This.
Have this conversation with your BM. But before you do, figure out what “enough” means to you.
I do self-board, and I weigh every flake. I’ve figured out how to micromanage so that I don’t waste hay, and my horse stays at a BCS of 5. But when you do full board, you are turning over decisions about your horse’s feed to the BM. IMO, unless you have some incredibly low bargain rate or are doing some semi-part-board arrangement, it is outrageous to expect you to further supplement his feed. After all, you are doing full board because you don’t have the time or the truck to do self board.
If someone is running a boarding barn, it is their responsibility to keep all the horses in their care at a healthy BCS of 5. The idea is that the BM has enough experience to make this happen in an efficient way. Some horses will need less hay, some more, and it is the BM’s job to price things so that on average, they are covering their expenses and making some profit.
It is not, however, the BM’s duty to conform to every individual boarder’s ideas about a feeding regimen. If the horses are healthy, BCS 5, then the BM has fulfilled his or her part of the contract.
However, if many of the horses at this barn are below BCS 5 or look undernourished, including your horse, then move. If the BM thinks this is OK or is truly cutting corners on horse care, you are in a substandard facility, and bringing in your own cubes to make up for things just enables this.
I self-board because I have the time, it’s cheap, and most of all, I love to be able to manage my own horse. But I have good friends who have started a boarding/lessons barn and I hear the other side from them. You should have this conversation with your barn manager, but you also need to be clear on what you mean by “enough.”
Is your horse falling below a BCS 5? If so, you do need to have a discussion about what he is being fed. He might need more supplements or concentrates, or he might need more hay. If he is wasting hay, pulling it around, dirtying it up, and leaving it to be thrown away in the morning (like many anorexic thoroughbreds) then more hay, or more of this hay, is not the answer. IMO, your BM should provide what, in her experience, is necessary to get your horse to a respectable weight.
However, if your horse is more like BCS 7, the BM might reasonably decide that he needs to go on a reducing diet.
Or by enough, do you mean that you want 24/7 free choice hay, or more hay overnight, or do you want to see hay left over in the morning? If your horse is at a nice 5 body score now, the BM is no doubt going to be resistant to this.
No BM is going to be happy about being asked to waste hay, that is feed more than the horse will eat and then toss it on the compost pile in the morning.
I’m attaching a link to a Henneke BCS chart with photos. BCS 5 is quite trim and fit, and BCS 4, “racing fit,” is thinner than most people would want their riding horse today. IME, most riding horses are BCS 6 or 7, or worse, which is edging up there, and not healthy. Where does your horse, and the other horses boarding at your barn, fit in?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henneke_horse_body_condition_scoring_system
