We are often asked about feeding the horses — how much we feed, how long it takes to feed them, and how often.
Well, here’s how it works (caution: serious nerding happening here):
Free Feed Grass Hay
The foundation of our feeding program is free-feeding grass hay year-round. We load 1 ton of hay per week into large round feeders and the horses eat from that hay whenever they want. It’s good grass hay, so it’s safe for them to eat it all they want. Horses have small stomachs and large/long digestive tracts, they are made to graze throughout the day, so this is similar to how they’d eat in their natural habitat.
Pros:
- more natural way for them to eat
- good for horses that have ulcers or other digestive issues
- seems to reduce a lot of behavioral issues that revolve around feeding, horses get Hangry just like us!
- the low horses in the hierarchy still get plenty to eat
- horses never have to work on an empty stomach
Cons:
- doesn’t adequately address EVERY horse’s needs
- buying the large round bales can have a lot of garbage in them sometimes
Pasture Turnout for Variety
We rotate them in the summer on a dry “track” with free feed hay and then to green pasture for a few days. It’s just to ease a little pressure on our hay bill and to give them some variety.
Pros:
- nutritional diversity
- it makes them happy
Cons:
- can be a bit too “hot” — making them gain weight. (I’m not too worried about my horses getting too fat.)
Supplementation
A handful of our horses need more than what they get from grass hay. The main things we supplement for are digestive issues, respiratory problems, hormonal imbalances, joint support, and difficulty keeping weight on.
I’ll also say, we have our vet out every year to do a whole-herd check and help us develop a feeding and management strategy. Our supplementation isn’t just a crap-shoot of us going to the feed store and buying every shiny bottle of snake oil. And there is a LOT of snake oil out there!
Digestive Issues
Symptoms we’ve seen for digestive issues are diarrhea or just generally loose stools, discomfort when we cinch their saddles up, “cribbing”– where they latch onto something with their teeth and sort of suck in a little air, standing with their hind legs camped far out behind them, general grouchiness.
Not everything works for everybody. Some of our horses with digestive issues do great with some sweet feed and daily probiotics. Some do well with omeprazole or ranitidin depending on the type of ulcers they seem to maybe have. Others feel better after eating bentonite clay.
Respiratory Problems
Our sweet boy Dash has a bit of a cough. He’s had it for years. During our vet check we did ask about potentially offering him steroids but the Dr. thought he was a way off from that and we’d like to avoid it as long as we can. So, we feed him nettle leaves. Yup, stinging nettle leaves. Fortunately for us and for our herd, that is the only respiratory issue we’ve seen other than the occasional bouts of flu or whatever that the herd may pick up.
Hormonal Imbalances
This is one of those broad terms that I probably use incorrectly, but is a lot nicer and kinder than the term I’d like to use for some of our mares who struggle with their heat cycle. We usually offer a couple of things — raspberry leaves and then pain killer if they look really uncomfortable.
Joint Support
And some of our horses have a little creak and groan in their stride, kinda like me! They get a little joint support daily with their feed. A nice easy walk on the trails is great for keeping them limber and to keep their blood circulating and nourishing their joints, too!
