Hay! How much? How often?
Failure to feed horses correctly can lead to devastating conditions such as colic and laminitis. So let’s talk about the basics. Horses need three key things: Good quality hay, fresh water, and salt.
There are dozens of opinions on the best hay for horses and it can be hard to weed through to find the facts. It’s very easy to get overwhelmed! Since this post is about the basics, I’ll leave that topic for another post, or two, or three.
*** Hay needs to be mold and weed free. ***
The most important rule of feeding hay is that it must be of good quality with no mold and no weeds dangerous to horses. Feeding hay that is not of good quality is extremely dangerous and can lead to illness and even death of your horse.
The second most important rule is how often you feed. Horses are grazers and for their size, they have fairly small stomachs. Their whole digestion system is designed to be constantly processing small amounts of food. So you can see, feeding horses just one big meal a day, like we might do a dog, is not going to work. Even feeding twice a day really is not sufficient.
*** Feed small amounts of hay often. ***
What is the optimal feeding schedule for hay? 24-hour access to forage is ideal. But for most of us, this is just not possible. Our goal then needs to be to get as close to ideal as possible. One solution is to feed smaller meals throughout the day. Another popular solution is to use some format of slow feeder. At our farm, we use Hay Chix Hay Nets. This can slow down how fast the horses consume their hay and extend their grazing time drastically..
There are a few rules with hay nets you should be aware of. Some hay nets or hay bags are designed to placed on the ground. This is a fantastic option if your horses are barefoot. Do not place hay nets on the ground with shod horses. Horses often paw at their feed and can get the hay net or hay bag caught in their shoe. I’ve experienced this personally. I was lucky the old mare was okay dragging around her hay until I found her and rescued her from the predicament.
If hanging hay nets, be sure they are chest high or higher to avoid the same risk of a shoe getting caught in the bag. Recently, I read about another risk with hay bags I hadn’t even thought about. If your horse is blanketed, be sure any snaps or hooks face towards the horse. Hay nets can catch on the clips and your horse might find himself stuck!
I also recommend checking your horse’s teeth and lips often when using a slow feed option. If you notice any wear on the teeth or sores on the gums, discontinue using the slow feeder.
Okay, so now we know we need to maximize the time our horses are ‘foraging.’ But how much hay does your horse really need to maintain a healthy weight. The Human Society recommends horses eat between 1 and 2 percent of their body weight in roughage Hay) a day. This can vary based on breed and the amount of work the horse is performing.
*** Horses require between 1 – 2% of their weight in forage each day. ***
If we want to maximize our how long our equine friend is happily grazing, we will need to understand how much we should be feeding them and spreading this out over the maximum amount of time. The idea is that horses will self monitor their own hay intake if they have access to hay 24/7. I have found this more true if their hay bags are never empty and filled with grass that is low in sugar and low in calories.
The problem is that we often feed our horses super lush and green hay or alfalfa and it’s more like dessert. Horses eat it up as quickly as they can and then ask for more. This is where we come back to understanding how much, by weight, our horses are eating and finding the right balance of small feedings and slow feeder options to maximize grazing time.
