Since many horse owners are now facing a dilemma about how to feed their horses in the current economy without sacrificing the horse's health or compromising nutritional value, while keeping costs down, a better approach to what, when, and how to feed may be in order.
Three important factors need consideration in determining the best approach to feeding your horses: class of horse, body condition and weight, and type of feeding program.
The classes of horses usually include the following: mature idle horses, producing horses, working or performance horses and growing horses. The amount of nutrition will vary widely depending on the class and workload of each horse.
Horse owners also need to determine the body condition and weight of their horse and feed accordingly. A commonly used technique for estimation of body weight of the horse is by using a heart girth tape which is available at feed dealers or veterinarian offices. To figure the horse's weight, measure the girth of the horse, two times the girth by the body length, and divide by 330.
Horse owners must also determine what feeding program they will use when feeding horses of one or more classes. Typically, most horse owners fall into two categories:
The first category are those who feed some source of roughage such as grass hay, then they feed two to four different concentrate feeds varying protein and other nutrients. The second category is those who feed one well balanced concentrate to all horses and then feed either legume or grass hay. Most people fall into the latter category.
One way to stretch your existing hay supply is to weigh each block or portion of hay prior to feeding, aiming for no less than .75 percent of horse body weight per day in long stem roughage. To keep the digestive tract healthy, this is the minimum and will usually meet the horses need for chewing and for gut fill.
Although many horse owners do not routinely weigh their hay prior to feeding, this is a simple management practice that can help stretch hay supply while meeting a horse's daily roughage needs.
When feeding horses, a common rule is to never feed more than .75 of a horse's body weight in feed at any one time. In other words, a 1,000 pound horse should never be fed more than 7.5 pounds of feed or concentrate at any one feeding and feedings should be schedules several times a day whenever possible.
Working horses, mares with foals, and growing horses will require a higher concentration of feed per day and should be fed several times a day. Remembering how horses eat naturally is important and dividing feed into several feedings each day will help maintain digestive health
Making sure that horses have access to plenty of fresh, clean water at all times is also crucial to good feeding practices. With the current drought situation, horses may need additional forage or supplementation to meet their nutritional needs.