What do you feed your horses?

Question

I wondering what some of you may feed. These horses need some weight put on them.
Their teeth are done, they are wormed & vet checked in good health.
I was thinking a pellet & mixing sweet feed(16%), or pellet & senior till they get to weight.

Answer 1

Mostly sweet feed. Equine senior and hay, more feed and hay in the winter. I also feed treats but not like part of there daily diet. Best wishes!

Answer 2

I am a big fan of the Purina line of feed. Both of my horses eat the Purina Omolene 100. I have two very easy keepers. They are turned out twelve hours each day and get as much hay as they want in their stalls. Free choice salt lick, and fresh water at all times. But I really like the Purina feed. Neither of my horses are in heavy work so they do fine on the lower protein feed. My filly was on the Equine Junior when I first bought her as a weanling. And then we used Omolene 200 for a while, while she was still growing a lot. The horses LOVE the sweetfeed and it is a perfectly balanced feed for them. They also make Equine Senior which a lot of my friends uses for their horses. I like the sweetfeeds more than pellets. The Omolene has always made their coats shine, and hooves healthy. Even their disposition is better on Omolene. I have no need to feed supplements, except to my filly who needs a Biotin supplement due to a series of bad farrier work.

Answer 3

Hi,

With winter soon approaching, I would highly recommend adding a Tablespoon of Corn Oil mixed into their feed twice a day. Corn Oil will add weight to your horse. My horses get a combination of pellet feed and sweet feed accompanied with hay (and of course apples and carrots). Their hay intake needs to be increased in the colder weather and make sure that they drink alot of water. Grass from grazing is 80% water and hay alone in only 20 % water. But, adding corn oil will add weight and also help the horses coat and hair.

Cats

Answer 4

Forage is the most important part of a horses diet. Good quality hay will do more for you than any feed will. Pasture ornaments here get 3lb 12% protein feed a day and the race horses get 12lb 12% plus mineral and a fat additive(moor-glo) All get good quality hay.

you need some body mass quick, try Moor-Glo 20% protein and 18% fat, add this to your regular feed at the ration suggested on the bag and you'll be in good shape. If Moor-Glo is not available to you, any stabilized rice bran product will work.

Answer 5

I only use pellets because my horse is allergic to oats which is in a lot of sweet feed. But to add weight mixing pellets and sweet feed would be the best way.

Answer 6

Good quality meadow hay; clean, spray free whole oats or crushed barley with some linseed meal added to up the protein. I never use manufactured feeds - too much molasses and too many things some horses can't tolerate but will eat because the taste is disguised by the sugar.
I feed little and often as big feeds of grain for horses are bad news. Bulk and fibre are essential - for gut health and psychological health - makes them feel full and helps prevent ulcers (which many many horses suffer from because of bad feeding practices -especially long periods without food in the stomach) and hind gut acidosis which can trigger laminitis / colic.
I always look at the horse in nature - it's a trickle feeder - genetically programmed to eat 16-18 hours a day. If they eat rich grass without enough work they'll get fat and sick so I substitute dry, high fibre food in the form of hay - some good, some poor (in terms of feed value) and branches of palatable trees plus succulents - small amounts only. I used to spead apples and carrots out for the horses to find but my labrador thought they were for him.
My horses live in a herd - I keep them on long narrow strips when the grass is growing strongly with hay spread out along it to encourage movement. At present they're on about 1.5 kms of 2.5m wide strip - kept off the grass being grown for hay which they gaze longingly at.

Answer 7

Be sure and work up to feeding grain in large amounts. Don't give them a lot of grain at one time, unless they are used to eating that much grain daily. For example, if you want to feed them two pounds of sweet feed/pellets a day, and they aren't used to eating any sweet feed, then just give them a half pound of sweet feed mixed with the pellets for the first week. Then the second week, give them a pound of sweet feed mixed with the pellets. Then the next week add another half pound, gradually getting up to the two pounds you want to feed consistently.

Too much grain for a horse who isn't used to it will cause founder. You might've already known this, just wanted to be sure, also to share with other readers who didn't know.

Answer 8

How old are your horses? Sweet feed & pellet mix, at least 10%..All the hay that they want and pasture if available. Calf manna is good at helping condition and add weight. You can also add corn oil to their feed, this helps to fatten up plus keeps their coats in good condition. What ever feed changes you make be sure and do it gradually so you don't chance them collicking.

Answer 9

I feed one happy hoof chaf and spillers response high energy and hormonal mare supplement and the other has happy hoof and baileys outshine. They both have sunflower oil for a shine, vitamins to supplement the poor grass this time of year, and garlic for respiration and overall well-being.
When they're in overnight they have around 500kg of haylage a night.
When my mare was having a little trouble keeping weight on a few years ago i fed conditioning mix and sugar beet plus ad lib haylage.

Answer 10

my horse was really under weight but she gets 2 to 3 flakes of hay and like 2 scoops of this grain that isnt really a sweet feed but has some in it along with crack corn and other vitiems and minerals.