Feeding Your Horse
If you read the many articles out there about what to feed a horse, they can seem quite complicated. I have tried to put together a simple list of what you will need:
A horse will need grass, timothy hay or a combination of the two. If you horse is underweight, you can add one or two flakes of alfalfa.
Horses will need about two pounds of hay for every 100 pounds of body weight. They will need more, if they are young or very active. If you don’t know your horse’s weight, you can buy a measuring tape from a tack store to measure their girth. These are special tapes that tell you the weight of the horse.
Horses are grazing animals and are meant to eat throughout the day. It isn’t good for them to have large meals, so they should always have access to grass or hay.
You can supplement your feeding program with a grain, sweet feed or pellet if your horse has special nutritional needs. Your local feed store or veterinarian can help you choose one. If your horse doesn’t need grain, but is in a barn where all of the other horses are feed grain, it is good to at least give him handful or cup at feeding time, so
Feed Scoop
he doesn’t feel left out. Sometimes you will need to feed grain in order to administer supplements or medicines.
Horses should have unlimited amounts of clean drinking water at all time. Buckets or automatic waterers can be used in stalls and troughs are typically used in paddocks or fields.
Salt blocks should also be made available in stalls or in covered areas outside.
This is a basic guideline for feeding horses. If you horse grows too fat, you may want to limit how much grass and hay they have available. If they are too thin, consider adding alfalfa. As seasons change, so can your horse’s weight. Keep an eye on him and adjust rations as needed to keep his weight at an optimum level.
Woah, Didn’t know horses wrote articles. ;p