horses do go for a few
hours without hay during the night. But this is really good for a boarding situation in my area.

[Dutchmare433]

Mine get grain 2x a day, hay 4x a day (5x if in w/ bad weather, 3x when there is grass), alfalfa cubes 1x a day. One horse ends up running out of hay for a few hours over night, the other has it netted, so has it 24/7.

[Martina]

@PamB

My horse is in turn out (no grass - just dirt - no hay) between breakfast and dinner, which is about 10 hours or so. Makes me wonder if evening lessons (before dinner) would go better if she had had some lunch. Even just some hay or grass, which is not an option. Hay fed for breakfast and dinner in stall is also limited and always completely gone.

This isn’t great horse management but there might be a reason (cost vs board). If there aren’t any other barn options, can you buy your own hay and have them feed it at lunch? If the horse is in a group this won’t work.

You can improve your evening lessons if you can get there a little early and give a flake of hay while gathering your tack. If you can soak some alfalfa cubes even better, but that takes more time.

What happens is, horses produce stomach acid all the time. The saliva from grazing tempers the acid. When they don’t graze the acid collects. When they start trotting and bouncing the acid sloshes around and can create stomach upset/ulcers in the upper part of the stomach (which is more sensitive). Some horses can handle this better than others. If you can get him/her grazing before your lesson that could help.

[leheath]

If a flake of hay before you ride in the evening isn’t possible, I would feed a few cups of alfalfa pellets (don’t have to be soaked like cubes do) while I was tacking up. At least that puts something in his tummy so he isn’t “hangry” and the stomach acid isn’t sloshing around and causing/exacerbating ulcers.

[frugalannie]

While I understand that horses should have food available to them at all times the hard truth is that even wild horses out in nature often don’t. And even when horses do, as when mine are out all day and night on a field of proper grass, they don’t eat continuously. They graze for a while, then snooze or look for trouble, graze for a bit, take a nap, eat again and stop (sometimes with grass hanging from their lips) to contemplate the universe. They self regulate pretty well.