How often is your horse fed?

[North_Dakota]

Grain 2x a day and they’ve got hay 24/7. In the paddocks we’ve got hay huts with big square bales in most fields and hay bags in the stalls. A couple of the must be on a diet horses have hay bags hung on the fence in the paddocks since they can’t have the all you can eat buffet at the hay huts. In the summer all the paddocks open onto grass fields, and the horses can come and go from the paddocks to the fields. Most spend a couple hours on the grass fields then when it is to buggy they go up and eat hay. We don’t feed a large quantity of grain.

Our horses would have ulcers so fast if they didn’t have hay. Even with hay all the time my horse likes snacking on his hay bag while I tack him up in his stall. He’s all about his hay.

[kinscem]

Oats 3 times a day. Hay unlimited.

[bornfreenowexpensive]

My own farm. I have a couple of boarders but it is not a boarding barn. Grain at least twice a day. Some harder keepers get a Third full grain meal…and a few get soaked hay cubes . Horses that are in stalls at night also get a handful snack at Night check. Hay in front of them 24/7. If there isn’t a ton of grass in the T/O field they get hay. We still have hay in all the fields although the grass is starting to come back up. I also have a few horses who get steamed hay. I use hay nets in the stalls so they don’t waste but never want the hay nets empty. If we have a fatty horse…they will get muzzled when out on grass and use slow feed nets (one we have it doubled up to slow her down more)…but they still will always have hay. I don’t think it is good for horses to not have good quality hay available to them at all times. Hay is probably my biggest expense but it is not one where you cut corners IMO.

eta: I have a couple of Ulcer prone TBs…they get alfalfa on top of their normal hay. I also am very careful with my grain. Most get a balanced as a base and then if they need more calories I have a couple of high quality grains we add as well as fat supplements. The soaked hay cubes also help those harder keepers as they often are not good gay eaters so it gets more into them.

[DiamondJubilee]

I also have my own farm and have 4 ponies, all with different situations so I feed accordingly. 2 are retired ponies and are quite chubby right now, one is a young pony who needs all he can get and 1 pony is in good weight and works quite a bit.

My guys are out 12hr a day right now and in at night. They get grain before turnout (handful of grain for the retired guys, 2 cups of grain for the guy in good weight, and 4 cups for the young pony who needs the calories right now. They also get different types of grain since they are doing different “work”).

All of my ponies go out together as we have one winter paddock. They get one small square bale in the am that lasts them from 6am to about noon. I don’t feed much more as my retired guys are quite large right now so round bale is not an option.

I bring in around 6pm and they get the same grain they had in the morning, a handful of hay for the retired ponies and 1 flake each for the 2 in work (and a good amount of soaked alfalfa cubes for the young pony). If I’m going to work the ponies around 6pm when I get home, I do feed a couple of flakes of hay as soon as I get home outside to all 4 ponies. This keeps them all happy and the one or two I’m about to work has something in their stomach.

I also do a night feed around 9-10 and they all get 1 flake of hay and my young guy gets another serving of grain. I do cut back a bit on the grain for the young pony if I’m not working him as he will get a bit too much energy. Once the summer comes, they are all out on a large 4 acre grass paddock and come in at 9pm with a handful of hay and their regular grain.

Also meant to add, I’m not an eventer but do combined driving with my guys. So they need the energy but not the “hotness” that can come with it. I’m fairly picky on their grain and I’ve shopped around for the best fit for them and have spoken to a lot of different feed reps to find the perfect fit. Hay and grass are a huge part of their diet though and I try to feed as much of that as possible.

[WildLittleWren]

Grained twice a day, on 24/7 grass pasture, and hay available at all times. Haven’t had an ulcer issue, colic issue, nothing. Horses are designed to be grazing animals, constantly eating.

[WildLittleWren]

@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.

Now that is quite an accomplishment!!

[ACountingRider]

It would be interesting to note what breed of horses and level of work the horse is in. When I boarded at a local hunter-jumper barn they were aghast I asked my OTTB to have a third meal every day, when their lesson horses were satisfied on two, with a flake or two of hay during the day and a moderate pasture at night. Whereas their horses were in fine condition, mine always struggled to maintain weight.
When I moved into a higher-end program, my OTTB whose now running Preliminary was put on four meals. She has free-choice hay all day in her stall, and a flake of alfalfa at night, with a moderate paddock to graze in. This is perfect for her, and she’s blooming.
My pony stallion would pop on this routine, he’s on a handful of grain 2x a day, out in daylight to graze on a closer to bare paddock, and a piece of an alfalfa flake (because he’s decided he won’t eat any other hay) at night. He’s still about to pop, and in regular work.

[Eilsel]

Our horses are turned out in large group dry lots. They have 24 hour access to large round bales of high quality brome hay. Most of the pens get fed grain twice a day, approximately 8 am and 5 pm. Stall horses come in to eat grain twice a day. Winter months (approx. Nov-Apr) they only come in to eat and then go back out. Summer months they will come in to eat in the morning and stay in until after dinner. During this time they have hay in their stalls as well. Occasionally some of our hard keepers and horses in very heavy work will get lunch in the summer.

[seabreeze]

@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.

Except for a medical or dietary reason, I wouldn’t tolerate this feeding regimen. Horses are grazing animals, and their digestive systems are designed to be digesting 24/7. I would have to remove my horse from this situation if she couldnt receive a slow-feed hay bag to have something to munch on throughout the day.

[2DogsFarm]

@PamB is that turnout totally grass-free?

Unless it’s sand, & even then, I’d expect some grass/weeds to be present - at least that’s what I get in my sacrifice paddock. Somehow herbage works its way through the gravel-over-geotex - hardly a pasture, but my horses do nibble at it.
Same for my pastures before grass is visible to me - they’re out there “grazing” on whatever they seem to find.
Unless your mare is dropping weight U would assume she is doing kay oin this program.
Would they let you hang a haynet? Might work unless paddock is shared, then you chance food aggression or fights over a single source…

[Highflyer]

It’s not so much that they need forage available 24/7, as that they need to never go very long without it-- but that’s hard to replicate if you’re not there 24/7 unless you can just put out enough to last the whole time. Probably the ideal for many horses (my fatties, anyway) would be some kind of timed device that let them eat for like half an hour out of every ninety minutes.

[Amy3996]

My boarding barn gives grain 2x a day. Horses are turned out 8-12 hours, with round bale access when there’s no grass. Hay in the stalls was a bit of a sticking point for me. I wanted my horse to have constant access to hay while stalled, whereas the BM thinks 3 flakes out of a 45 lb square bale (10-15lbs) is sufficient for the 12-16 hours the horses are stalled. For my hard keeper, that’s simply not enough. I purchased my own hay and keep nets filled so that all the barn staff has to do is hang them in his stall. He has a NibbleNet with 1.5" openings and a regular 2" slowfeed net - together they hold 25-30lbs of hay. That’s typically enough to last him through the night with a good amount left over. I’d feed it on the ground but he’s a slob and a lot of it gets wasted that way, so nets it is!

[Freespool86]

My 5 year old OTTB is on full pasture (natural pasture, we don’t sow the pastures), hay is available 24/7 as the grass is mostly passing through and not enough to keep weight on. He also gets his grain and SmartPaks. When the grass dies down the hay stays 24/7 and is also fed through slow feed nets. There isn’t a time when forage isn’t in front of our horses, although they don’t stand there and continually eat.

[16_Hands]

My two are boarded and are fed 2x a day. It’s self-care so the barn feeds what I set out for them. They are turned out on close to bare pastures for an average of 7-8 hours a day. I don’t feed grain but a pellet of hay, rice bran, flax, and beet pulp as a filler. I also feed a vitamin/mineral supplement with biotin. My TB could use a little more weight and I’m working on it but my mare is staying plenty chubby. Having a lunch is not an option as the BO works and no one is at the barn all day except other boarders.

[INoMrEd]

I’m lucky as the boarding stable where I keep my eldest (29 year old) horse Louie feeds him twice a day but it’s enough that he always has hay in front of him. In addition to that every evening I feed him 3 lbs of soaked beet pulp, with a half a pound of Triple Crown Lite, 12 ounces of canola oil and with 4 ounces of the vitamin supplement (Equivision Equine Nutrimix) added to it, to be sure that his calcium/phosphorus ratios are being met and that he has the vitamins and minerals he needs for a balanced diet.