# What do you feed your horse!



## toosexy4myspotz (Oct 7, 2007)

I want a little more idea of what everybody else feeds and how much. I will give you a basic rundown of what Poco gets.

8 lbs of Platform Performance (14% protien, 6%fat)
4 cups Black Oil Sunflower Seeds(25% fat, 3.5 % protien)
5 cups Dried Beet Pulp (13% fat, 6% protien)
1 cup Cracked Corn (5% fat, 1.5% protien)

He also get horse shoers secret supplement. He gets fed twice a day everyday.


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## kitten_Val (Apr 25, 2007)

I give twice a day

2 small cups of oat
measuring scoop of Dumor vitamins/minerals pellet mix
2 tbl spoon water mixed with honey (for sweet taste)
1 tbl spoon corn oil

And enough hay. In fact grain most given for vitamins and minerals. They are fat enough not to be fed by protein food.


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## toosexy4myspotz (Oct 7, 2007)

I give free choice of hay year round because he would rather eat hay. He will not touch oats. If I put it in his feed just as an additive he will not touch it. I will start putting corn oil in his feed here shortly. He gets alot of fat/protien in his diet because of the keeper he is. When winter comes its like an ongoing battle especially because he has never been in a climate below 35 degrees and here in VA it gets down in the single digits.


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## mell (Sep 5, 2007)

i feed my horse 1 biscuit of hay in the morning and a hard feed which consists of-
4 dippers of lucerne chaff
4 dippers of oaten chaff
1 dipper of no-grain (cracked sun flower seeds rolled in molasses)
1/4 dipper of rice pollard
handfull of bran
half a measuring cup of equilibrium mineral mix (i use the measuring cup that comes with it)
then his feed is dampened with water.
he gets this twice daily.


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## Xanadu (Sep 11, 2007)

We used to feed our horses three times a day, but then I got a job and coudn't give the lunchtime meal, so we divided their ration into twice a day. Now that I'm home again, I'm going back to three times a day. 

So... three times a day a flake of grass hay. Once it cools off for the winter, we'll give half grass and half alfalfa.

(Our young gelding gets a flake and a half since he's a big, growing boy. The baby only gets half a flake. For my mare, I only give her half a flake at lunchtime.)

They get a morning bucket with a scoop of Lakin Lite pellets, a scoop of Equine Senior, and a multi-vitamin supplement. My mare only gets half the pellets and half the Equine Sr. because she gains weight breathing air, and she also gets a joint supplement.


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## Vidaloco (Sep 14, 2007)

Wow I feel like I'm starving my girls! They get 1 1/2 lb of advanced fomula (its a lifetime feed) horse pellet a day and all the hay they want. They are still getting some grass till the first freeze. They are on grass and pellet in the summer. The babys get 1 lb of pellet and a vitamin mineral supplement. Oh, and a salt block. I only feed once a day. Am I a bad mom? They are all at a good weight and have good feet, coat and attitudes does that count?


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## Xanadu (Sep 11, 2007)

You sound like a good mom to me. If they get all the hay they want, how is that starving them?

Whenever I've asked a vet or done research on the web, I've found that they say all a horse really needs is good quality hay and clean water.


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## kitten_Val (Apr 25, 2007)

Vidaloco said:


> Wow I feel like I'm starving my girls! They get 1 1/2 lb of advanced fomula (its a lifetime feed) horse pellet a day and all the hay they want. They are still getting some grass till the first freeze. They are on grass and pellet in the summer. The babys get 1 lb of pellet and a vitamin mineral supplement. Oh, and a salt block. I only feed once a day. Am I a bad mom? They are all at a good weight and have good feet, coat and attitudes does that count?


You call it starving! How much weight are they?  I had both horses on free hay at the last barn plus they got grain twice a day (half scoop), almost no grazing. The 2nd one who came starving became SO FAT everyone (including me) was sure she's pregnant (I ended up consulting the vet). After I moved them to my house I do give hay 3 times a day, cut on grain, and grazing up to 1 hour a day, and they are still rather fat (I don't ride that much though as they are still too young). Lol! However hay is really good and we give them quite a lot. I'v seen starved horses at the other farm and that look horrible. 

BTW, I have salt block too at all times by the water bucket. They love to drink and spit all water right on top of it.


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## Vidaloco (Sep 14, 2007)

Thanks, I feel better. Guess I just don't get too fancy on the feeding. They are weird eaters, won't eat apples, carrots or any other "good for you" human food and would rather eat the bark and leaves off a tree than grass. :?


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## jwhisperj (Sep 11, 2007)

Wow! I have always wondered how people in other areas feed.
Where I come from it is not uncommon to just feed hay, unless the horse is a performance horse or very old. My horses are also out on pasture all the time.

I feed two to three flakes of grass hay, and in the winter I add some alfalfa. When we get 15 below zero or more I will make a mixture of bran, molasses, salt and some oats with hot water to help them drink more and poop regular. 

All my horses are healthy and have shinny coats, good feet, and are at a healthy weight. 
Could someone tell me why so many of you use so much different types of feed? I would like to hear the pro's and con's of it.

Thanks!


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## futolympeventer327 (Mar 6, 2007)

It seems to me most of the above people feed so many different things to balance their horses rations so they get the proper ratios of nutrients. I have a hard keeper and he was 300 lbs underweight when I got him and he was growing so I had him on 6 lbs of rice bran 12 lbs of beet pulp (dry) and 8 lbs of LMF showtime as it is high in fat and balanced. Now that he is at an even weight he is getting 10 lbs LMF Gold which is a complete feed and balanced correctly to match the hay in California. For supplements being young all he gets is electrolytes, platinum performance to keep him on top of his game and a vitamin B complex to improve nerve function as he has a tendency to get his mind so full he doesn't know what to do with himself. For roughage he gets12 lbs of grass hay for breakfast, 5 lbs of grass hay pellets for lunch and 6 lbs of grass hay and 8 lbs of alfalfa for dinner. If anyone lives in California or Oregon LMF Gold is a miracle feed I recomend it to any highly conditioned event or endurance horse or a hard keeper. I introduced it into my barn full of eventers who were feeding way to much concentrates to keep weight on their horses and now they all feed LMF Gold and our ulcer rate has gone down, we feed ALOT less grain and our horses seem healthier and happier with more balanced temperments.


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## toosexy4myspotz (Oct 7, 2007)

I feed Poco several different things because he gets more fat from others and he is such a picky eater so anything he will eat he will get. Out of 10 different feeds he will only eat 2 of them. He wont touch his feed if is has alfalfa or any type of powder/crumble supplement. He just smells it and walks off. Electrolytes have to be given in a paste because he wont eat his grain if its in there. HIs hoof supplement is a pellet formula so when I soat his feed it just swells in with it. So I feed a variety because of the way he is. He loves beet pulp and BOS. The cracked corn is just a little extra fat.


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## Appyt (Oct 14, 2007)

My horses are on 20-80 acres depending on the season. They normally have 24-7 pasture access. I supplement as needed with Alfalfa pellets, BOSS and some Beet Pulp. Cheno, my old Appy gets the big portion while the others each get a bit so they dont' feel left out. Winter I up it accordingly depending on the weather and their condition. They are fed prairie hay as well as pickings in pasture all winter. The App gets Corta Flx and MSM.

I am planning on trying him on Kool & Kalm this winter as it's said to help rebuild lost condition. http://aussielogic.com


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## slew (Oct 8, 2007)

WOW I can't believe what everyone feeds there horses, I have a really good doer who is always fat. My pony just has a couple of scoops of lucerne chaff, a couple of scoops of oaten chaff, a handful of black sunflower seeds and about 100g of Groom (mineral and vitamin supplement) once a day.
Every morning and afternoon he is let out onto a paddock of grass for an hour or two and if we havent got time he has a biscuit of hay twice a day. He can't be left on the grass cause he would get to fat to quick. In the winter when its really cold he just has a scoop of oats added to thet diet. Also lots of carrots!!!


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## jazzyrider (Sep 16, 2007)

hiya

i feed a "mash" morning and night and they dont have grass to graze on so i get the big round bales of grass hay for constant grazing.

mash consists of:

1 scoop lucerne chaffe
1 scoop wheaten chaffe
1 small jug of rice bran
1 small jug of millrun (wheat bran)
1 small jug of calm performer pellets
handful of soaked cracked lupins
measured scoop of equilibrium b1 cool mix (COMPLETE vitamin, mineral and electrolyte supplement)
tsp of garlic
mollasses
apple cider vinegar

they also get 2 flakes each of lucerne hay with their meals

and thats their menu


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## kitten_Val (Apr 25, 2007)

Vidaloco said:


> They are weird eaters, won't eat apples, carrots or any other "good for you" human food and would rather eat the bark and leaves off a tree than grass. :?


Both mine never seen treats in life before I got them. However I did train them to carrots and later they started apples as well. I found "carrot sticks" treats in local tack shop (they are expensive thogh) and somehow horses love them (all horses I know at least), so I started mine with them. As long as they get used to those "sticks" I moved them to normal carrot. Now they are begging for treats all around. Lol!


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## jazzyrider (Sep 16, 2007)

wow! a horse that doesnt like apples and carrots...i never thought it possible lol the things you learn hey :wink:


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## kitten_Val (Apr 25, 2007)

In fact, mine didn't eat apples at all for more than year. Don't know why. Suddenly they started to eat them, and now prefer them over the carrot (well, if these are nice SWEET apples).  So I think it depends on horse a lot. My young one didn't know what grain is as she came wild, so it took her 2 days to learn it's good stuff.


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