When it comes to feeding your horse it can get a little overwhelming if you overthink it. You want to space feedings throughout the day, but you also want to make sure you keep an accurate schedule for consistency. It can easily get a little complicated.
In general, horses are not designed to eat large quantities of food in a single feeding. Spreading out feedings into smaller portions is a much better approach. But, how do you do this in a way that makes sense? Create a horse feeding schedule following general guidelines.
General Horse Feeding Guidelines
When it comes to calculating how much food your horse needs on a daily basis, the best guideline will be your horse’s weight. If you don’t already have an idea, you can estimate your horse’s body weight by using a simple calculation:
Girth in inches x Length in inches / 330 = Bodyweight in pounds
Once you’ve calculated the overall weight of your horse, you can establish the amount of calories, protein, fat, vitamins and minerals your horse needs to consume.
Below are some horse feeding guidelines on what and how much to feed your horse:
Feed between 1.5-2.5% of your horse’s body weight in forage each day
Always feed by weight and not by volume
Feed grain as a supplement based on activity level and adjust as this changes
Always feed less than 11lbs of grain per day
Provide 5-10 gallons of water for your horse a day
Ensure horse rations contain 1.6-1.8 grams of salt per kg of dry feed
Creating the Perfect Horse Feeding Schedule
Horses are creatures of habit. They expect consistency when it comes to the food they eat and when they eat it. When it comes to nailing down a schedule for feeding your horse each day, you want to try to feed horses according to their work schedule. If your horse works in the morning, feed it some hay in the morning and then save a larger feeding for early afternoon. You want to aim for three to four smaller feedings spread throughout the course of the day.
Erratic schedules can annoy a horse so it’s important to get a routine in place as early as possible. Not only does it help to avoid behavioral issues with your horse, but it can also help prevent digestive disorders that can occur from an inconsistent schedule.
Below is a sample schedule you can use when feeding your horse:
Morning Feed – 8am
– #lbs of roughage: __
– #lbs of concentrates: __
– Supplements: __
Mid-Day Feed – Noon
– #lbs of roughage: __
Night Feed – 6pm
– #lbs of roughage: __
– #lbs of concentrates: __
– Supplements: __
Daily Salt Source: __
If you find your horse is hungrier throughout the day or is more active at certain points, you might want to adjust feedings into four instead of three. Every horse is different and it’s important to come up with a schedule that suits their lifestyle and keeps them satisfied. Gradually make tweaks over time and find the right routine that will keep your horse happy and healthy.
