Just curious - what does your horse eat and what are they training?

[rcy]

Out of curiosity, and spinning off the “sound over 15” thread - what do you feed and supplement your horse with, and what level of training are you? My mare was recently diagnosed with allergies (yes I know blood tests are unreliable, but I figured no harm in trying to eliminate what she came back exceptionally high in to see if it helps). She tested highly allergic to flax, soy and oats - her current diet reflects my attempt to accommodate. In my quest to find what works for her stomach, training level and boarding situation, just wondering what others do.

I can start.

9yo SWB, schooling 3rd - lessons 3x/week plus two rides on my own
Currently on pasture ~8 hrs/day

Breakfast is timothy, Purina Enrich, Outlast and rice bran - also sucralfate and amino acids
Dinner after turnout is timothy + alfalfa, Purina Enrich, Outlast and rice bran - also sucralfate and amino acids
Bedtime is more timothy
Also on Regumate and in the middle of Gastrogard
Before any ride she gets timothy + alfalfa

I think the Outlast didn’t work for her, hence the ulcers and more GG so am starting to try Mad Barn Visceral+. Knock wood no need for joint supplements/joint injections/therapies yet.

Not necessarily looking for advice on my situation, just wondering what others do

[Scribbler]

I feed good quality Timothy and a mash of beet pulp and alfalfa pellets to carry salt, VMS and flax. Easy keeper stock horse mare currently in a light workload. But honestly I don’t think that a dressage training session 4 times a week would require more calories. When I was riding elderly school master mare and schooling a mix of things 2nd to 4th level she got this plus some alfalfa hay to keep muscles up. Where I live this is the cheapest diet to get all the nutrients. We don’t have good comprehensive ration balancer in my market

I don’t think most horses need mash more than once a day unless you see hiding meds in it. I don’t think most horses need actual grain, but oats are fine.

If they aren’t keeping weight first thing is to up the hay until they won’t eat any more, then wait a few weeks before thinking about adding calories

More hay is a great solution for weight and ulcers, and 1/3 alfalfa hay rest Timothy is a great upgrade for hay.

Gastrogard will clear up ulcers or you get a free replacement dosage. Hay will help prevent them.

It’s important to feed a flake of hay before you ride, alfalfa is best if that’s in your meal plan. Don’t pull horse out on an empty stomach or off sparse winter field and ride. If the field is in winter conditions she should have a hay net out there if she will eat it, because otherwise she’s on ab 8 hour fast which is murder on ulcers.

Barn managers are often delusional about the quality of their pasture. Go walk it and see how much grass there really is.

[HeartsDesireEventing]

19yo TB gelding, competed 3rd Level in January, normally ridden 4 - 5 days a week
Turned out pretty much 24/7 unless the weather is nasty cold and wet - he hates that.

Gets as much of the barn mix hay as he will eat - type varies because the barn owner buys small batches of varying blends of orchard/timothy and occasionally alfalfa mix. Not my preference, but she puts out as much as he will willingly eat.

At breakfast and dinner he gets 1 flake of straight alfalfa, and 3.5 quarts of Seminole Dynsaport.

He is supplemented with Cosequin ASU + Hoof (trial trying to reduce the number of supplements - he was on Grand Hoof previously with good results, and a separate joint supplement), InSync4 (muscle supplement - added last summer and addressed some spasms he was having in his back), and TractGard (newish replacement for previous GI supplement, trying to reduce/combine number of supplements and places to order from).

In the summer I’ll add pelleted electrolytes back in as well.

He is on Pentosan bi-weekly, and a bi-annual Legend series, and normally gets a Legend shot before major shows. Has only needed joint injections in the last few years (made it to CCI & 15 without), but typically gets his hocks injected once a year. Recent x-rays show we’re dealing with fusing of his hocks, so we’ll see how that goes moving forward.

[exvet]

Coming 9-year-old Welsh cob gelding competing at third and schooling fourth. He gets Wellsolve, Platinum Performance Skin & Allergy for the Omega 3s, Vit E supplement, Purina Outlast, MSM, and supplement for ‘possible’ metabolic syndrome, bermuda hay and that’s pretty much it until summer time and I’ll add an electrolyte mix I make to his feeding. This guy has not been diagnosed with allergies but when I had him scoped a few months ago (respiratory) it was noted that he had a lot of mucus in his airways, all else normal; so, the suggestion was to increase in Omega 3s to treat lower airway inflammation (not heaves).

Coming 6-year-old Morgan gelding competing training and first level. He gets alfalfa pellets, Nutrena’s Topline Ration Balancer, Purina Outlast, MSM, vitamin E supplement & bermuda hay.

[eightpondfarm]

25 horses. Large pasture so 7 mos per year pasture grasses. Other five months free choice our own pasture grass hay in roundbales under cover OR out in the pasture, they have their choice of many roundbales. And alfalfa hay. about 7 to 10 pounds per horse, more if it is under 20 degrees the coming night. They are fed free-range and together. via flakes i drop around in their field. Minerals via salts -free choice also, and i change around the type and brands i use. And that’s it.

Oh, mustangs that aren’t tame get weaned onto grain for a couple of days once per quarter, fed dewormer on day two or three and released back onto pasture once they’ve finished their rations.

Creek water, pond water, well water.

They all do different things. About six of them take dressage lessons. But only once per week. Mostly they run around. A few of thtra carry me to ride the fencelines. (really hilly and woodsy ‘trail riding’). Mostly they just run around in pastures doing horsey things.

[Guyot]

Depends on the horse but my personal current horse eats all she can eat hay served up in a porta grazer.

AM and PM she gets 1lb lightly soaked Timothy pellets with a vitamin supplement, magnesium, vit E, muscle recovery, omegas and a probiotic. Supplements split between am and pm feeds. Salts added if she needs them in summer.

She has shown 3rd and hoping to move her up to fourth this season. She works 5 days a week. She also gets adequan loading dose twice a year and has done as a preventative since she was 4.

[FjordBCRF]

Soon to be 6 year old Fjord who is in moderate work 5 days a week with training level work, gets the following in a day on his winter schedule.

AM in stall
1 flake first cutting hay in extreme slow feed haynet
2 cups of soaked beet pulp with:

• Vermont blend pro
• Omega E
• Tract Guard
• Winter amount of apple a day electrolytes

AM turnout
Splits a half a bale of first cutting hay or so with one other horse

“Snack”
1 cup soaked beet pulp
1 flake first cutting hay in extreme slow feed haynet

PM in stall
2 flakes first cut 1 flake second in extreme slow feed haynet
2 cups of soaked beet pulp with:

• Vermont blend pro
• Omega E
• Tract Guard
• Winter amount of apple a day electrolytes

Overnight 9PM - 6AM
3-4 ounces of teff hay pellets dispensed every hour from iFeed auto feeder.

If you can’t tell, he is a hay vacuum and will not rest until there is no hay left behind

[outerbanks77]

Both my mares get: California Trace, Santa Cruz Vitamin E, Tri-Amino, Magnesium, hempseed oil and SmartLytes served up on Purina Strategy Pro (about 1# 2x a day). I’ll give them a scoop of Outlast if I show up to ride and they don’t have feed in front of them.

10 year old appendix mare, will be showing 2nd this year, schooled about 4 days a week:
JointFlex, just added turmeric and will be adding MSM shortly. Hay is about 60% grass, 40% alfalfa.

7 year old Westfalian schooling about first level. She gets GutX and a probiotic on her grain, and about 70% grass 30% alfalfa, probably around 30# of hay per day. Ideally, she works 6 days a week, but in reality, more like 5 most weeks. ETA: also put her on 5,000 iu of water soluble E (Emcelle) recently based on vet recommendation.

[sascha]

17yo WB mare schooling 3rd + all the Ps. Eats ALL the things except grain. Has always been a ‘hard keeper’ so depending on time of year/grazing she may get 1 - 3 cups of oil/day plus all the hay she can eat (tim/alf blend indoors in a Hay Saver with the grate removed) and outside whatever large rounds or squares the BO feeds not netted so truly all you can eat buffet style.

1.5kg alf pellet/beet pulp soup with supplements* and oil in the evening after working. Tiny respiratory supplement snacks for breakfast and before being ridden. I’d prefer to feed in more balanced meals, but morning excitement is too much and she will only eat a couple of mints or her tiny (1/4 cup) snack before standing at her door tapping her wrist watch and yelling at everyone about them being “LATE! AGAIN!”

*vit min + all the things for allergies + vit E + probiotic + amino acids

[fordtraktor]

It’s all very dependent on the horse at my barn, from the FEI PRE who gets 1/2 lb. Essential K and MSM supp, to the FEI Hanoverian who gets 8 quarts of Kalm Ultra, Equioxx, Prascend, Vit E, and a Joint + hoof supplement.

My personal horse is currently 2nd, schooling 3rd and gets 1 lb. Essential K, 1 cup rice bran pellets (for his coat, without he gets flaky skin), Vit E, and SmartDigest for the Colicare.

They all get free choice grass or grass/alf mix hay.

I don’t find that work level makes that much difference in dressage. It’s more metabolism/size. Except I am careful they get enough protein to build muscle.

[atlatl]

22 YO SWB gelding, we only school 3rd level regularly as part of the plan to keep him sound for a century ride in 7 years. He “works” 2 times a week and also has a “trail ride” day and a gait quality day. His work is maybe 20 minutes, usually just 15. He eats Bermuda hay (2 flakes) for breakfast and dinner, gets a big flake of Timothy for lunch. In the am he gets 1 lb of Purina Ultium Gastric and 1/2 lb of Enrich. In the pm, he gets 2 lbs of Ultium Gastric, 1/2 lb of Enrich, and his supplements (Smart Hoof, Smart Flex Ultra, Smart Lytes, and Smart Gut) along with the smallest dose of Thyroid-L. He also gets Legend once a month. No other maintenance.

12 YO KWPN mare gets the same hay as the gelding above and same grain and supplements except she doesn’t get the Smart Gut, Thyroid-L or Legend. She’s schooling I-1 and really works 4 days a week with a “trail ride” day added.

[athelas]

Rising 7 DHH x Morgan schooling a mix of training & first. I lesson once, sometimes twice a week and ride on my own 3-4 times a week. He averages 2 training rides a month.

Lives outside 24/7 and eats a mix of barn hay pretty much in front of him all day.

Quart of Tribute Kalm n Ez 1x per day.
Plus a bag of supplements I make up:
-2 cups of Tribute Constant Comfort
-1 cup of Max E Glo
-4 scoops of Equithrive Gut
-3 scoops of Equithrive Vitamin E
-2 scoops of Equithrive Original Joint

In the summer, I usually take him off Vitamin E and instead supplement with Equithrive Hoof to give him a little bit of extra support because he grows hoof wildly quick!

[Cowgirl]

My retired grand prix horse is allergic to soy and has had a vitamin e deficiency (the year before I showed her at I2). She is retired from showing, but can still do all the grand prix. I have owned her since she was 7 months old. I feed all of my horses the same thing, with slightly different supplements. I have her, 23 years old, still sound, a 2 year old and a 4 year old that I have under saddle. They are all warmbloods. The two younger ones, I have had at my place since they were weaned. I feed orchard/brome hay that I buy from a farmer, one 4lb. flake 4-5 times a day depending on whether there is grass in the pasture; 1 3 lb flake of alflafa hay, split into two feedings; twice a day of one pound of Halway Feeds pure and simple non-gmo soy free ration balancer, I 12oz mug of crypto aero, and I feed 1/4 cup flax in that but you could use rice bran. Once per day, they all get 3,000 IU natural vitamin e, one tablespoon iodized salt, 1 serving (two scoops) Cosequin, 1 capsule Saccharomyces Boulardii plus MOS (Jarrow, human grade), 1 probios soft chew. My 23 year old mare gets a scoop of MSM and a Equioxx tablet daily and my 4 year old gets Horseshoer’s Secret hoof supplement. They all look fantastic and stay very relaxed in their muscles.

[Arlomine]

6 yr old Lusitano gelding in dressage training:

30 lb grass hay fed in porta grazer
5 lb alfalfa hay
Triple crown gold balancer to label weight
I pint Alf pellets added to balancer as a carrier for the other stuff
Poly copper and poly zinc to weight, as recommended by company…we are in a high iron area (Ukele)
Elevate Vit e, powdered
A little flax oil to “help” the vit e
Four aminos from My Best Horse (1/2 of by label weight because the triple crown has some aminos)
Nupafeed magnesium to weight
1-2 T loose salt

[friendlyhands]

I live in the same geog area as you and I’m wondering why you say there is no “good comprehensive ration balancer in my market” ? I’m curious as I’ve fed Lifeline RB for decades and thought it was very good! But I’m not very knowledgeable, so please educate me!

[Scribbler]

@friendlyhands

I live in the same geog area as you and I’m wondering why you say there is no “good comprehensive ration balancer in my market” ? I’m curious as I’ve fed Lifeline RB for decades and thought it was very good! But I’m not very knowledgeable, so please educate me!

From what I can see online the Lifeline RB doesn’t have copper or zinc, which I’m really interested in for hoof and coat, mostly hoof. It’s mostly protein and selenium.

[BigMama1]

My guy is 23 this year, working 4-5 days a week at about Third Level, turned out 6-8 hours a day. He gets pretty much free choice, home grown hay, a basic fat + fibre grain, and Cosequin ASU.

[DMK]

Coming 11 yr Fjord lg pony, shown 2nd, schooling 3rd, showing intermediate combined driving and starting FEI1*/Advanced pathway in April.

My challenge is enough endurance and muscle/energy to clear the vet box on Saturday but a focused pony on Thursday for dressage. All this while on an eternal diet.

Fescue round bale (hay hut) 24/7

Ration balancer (Seminole) + beet pulp (the latter is just to make him think he’s getting as much food as the other horse)

Msm (10 gr, 20gr when showing)

Tri amino (most important since it’s hard to get enough protein when you are an easy keeper in hard work!)

KER elevate E and E/sel (1/2 dose of E/sel). Once the grass is in and they are out all night I drop it all to 1/3 dose

One AC+Guinness (He’s not a non sweater, but horses that carry a lot of muscle are slow to cool out. So every advantage matters)

For breakfast he gets some overnight soaked alfalfa cubes, less than two scoops. A little extra protein, some good buffer if we are going out for a long work and he thinks he is there most special horse when her gets that giant bucket of mostly water.

At a CDE I typically add Lucerne chaff to the feed and an alfalfa mix hay 50/50 with the fescue, but he ships a long way and works really hard so the extra calories matter. I honestly settled on the chaff because it’s pretty easy to ship when you have a trailer pack to the gills.

[Knights_Mom]

Gelding, DraftX, 11.

Good hay all day and a handful of feed. I’m not even sure what kind as it’s just a handful used to appease him when everyone else is grained. Limited pasture depending on grass richness. He was on good grass pasture but got too fat so we didn’t want to chance him getting sick. So often it’s dry lot when grass is too beefy.

So basically it’s hay and air.

He’s ridden about 3 days a week doing lateral work, lengthenings, typical 3rd level stuff.

[arbeegirl]

My 8 year old OTTB gets 3 quarts Purina Ultium Competition formula and 2 quarts Purina Impact Hay Stretcher. He gets two supplements, Smart Calm (magnesium, taurine, inositol, & thiamine) and MSM. He’s schooling 2nd level. Sometimes we do a little jumping for fun. Most of the time he is worked 5-6 days a week except in the winter it’s more like 4-5 times a week.

He is currently on a little vacation to just give his body and mind a break. He’s living outside (with shelter) 24/7. I kept his grain the same. He has an unlimited supply of orchard grass hay which he never finishes.

When he is at his regular barn, he has hay in front of him at all times too. My barn owner feeds orchard grass hay. Outside he spends most of his day with his head in the hay hut. When in his stall he just picks at his hay although some days he will eat quite a bit. He has a lush field of grass during the summer.

He holds his weight really well.