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What Time Do you feed your horses?

8K views 33 replies 13 participants last post by  Arabian Beauty 
#1 ·
What time do you feed your horses?
Can you give me a time for grains and Hey Please

I was reading also people free feed Hey. Is this rocomended or not?

In my stable they feed Hey first than after an hour they feed Grains. Is this right Or no?

Edit: Sorry I think i poster this in the wrong section.
 
#3 ·
Our horses are out 24x7 and have free choice hay even when the pastures have grass. Horses' systems are designed to have almost constant forage so we believe it is best to feed hay this way. It also keeps them busy and gives them a lot of chew time for their teeth. We feed a 14/6 pellet twice a day, 11-12 at lunch and 4-6 at dinner, the actual time dependent on the time of year, I.e. sunset time.
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#4 ·
Free choice hay 2x/day. Sweet Feed evening only.
Sweet Cup&Cakes (1,450 lbs, maybe more this winter!)gets 3 flakes of hay/morning, 4 flakes of hay, evening and 3 lbs sweet feed.

Buster Brown (1,100 lbs) and Moon Eyes (1,150 lbs), 3 flakes of hay/2x/day and 2 lbs sweet feed.

In the winter I feed sweet feed only at night. In the winter it produces heat in the hind end gut, when radiational cooling makes it the coldest time of day.
When they have been turned out, they expect to find their stalls cleaned or stripped and rebedded, full water bucket and sweet feed in their feeder. This gets them looking for me, and I never have to retrieve a horse from the (3 acre) north pasture.

In the summer, I also feed sweet feed only at night. It's cooler at night when it's digested, and horses are quieter then, less likely to go running and playing before their grain is digested.
Also, they look for me to feed them sweet feed. Sometimes, If I'm working and busy, they get their grain in 3 rubber buckets on the other side of the fence. I sometimes move where I grain them and bang a metal coffee can to let them know where I am. Yes, there is some reshuffling and pushing around, but it's summer, there is plenty of grass and I own three easy keepers. I have owned hard keepers, and THEY will lose weight this way. Sometimes I have them line up at the gate and I tie them up to grain them, the way I used to handle my old herd 30 years ago. This is training and pays off when I want to ride.

You ALWAYS monitor your horse's intake and you get to know when the flake is light and the flake is heavy and you adjust, instead of deciding how many flakes to feed a particular horse and stick to that, like a robot.
 
#5 ·
I feed hay every day in some proportion.

In the summer, it's a smaller amount as they are in the big corral over night (security reasons) and out on pasture during the day. They go in the corral after they've finished their grain (fed once in the evening).

In the winter, hay is out 24/7 even though they still have access to the pasture during the day. I use mangers that my husband built; the hay is put out at night while they are in the barn having their grain. If the weather if bad, they'll stay in the barn overnight and get hay at that time as well.

Re feeding hay: As mentioned above, horses are designed for pretty much constant eating so it is better for them to either have constant access to hay or fed multiple times during a day (as in 24 hour period). I recognize that one can be tricky if your time table doesn't permit or if you have horses with special eating needs.

Re grain after hay: There are some folks who feel that feeding the grain an hour after hay gives the horse a better chance of getting all the nutrients out of the grain/hard feed. The argument is that the horse eats the grain first then the hay and the grain is pushed out of the system (ie stomach and intestines) too quickly before proper digestion can happen; by letting the horse fill up on hay first, the grain will stay around longer and be digested better. I do not know if that has merit or not.
 
#6 ·
Mine are loose 24/7 with a big run in for shelter. They have hay around the clock. Their concentrates come 2x a day. After I've had a cup of coffee and before dark.

There are 3 of them, a small pony, a large pony and a 16+ hand one. This time of year I drop 2 800 lb round bales at a time for them to eat. It's cold here so the hay lasts about 2 weeks.

Once the grass comes in I slowly stop the hay. They have about 20 acres to wander so there is plenty to eat.
 
#7 ·
Mine are out 24/7 with a run in but there is no pasture. I tried free choice hay, but I have 1 horse who has no self control and got way too fat that way.
So, I feed in slow feed hay nets in the morning before work, usually around 6 am. It typically lasts until noon or 1 pm. I then feed just before sundown. In winter that is around 4 pm, in the summer it may be around 8 or 9 pm. The hay is usually cleaned up by morning.
I don't feed grain, but in the evenings they each get about 1lb alfalfa pellets with their vitamin/mineral supplement to fill in what the hay is lacking.
 
#8 ·
My horses have free choice hay 24/7 year round. They are on grass in the summer with a round bale in the field. Two round bales out with them in the winter.

I feed crushed oats and alfalfa pellets 2x a day. Between 7 and 9am and between 9 and 10pm.

My girls live outside year round only coming in for their hard feed and sometimes will be kept in if its storming, if they stay in for a storm they still have hay in front of them at all times.
 
#9 ·
I should add that I put one bale of hay out for my three when they are turned out. I only have 24/7 turnout when the weather is warm, but most dry, even cold days, like today, they are turned out for at least 12 hours and work on that bale all day, which is usually gone by night. They also stop and play and move around, burning calories and stretching, keeping them limber, which is really important. They need fresh air and exercise as often as possible daily.
 
#10 ·
Free choice hay here. What is left in the field is looked at daily to determine how much needs to go out the next day. In the summer, I still throw a couple of flakes usually - if it is eaten, I repeat the next day; if it's not eaten, then I wait a couple of days for the next few flakes.

1 cup of oats, once a day is all my current horse "needs." She doesn't even need that, but I like to give her something so I see her daily and jic I ever have to put anything in her feed. My previous horses had a variety of what the one-a-day feeding was: one couldn't eat oats, so no one got them at that time; had beet pulp at one time along with 12% horse ration. Regardless, except for when there was a weight issue, the feeding was once a day, in the evening between 5PM and 7PM usually.
 
#18 ·
As long as your horse is cooled out they are fine to eat and drink.

When the horses come off the race track after a race we let them have 3 large gulps of warm water right away then strip their equipment, hose them down, letting them have a drink from the hose, then scrape them, towel them, let them have another drink and walk them. Then let them drink again. When they are dry and cooled out they can eat. Never had any issues with them following this routine :)

I allow my competition horses to munch on hay or grass as I am walking them out after a ride. The only thing I hold back for about 20 minutes after is hard feed. I wait until they are cooled completely.
 
#20 ·
The US Cavalry walked the first mile out, and walked the last mile back, and avoiding feeding and watering for one hour before/after heavy work. I've always done this and it's worked well for me, though munching hay right before a hard workout never tied up any of my horses.
If you are getting into endurance, some of those races last a whole day, so you need to ask THEM how that handle That!
 
#23 ·
As long as they have plenty of hay it doesn't really matter what time you give them a grain meal. If you're feeding twice a day of course you want it to be as close to 12 hours apart as you can get it but for just once a day pick when it's most convenient for you.

I feed mine at 4:00 pm and switch to 3:00 p.m. when daylight savings time is in affect so that they are always on the same schedule. It's also nothing for me to change that time when I have a day with something going on. They're happy to eat whenever it is I show up.
 
#24 ·
Sweet Feed is a grain mix with a molasses base.
Sweet Feed for Horses
It's not the very best grain supplement for your horse, but I use this as part of my horse's training. All three of my horses are apgar 5+ this winter. I have been giving them a LOT of turnout. Today, there has been a stiff wind and the wind chills makes me put on some of my warmest layers. I want my horses to have the best coat and a good layer of fat going into the coldest part of the winter. I do not increase their sweet feed intake, but I free choice as much hay as each horse wants. They are eating more calories to keep warm and keep their coats growing even more. In the way, I hardly EVER have to blanket. Still, my 4 blankets are folded up on a shelf in my grain rain, at the ready.
Hope this answers your question.
 
#26 ·
We cannot help you determine ideal weight for your horse without actually seeing her. Suggested weights are ONLY guidelines because every horse is different.

Study this chart then assess your horse and see how she compares. If she has a winter coat you must use your hands more than you use your eyes. somewhere between 4 and 5 is ideal, also depending on the horse.



It is usually a safe bet to feed her as much hay as she wants and can clean up through the day and night. if she wastes hay feed her less. If she is overweight you can put her hay in a net so that it takes her longer to eat it. Whether she needs a hard feed in her diet depends on her condition and workload. Pictures of your mare would help a lot.
 
#30 ·
In January, I let mine approach 6 on the scale bc January is the coldest month of the year. We can have wind chills below the actual temperatures of sometimes -20 degrees F. They will naturally drop weight in April/May bc they won't need the fat anymore. Arabian Beauty, you don't have your location in your signature. If you live in the SW your horse probably doesn't need any more weight. There are few if any chronic health problems from keeping a horse slightly underweight, but this excludes hard keepers, which some Arabians are. Hard keepers have to have extra calories if you work them, and yours looks healthy, but out of shape. Keep that in mind if you start working your horse. =D
 
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