Feeding tips for horses

Find out how much your horse weighs. The easiest way to do this by using measuring tape used for sewing. Measure the girth (all the way around) in cm and the length (Front of shoulders to back of rump) in cm. Then use this equation:

Weight (kg) = Girth (cm) X Girth (cm) X Length (cm) / 11877

For Example: Tossick has a girth of 180 cm and a length of 140cm
180 x 180 x 140 = 4536000
4536000 / 11877 = 381kg
Tossick weighs about 381kg.

Knowing what your horses weighs is very important. The amount of food he needs is based on how much he weighs. Also, worming pastes, drenches, etc are all measured on how much your horse weighs.

Measure out how much food your horse needs. All foods have a recommended feeding guide based on the weight and age and activity level of the horse. It is usually measured in kilograms. The easiest way is to use your kitchen scales to measure out each part of your feed. Once you have done it the first time, you can mark the side of your feed bucket or scoop with a nikko pen for future reference. You should then only need to worry about measuring if you change feeds.

If you don't have a feed scoop, you can usually get one from your feed store.

Measuring your horse's food is very important. You need to know how much your horse should be eating. If you feed too much, your horse will gain too much weight and you will be wasting money. If you don't feed enough, your horse will lose weight and be hungry. Hungry horses will go searching for food and will eat more next time you feed them (more on this is regular meals).

Keep lots of clean, fresh and cool water available all the times. Your horse needs access to lots of fresh, clean water all the time, but especially when they are eating. Dry horse foods are designed to be eaten with water. The water helps to soften the food and start the digestion process. Also, the food swells up when water is added, triggering the stomach to say when it if full. An average horse can consume 20-70 Litres per day, and they may need up to an additional 50 Litres after heavy excercise.

Feed your horse at regular times each day. Horses need to graze all day, so always have good quality grass or hay in their paddocks. When feeding bagged feed, don't feed more than 2kg in one feed, split it ino more feeds per day. Young horses will need 3-4 meals per day.

This allows you to monitor their eating habits. Not eating is the first sign of lots of problems so it is important to know if that happens. It is quite common for horses not to eat when you change thier diet. For example, horses will often going from green grass in the wet season to baled hay in the dry. Having a regular meal time is also particularly effective strategy for encouraging a horse to come to you when they are in large paddocks.

Remove leftovers. Food that is left out will attract flies & ants, at the least. Cane toads will also appear for a free feed as well as birds and chooks. The neighbourhood strays will be happy for a feed hurting your back pocket.

Reduce the amount competition your horse faces to get fed. If you have more than one horse to feed, feed them at the same time, but in separate locations. The best of friends will be more aggressive if they feel they have to compete for food. They will also eat more than they need to in case they lose the next battle. Make sure the neighbour's horses are not in sight or able to compete with yours for food.

Buy 10 get 1 FREE. When you are feeding horses, let's face it they do eat a lot. At our stores, we have a buy 10 get one free offer on any product. This doesn't always mean you need to fill up your garden shed and risk it all getting wet or going mouldy. You can take advantage by simply paying for you 10 items ( and getting one free) and taking them (or delivery) as you need them. It's the best of both world's really buying in bulk and getting the freshest stock.

Worm your horse every 3 months. There is nothing that horses love more than eating a nice green shoot of grass sticking up out of some poo! So it is so important to keep up with intestinal worms. Untreated worms make your horse feel real crook and you don't want to be feeding the worms as well as the horse. Horses in smaller paddocks are forced to eat near their own poo so worming is more important to them. It is also important to clean up thier poo as much as possible to help worm control. You should regularly use a wormer that kills tapeworms and bots such as Equimax or Valuemax / Promectin Plus. Over long periods, worms can build up resistance to wormers, so it is important to use a wormer with a different ingredient to wipe out this resistance. Just changing brands doesn't always change the ingredients, so ask for help to choose the right one for you.

Horses love a bit of molassses. Made from sugar cane, molasses is sweet black and sticky and most animals love it. They will usually get it all over themselves and even in places you wouldn't dream they could get it. You can use is as it is or water is down and drizzle over their feed. It is commonly used in to encourage the animal to eat things they may not normally eat like vitamins, salt etc. You can use it to encourage to encourage your horse to eat the rest of the hay or the like. The important thing to remember though, is that this advantage can work against us. If molasses gets on things you don't want them to eat, like weeds or dirt on the floor, they may well eat it. Clean up any spills that you don't want them eating.

Only feed horse products to horses. Many foods for cattle goats ETC contain urea, which is toxic to horses. Only feed products that are designed for horses. Change any bedding straw daily, as urine contains urea. A hungry horse might be tempted to eat it bedding straw. Other items causing problems with horses are hay bale strings, sand from the ground. Horses are very smart as a rule and in their natural environment, will avoid items not good for them. However, a hungry horse will eats things it would not normally eat. Feed them well.