How to feed a Horse?

Most trail and pleasure horses don’t require grain. Instead, providing plenty of pasture and hay is enough for them. However, if hay is not enough for the horse, consider adding grains. However, ensure that the bulk of calories of your horses come from roughage.

The most suitable feed a horse can have is roughage, and it is because they are meant to eat this. A

horse’s digestive system is designed to absorb nutrients from grassy stalks. That’s why you should offer your horse roughage of about 1 to 2 percent of its body weight.

Horses spending most of their time in stalls usually don’t do much gazing. Thankfully, you can imitate their natural feeding patterns by keeping hay at their front most of the time. Your horse can nibble at hay for a while, take a break, and then return to it. The practice will keep the roughage to keep moving from their systems.

Give your horse grains in small quantities but often

If you want to feed a horse some grains, offer them grains in various smaller meals instead of a larger one. Most caretakers feed grains to their horses 2x a day for their convenience. However, if you have to feed a horse some grains as a large meal, prefer giving it at lunchtime.

Otherwise, small and frequent portions are more natural to consider here as they let the horse digest the grains better. Your horse can’t digest the food properly if you give it too much at once.

Remember, less is more when it’s about to fee grains to your horse. So, you must start with a minimal quantity and then adjust it per your horse’s needs.

Provide salt mixture to your horse.

According to nutritionists, adding about 1.6-1.8 grams of salt per kg of dry feed matter to the horse ration is also important. You can give your horse additional salt as a mixture of the trace mineral. Another possible way to provide sodium chloride to your horse is by adding salt to your horse’s feed.

This practice will also help you to let the horse meet its phosphorus and calcium needs.

Feed your horse consistently

Start by measuring the feed of your horse by weight. You can use a postal or kitchen scale for this purpose. After figuring out the typical ration weight of your horse, you can use a scoop to measure that amount at regular feeding time.

An average 1000 pounds horse who relies on hay for forage usually consumes 15 to 20 pounds of hay daily.

*Important Note*

Always remember that the quantity of hay for your horse can also vary as per the size of hay flakes.

Rules to feed a horse properly

Whenever it’s about feeding a horse properly, there are some dos and don’ts that you must understand. Some of the most important rules to feed a horse we have enlisted below to help you better here: