The 10 Holy Commandments of Feeding Your Horse!

Passed down from the almighty equine Gods, these 10 commandments for feeding your horse should be closely followed to avoid damnation. 

1  – Always ensure cool, clear water is available 24 hours a day.

This is first because it’s important. There is often water about, but not clean clear water. Clean troughs of leaves and keep up with other maintenance tasks to ensure your horse always has fresh clean water available.

2  – Little and often is best when it comes to feeding.

Horses are trickle feeders, and they prefer to eat little and often. They have quite a small stomach, and overfeeding can lead to digestive problems. At least 2 meals a day but 3 if possible, preferably with the larger meal at the end of the day.

3 – No light measures

Scoops are handy tools, but they vary in size, and the amount of feed they can hold. Ideally, always weigh the feed. But realistically, weigh the feed the scoop can hold, and then you can use it as a reliable measurement.

4  – Never compromise on the quality of the feed

Digestibility and palatability are important, so make sure you’re feeding quality feed. Brands like Heygates have the wheatgerm in the bran in their feed – despite their low price.

5  – Feed to weight, don’t guess!

Use a weight tape to determine your horse’s weight – it might be much different to what you think!

6  – Slow changes to their feed

If you’re changing their diet in any way, you should do it gradually over 10-14 days to allow your horse to adjust without any digestive upset.

7  – Feed like clockwork

Horses like routine, and want to be fed consistently at the same time. This includes weekends  – which can make lie-ins a bit of a fantasy! This will also help to prevent any digestive upset.

8 – Delay exercise

Allow the gut to settle for at least 1hr before exercise. We wouldn’t go for a run after polishing off a huge dinner now, would we?

9 – Fibre, Fibre, Fibre!

It is essential in a horse’s diet! There are different microbes in fibre and starch, and the ones in fibre help the digestive tract. So ensure some grass, hay, and haylage is available 24/7.

10 – Don’t anticipate work

Feed for the work he has done, not the work he will do in the future.

Let us know your thoughts, do you agree? Disagree? Do we need to increase the commandments or even rewrite the holy text? Let us know in the comments below.