What I Feed My Horses

What I Feed my Horses

I have never done a blog hop before. In fact, I had to ask my internet-tech savvy husband, what exactly is a blog hop?  Thanks to him, he enlightened me. The reason I say this is because there is a “blog hop” that some bloggers are sharing what they feed their horses. So after an hour or so of lurking through different blog posts, I began to feel like a horrible horse mom after seeing what some people feed their horses, while others were condemning those who chose to feed supplements to theirs.

I found one horse owner who reported that she feeds one of her horses 5 gallons of oats for his night time feeding. I am hoping that she meant 5 quarts of oats, because honestly, I don’t think 5 gallons of oats would be a very good idea, or am I wrong? That would be taking a 5-gallon bucket, filling it with grain and feeding it, to your horse, every evening? I am not a vet, or a horse nutritionist, but I am fairly confident that is way too much. I don’t know, but if anyone wants to share their opinion, I would love to hear if I am crazy. (Thank you in advance for enlightening me.)

But that brings me back to sharing with you what I feed my horses.

To begin, I am fortunate that both of my horses seem to be fairly easy keepers. Frisby (20 year old Hanoverian)

is like me and gains weight at the mere sight of food. And Ethan (8 year old Thoroughbred)

has no problem keeping his weight, even in the winter. I think I am fortunate, because I have heard it is difficult to keep weight on thoroughbreds. I may change my mind in the next few weeks as I begin to put Ethan into a regimented training program.

Forage

Forage is the main component of my horses’ diet. I am lucky, we seem to get a very large selection of hay choices when we go to the feed store. Alfalfa, Alfalfa mix, brome, timothy, orchard grass, or a mixture of grass hay. During the winter, I usually feed an alfalfa mix, typically 50/50 and reserve straight alfalfa for really cold spells. Once the day’s start getting longer, I switch over to a grass hay. When I am feeding alfalfa, I feed less, usually 2 flakes in the early morning, 1 flake for lunch, and 2 to 3 flakes in the evening. When they go back on grass hay the get 3 flakes in the morning, 1 flake at lunchtime, and 3 flakes in the evening.

I try to keep some sort of hay in front of them at all times, especially when there is no pasture for them to graze on. And right now the days are getting longer (Yes!) so they are getting strictly grass hay.

Complete Feed

I don’t feed my horses a sweet feed per say, but they both get a type of grain. It’s more of a complete feed that has omega 3 and 6, probiotics, fiber, and minerals that they need to stay healthy.

Ethan gets Nutrena ProForce Fiber, and Frisby gets ProForce Senior feed. This is probably one of the reasons they seem like easy keepers, because these feeds offer a low starch high fat content that helps to keep the weight on. They each get 2 quarts in the morning and at night.

Supplements

I guess I am one of the condemned, because I do feed my horse supplements with each meal. (Stop the insanity!!!!)

They both get MSM, which helps to reduce inflammation, reduce joint deterioration, boosts the immune system, promotes healthy hair and hoof growth, and chelates heavy metals out of the body.

They also both get Omega Fields Horse Shine. I love this product. Even in the winter, their coats are nice, less static-y, and it’s good for their hooves as well. And when they lose their furry teddy bear look, their coats are slick, shiny and glossy.

They look like I have spent hours grooming them! I was enlightened to this product from my good horse friend Lynda, Thank you Lynda!

The benefits of Horse Shine help the coat, and hooves as well as boost the immune system, reduce inflammation, an alternative to using psyllium (to prevent sand colic), and it’s a natural product, no GMO’s.

They also have a Himalayan pink rock salt hanger in their barn to lick and play with. I get mine from Riding Warehouse.

Extra Supplements

Frisby also gets an extra supplement because he has respiratory issues. A few years back I fed him some hay that wasn’t the best quality. It was dusty, and just wasn’t very good. And ever since then, he has had issues. I have tried everything under the sun trying to correct the problem, and have been at a loss until I tried ImmuAid. It came in a Heart to Horse Box that I get every month from Stateline Tack. And the results have been incredible. He no longer has a runny nose. He sounds normal when he breathes, and he doesn’t cough when we trot around my dusty arena. I tried this because I had it, and now I will never go without it again. (Thank you Animed!) It smells really bad, but it’s a natural product with Echinacea and garlic, and it works!

So there you have it, that is what I feed my horses!

It may be similar to what you do, or really different, but the way I feed my boys seems to be working well for them, and isn’t that what matters?