Comments on: 10 Rules to Feed By

By: Jennifer

Jennifer — Wed, 25 Mar 2015 10:35:16 +0000

This is a really good article. The important thing to remember is that a horse needs about 2-2.5% of their body weight a day in dry matter feedstuffs. There are a lot of people that formulate their own feed, which is fine, but they need to make sure they’re actually feeding to meet the horse’s requirements. I recommend that individuals use the National Research Council’s guidelines for formulating their own feed, because you may be doing more harm than good! Also, if your horse stays fat on just hay/pasture alone, a ration balancer could be used to make sure they are meeting their lysine, phosphorus, calcium, vitamin, mineral, etc. requirements! I use a ration balancer on one of my horses and they are fairly inexpensive.

By: Joy Neverla

Joy Neverla — Sun, 20 Oct 2013 11:16:48 +0000

I don’t agree with pre-packaged horse feeds. Every pre-packaged horse feed I have looked into has wheat or grain hulls as first or primary ingredient. This is nothing but filler. Personally, what I have found does the best for my horses (they get pasture/hay and mineral salt block freely) is: Beet pulp, oat/alfalfa cubes, 3 tbs each of honey and molasses, 1/4 cup of apple cider vinegar, 1-2 lbs of whole oats and a supplement for coat/hooves. Their hooves, coats, and overall health is very good. Since they are easy keepers, I feed this only 3-5 times a week. I will never go back to pre packaged horse feeds. My horses do so much better now.

By: Frank

Frank — Sun, 21 Apr 2013 16:31:11 +0000

Interesting. Several of the 10 facts I already knew but most I didn’t. I’m always on the lookout for information about feeding, hay, and pastures.

By: Joyce

Joyce — Sat, 30 Jun 2012 18:11:13 +0000

Thankyou for the helpful information

By: Susan

Susan — Sat, 30 Jun 2012 12:09:58 +0000

Great article!!!!!

By: krystalle

krystalle — Wed, 20 Jan 2010 09:27:29 +0000

that is sooo cool i am going to follow it

By: Sharon

Sharon — Thu, 14 Jan 2010 11:56:55 +0000

Hello,
I have been adding oat bran oil or vegetable oil to my horses food. Can I use olive oil? I was told mineral oil (was used when he had colic)actually blocks absorption of nutrients.

By: Barbara

Barbara — Wed, 13 Jan 2010 20:10:13 +0000

Good info!
Having a horse w/insulin resistance [BCS 7], I respectfully disagree about feeding grain, esp. to idle or lightly worked horses. Some research is showing that lifelong intake of carbs in the form of grain, carrots, and other treats may push a horse into a metabolic disorder. My understanding is that horses did not have access to grain in the wild and are not equipped to utilize it.
Your advice to not underfeed hay hits home w/me. My boy has been gaining weight “on air”. I recently began feeding more teff grass hay and he is slowly dropping a few lbs. He is MUCH calmer and not bolting his feed.
Great article!

By: Lauire

Lauire — Wed, 13 Jan 2010 18:32:59 +0000

Thank you for the information in this article. Its assured me that the way I feed my horses is the best. In the summer they get a small amount of grain with corn oil to get supplements into them and they have 24/7 access to good grass pasture. In the winter we feed the same grain with plenty of good Timothy/Orchard grass hay. They’re fat, happy and healthy so I already knew it was working.

By: lindsey

lindsey — Mon, 04 Jan 2010 19:38:34 +0000

thanks! i needed a new feeding scedual