To folks that don't do free range hay, how often do you feed hay?

[sublimequine]

I'm curious about this, I love to hear how different folks have different setups and such for feeding. :)

If your horse doesn't get ad lib hay, how often does it get hay? 2 times a day? 3 times a day? 10 times a day? :eek: :lol:

Do you do anything to ensure the horse doesn't get bored or have nothing to do? Or do they seem pretty content with their scheduled meals?

Do they get their hay at the same time as they also get grain, if they are fed grain at all? Or are the grain meals seperate?

Share your feeding systems, non-free range hay-ers! :lol:

[Daydream Believer]

I feed generous amounts of hay two times a day. I usually feed the grain and then the hay to the pastured horses. Stalled horses have hay when they come in and then get grain and then grain in the a.m. and turned out into their paddocks with hay.

[Katy Watts]

I fill up feed bunks once a day at current boarding stable. But my hay is 4.4 % NSC and they really don't like it much, so they only eat when hungry and it usually lasts till morning. I need to let mine run out of hay once a day or they don't eat their supplements. BO checks evenings, and on the days they seem hungrier and have eaten more, she takes pity and gives them some of her 9% NSC hay, which they consider a treat.

This is like kids and dessert. Give them free choice dessert, they eat it all at once. Give them free choice salad, and shredded wheat, and they only eat if they are truly hungry.

[coloredhorse]

Since I work from home and keep the horses at home, most days I can do 4 meals (or more if I feel like it). Breakfast, lunch, dinner, bedtime. Sometimes there will be a morning and/or afternoon snack.

But on days when I'm swamped, or need to work on-site for a client, I just put out more hay at breakfast and do dinner and bedtime.

[LookinSouth]

My gelding gets 4 or 5 flakes around 6:30 am, 1 flake when I get home around 3pm and then 5 flakes at dinner time which is usually around 6-7pmish.

[sublimequine]

The quality of the hay is a good point. My mare gets hay twice a day (then I supplement with hay cubes every day, so 3 forage meals per day), and it's really REALLY nice hay. The few times they were offered nice but very "plain" grass hay, they rarely even touched it, they'd just wait for the "good stuff". So I guess that means they weren't really all that hungry between meals, at least not hungry enough to eat the "plain" hay. :lol:

[ThoroughbredFancy]

My horse gets 2 flakes of hay in the morning with his grain and one flake in his turn out at 9:00am.

They come in around 5:00pm and he gets another 3 flakes of the BO's hay plus two flakes of my green third cutting (grassy pasture in a bale basically) with his grain. He also get alfalfa pellets with his grain.

Free choice hay isn't really an option at this barn. The BO thinks any horse can deal with 3 flakes in the morning and 3 at night. :no: But I do the best I can and bring him in for some lunch hay when I can.

[sublimequine]

My horse gets 2 flakes of hay in the morning with his grain and one flake in his turn out at 9:00am.

They come in around 5:00pm and he gets another 3 flakes of the BO's hay plus two flakes of my green third cutting (grassy pasture in a bale basically) with his grain. He also get alfalfa pellets with his grain.

Free choice hay isn't really an option at this barn. The BO thinks any horse can deal with 3 flakes in the morning and 3 at night. :no: But I do the best I can and bring him in for some lunch hay when I can.

My BO's basically the same way.

[spotmenow]

We feed hay 4 times a day...7:00 am, 12-1 pm, 5-6 pm, and then again at midnight. My boys would BECOME the round bales, so they aren't an option, but I strongly feel that they should get as many servings as possible.

I grain 1-3 times a day, depends on the horse.

[sublimequine]

We feed hay 4 times a day...7:00 am, 12-1 pm, 5-6 pm, and then again at midnight. My boys would BECOME the round bales, so they aren't an option, but I strongly feel that they should get as many servings as possible.

I grain 1-3 times a day, depends on the horse.

I agree. But wow, midnight feedings? You're dedicated. :lol:

[merrygoround]

Grain in am before turn out.
Hay goes out to pastures in the am about 1/2 bale /horse. In bitter cold weather additional hay is fed mid-afternoon, then in at dark with grain and hay waiting, additional hay as necessary at night check.

Seems to work with the local air-ferns. :)

[MistyBlue]

7 am, noon, 4 pm and 8 pm in winter.
7 am, 1:30-2 pm, 8 pm in summer.
4x per day in winter and usually only 3x per day in summer. Mostly due to trunout schedule...in winter they go out at 7 am with a few flakes, I toss more at noon for lunch, turn in at 4-5 pm (when the sun sets) and then night check at 8 pm. They get a bit extra hay in winter to keep them warm and up to weight.
In warmer months they go out at 7 am and don't come in until 8 pm...so those two times plus some thrown mid-day between those two times. Except mid to late summer...there's a 4-6 week period where the temps go way up and the flies are a real pita so they revert to out at 7 am, back in between 11-noon for shade, bug relief and under fans and then back out at 4 pm and then back in at 8-9 pm or whenever the sun sets. Which means cleaning stalls more often but they really want their cool breezy stalls in July and August by noon. My turnout doesn't get any shade between noon and 4 pm due to the sun being directly overhead and no trees in the turnout itself. I'm hoping to fence the second paddock this year which will have more shade...and by next year I'm hoping to fence off a portion of the woods since woods seem breezier and cooler with deeper shade.
Mainly most of the year they get hay 4x, sometimes only 3x depending on weather. I've tried doing it less often, but if I throw out enough for the entire day outside they just snarf it up and then have nothing to eat for hours on end. First cut timothy/orchard mix...nice quality hay but nothing too fancy. They're just pigs...if there's hay they'll eat until it's gone. I could never do a round bale...they'd never move at all or stop eating. Kind of negates the reason for turnout if they stand in one spot and eat for 8-12 hours. :winkgrin:

[deltawave]

Morning hay between 6am and 9am, usually right around 7:30 90% of the time. Evening hay between 6pm and 8pm, usually right around 7pm 90% of the time. They all do serious munching for about 3 hours, which finishes off about 80% of the hay. The big mares then take a break, nap, wander around, do whatever horses do when they're idle. The pony KEEPS EATING until nearly every shred is gone. So pretty much that's all she gets to eat, and it is a struggle to keep her from being fat. So far, so good, but she would really, really like to eat herself to death. :rolleyes:

Even with the pony chowing down, the extra hay I throw in the winter does not ALL get eaten. There's always a little bit every day they don't eat, but I figure they could if they wanted and I'd rather err on the side of more than they want than less when the weather is cold. In warmer weather I'm not as soft-hearted. :)

If I know I'm going to be home all day, I feed less in the morning, some more at mid-day, and their regular large pile at night. At night is when their stalls are open, so I figure the more time they spend outside eating, the cleaner my stalls will be the next day! All hay is fed outside in tire feeders, year-round.

Do they get bored? Probably not. I try not to think of them in human terms. They have room to roam, they have companionship, they have human interaction every day, and they have enough to eat. Other than the human interaction, which is probably optional in their minds, they are living as close to a natural lifestyle as I can arrange on my small acreage. I guess I could add a mountain lion or a pack of wolves to really simulate The Wild, but nah. :) None of mine has any vices, and they pretty much have their routine and their habits, all of which appear to be those of settled and content horses to my observations.

[LuvMyNSH]

I throw a flake of alfalfa out to everyone twice a day. Nice and easy! It works out to approx. 25# of hay a day per horse.

I've only got one horses that gets anything besides hay, and she's packing the weight on so well with 2# of omalene a day that I'll be able to take her off of it pretty quick. It blows me away how much grain/supps I read about people feeding. My horses would be so fat their bellies would be on the ground!

[sublimequine]

I throw a flake of alfalfa out to everyone twice a day. Nice and easy! It works out to approx. 25# of hay a day per horse.

I've only got one horses that gets anything besides hay, and she's packing the weight on so well with 2# of omalene a day that I'll be able to take her off of it pretty quick. It blows me away how much grain/supps I read about people feeding. My horses would be so fat their bellies would be on the ground!

Wow, 2 flakes = 25 lbs?! Huge flakes!!! :eek:

[LuvMyNSH]

Wow, 2 flakes = 25 lbs?! Huge flakes!!! :eek:

ROFL...I remember the first time I was outside CA and saw a "normal" sized hay bale. I was like, "Ummm.....where's the rest of it?"

Sometimes I get small bales at only 100-110# ea, and then I'll feed 1.5 - 2 flakes at each feeding. But usually a flake is more than enough.

[sublimequine]

ROFL...I remember the first time I was outside CA and saw a "normal" sized hay bale. I was like, "Ummm.....where's the rest of it?"

Sometimes I get small bales at only 100-110# ea, and then I'll feed 1.5 - 2 flakes at each feeding. But usually a flake is more than enough.

Man, I wanna see these mammoth bales!!! :lol:

[Pocket Pony]

Heee heee, our CA bales are quite large!

I feed by weight 4 x a day: 7 a.m. breakfast, noon lunch, 5 p.m. dinner, then 9-10 p.m. for tuck-ins. During the winter I give them extra in the evening to keep them warm at night.

Paddy is such a pig that he'll gobble all the hay up right away so I cannot imagine how fat(ter) he would be if I let him have free choice.

The horses get buckets at breakfast and dinner - depending on the horse, a mixture of beet pulp and/or alfalfa pellets and/or rice bran with a Selenium supplement.

They usually get to graze for a couple hours around lunchtime but otherwise they are on (dry lot) pastures and out 24/7 when the weather is good.

[sid]

4 x a day in winter (or in a drought situation in summer).

5-8 pounds (not "flakes") per feeding.

7 a.m. Noon 4 p.m. 8:30 p.m.

If the pasture is snow covered or horse are in --- another 5 lbs at about 11 p.m.