How Much Hay should my horse get?

[JumpingFreak]

I'm buying a horse next month and am wondering if I should do field or stall board. He has been out in the field most of the time (especially for the past year). I will probably work him 2x a week on average. If I put him out in the field should he be getting hay? The place where I plan on boarding seems to have good grass but he should still get hay correct? If so, how much hay should he be getting daily?

[Simbalism]

My TB mare lives on pasture board. During the summer most boarding farms do not feed hay. I do buy some hay to use for when I go places. Is the horse thin? You may be able to get away with no hay until the colder weather sets in. I also purchase a bag of alfalfa forage for my mare. I give her some about(3-5 lbs) when I am grooming and tacking her up. I would talk to the boarding farm to see what their feeding practices are and go from there. I would also speak to your vet or trainer to get ideas relating to feeding your horse.

[AKB]

How many hours per day will your horse have turnout if he is on stall board? Is there a good run in shed if you select pasture board? As the new horse, will he be the low man on the totem pole who has to stand out in the rain, hot sun, bugs, and snow, while the dominant horses hog the run in shed? How will he be fed if he is on pasture board?

If the turnout is good for stall boarders, I would pick stall board. Horses often need 1-2 percent of their body weight in forage (hay or grass) each day. If he has hay while he is in the stall, you will know that he is getting his hay, rather than the dominant horses eating everything.

[deltawave]

Mine have access to one pasture of fair grass and one pasture of really good grass, depending on my schedule, weather, footing, etc.

My rule of thumb is that if they've spent half a day on the rich pasture, their nightly hay ration gets decreased by 1/4. If they've spent the whole day on the rich pasture, their nightly hay is decreased by 1/3. If they've spent the day on the "fair" pasture (no matter how long) I consider that equivalent to getting a morning's worth of hay, so they get a normal amount of hay, which by the way is about 2% of their body weight per day, divided into AM and PM feedings.

Most authorities say between 1.5-2% of the horse's body weight per day should be provided in forage--I like to go for 2% and feed minimal concentrate.

This is what works for me--it's far from scientific but my horses are doing well with it. The pony wears a muzzle but she is a fat little cresty thing and would absolutely explode if I let her out on grass without it. My casual observations lead me to believe she gets just about the same amount of eating with the muzzle on for 6 hours as she does with her share of the hay.

They have to munch, so I'd rather restrict the super-good grazing than get into the habit of stuffing them all day and making them go without all night.

FWIW. :)

[spotmenow]

Depends on the horse. We turn the horses out for 12 hours, then dry lot for 12 hours. Most of the horses just get one SMALL flake of hay to keep their gut moving while on the dry lot, but a few come in and have hay all day instead of the dry lot because of breed, age, etc. No rule will fit every horse.

[JB]

If you have the option of a safe pasture with decent shelter, and are willing to do the blanket thing as the horse dictates, then it's much healthier for him to be pasture boarded, especially since he's used to that. He'll move around more, which is healthier for his bones and muscles and ligaments and tendons and his digestion.

If the pasture has good grass, and he doesn't lose weight, then he doesn't need hay. It's nice to offer some hay once a day, so that if he suddenly has to be in his stall, where he'll need hay, it won't be a total shock to his system. Mine are out 23 hours a day, but they have hay in their stalls when they come in for breakfast for that very reason.

You don't list where you are, but if you're somewhere where grass either isn't available in the Winter (under snow) or goes dormant, he'll need hay then. How much? Basically free choice unless there are some weight issues.

But think beyond the hay and grass. Think about at least a vit/min supplement for nutrition, and know that free choice hay/grass might not be enough calories for him, especially as the weather gets colder. Adding alfalfa pellets is a great way for many, many horses to intake extra calories without adding high amounts of sugar to the diet :)

[deltawave]

It does depend on the horse, but even after being out on grass all day mine will eat one small flake in about 20 minutes. Leaving them hayless for 11 hours and 40 minutes. :lol:

Nibble Nets are a godsend to slow them down, and buying hay that's very low in nutritional content for their primary "gut filler". :yes:

[Dalemma]

It totally depends of your pasture as to whether they will need hay.....mine go out on a rich pasture with tons of grass........to avoid them becoming fat they get 2/3 hours in the morning and 2/3 hours around dinner time and a 3/4lb flake at late night.

When they come off pasture in late Sept they will get between 15 and 25 lbs of hay........totally depends on the horse.

Dalemma

[MountainGirl7]

Really depends on the horse - one of my top competition horses was a Cleveland Bay / TB cross and could eat all day long and still not put on weight when he was growing. He'd get pasture for 8-10 hours / day, then come in to his stall and have literally as much hay as he could eat waiting for him. (Mostly grass, although we did add a flake of high quality alfalfa on days when he was worked hard; it did tend to make him hot.) For him it was 4-6 big, thick flakes.

My little mare next to him shared the same pasture times and would only get 1-2 flakes in the stall since she was an easy keeper. Both were pretty happy with the arrangement - although sometimes I'd catch the CB getting a mouthful of hay and holding it over the stall door so she could nibble too!

[goeslikestink]

depends on the horse as in size of horse and weight of the horse
plus turnout and work

[deltawave]

Let me just add that it depends on the hay, too, and not just the horse. I would NEVER offer my 3 easy keepers more than a few pounds a day of my 3rd cutting orchard grass, which has almost twice the nutrients of the 1st cutting stuff. :) But I can feed them more than a bale and a half per day of the 1st cutting (up to 70 pounds between the 3 of them) in bitterly cold weather and they still won't get fat--other than the pony, whose winter coat I have to clip off so she isn't so well insulated. :rolleyes: