You'd think it's a simple thing to do - feed your horse - but you'd be surprised how many horse owners don't know the basics. There is no real rule of thumb when it comes to feeding, as each horse's nutritional needs vary with age, weight, and activity level.
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For starters, your horse naturally uses roughage as the main component of its diet. It is one of the main necessities for the proper functioning of the digestive system. When we talk about forage, we usually mean natural pastures and cut hay.
Adult horses typically consume between 2 and 2.5% of their body weight in forage each day. So a 1000 pound horse will eat about 20-25 pounds of feed per day. These are high-quality foods, not low-quality high-fiber foods (which can interfere with proper digestion).
In a perfect grazing world, your horse should eat at least 1% of its body weight in hay/forage per day. If your horse doesn't work a lot, he'll do just fine eating roughage only, with no added grain.
On the other hand, growing, breeding or working horses should receive supplements in addition to roughage, such as grain or a supplement concentrate. For optimal growth and development, forages should be at least half or more of the total weight of food consumed daily.
Before you can feed your horse a balanced "meal", you need to know the nutrient content and quality of your forage. Once you know this, you can determine the right amounts of each element to meet nutrient needs.
The best and cheapest source of summer feed is pasture. And, in most cases, a good pasture alone can meet all of your horse's nutritional needs. How do you determine the amount of pasture needed to feed a horse? Here is a rough indication to help you: (for a weight of 1,000 to 1,200 pounds)
Mare and foal 1.75 to 2 acres
Yearlings 1.5 to 2 acres
Weaned: 0.5 to 1 acre
The winter feed is of course cut hay, and again, high quality if you can provide it. It should be cut early, leafy and green in color and as free of dust, mold, weeds, and thatch as possible. This diet is generally rich in protein, minerals, and vitamins.
Yes, you can use alfalfa hay, but beware of its higher protein content if feeding young, growing horses, as it may contain an excessive amount of calcium compared to phosphorus. An excess of calcium is not beneficial for growing horses. If you are unsure of the quality of the hay, have it tested.
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