Feeding Your Trail Horse

Feed Your Horse!

Your horse and other equids evolved as grazing animals. They are "trickle eaters", meaning they have to have an almost constant supply of food to keep their digestive system working properly, or otherwise, because of their strong grazing instinct your horse can become anxious or stressed if there are long periods of time between meals. When stabled, they do best when fed on a regular schedule, since they are creatures of habit and easily upset by changes in their routine.

How to Feed Your Horse

How to feed your horse is just as important as what to feed! For instance, should you feed your hay from a hay rack, hay net, or just place it in on the ground? Can you throw the hay down from the loft through a hatch door, or is it better to place the hay flakes from ground level?

To Hay Rack, or Not?

Dr. Jessica Jahiel states that in her opinion hay racks in stalls are really for the convenience of horse-owners and stable staff. They want to keep the hay in one place and tell at a glance which horses still have hay, and which do not, by seeing the hay racks from the barn aisle. While she acknowledges that there certainly can be some good reasons for using a hay rack, she cautions that as your horse reaches up to pull and eat its hay the falling dust, straw particles, pollens, and seeds can easily get in your horse's nose and eyes, which can cause serious respiratory infections and eye injury. The same thing happens when hay is being dropped down into a hay rack through a hatch door in the ceiling. It is best to place the hay from ground level to avoid dust, hay particles, and seeds become airborne. When feeding several horses in the same pasture area it is recommended to spread out the hay into several piles in different areas to assure that each one gets its fair share.

Hay rack placed too high:

A hay rack is best installed low enough so your horse can eat its hay without reaching up, but high enough so it can't step into it.

In this example, the hay rack is above the horse's head. The horse is forced to look and reach up to pull down its hay from the rack which can cause eye infections, corneal abrasions and ulcers from airborne hay, dust and seeds falling from the hay rack into the eyes. Dust can also easier enter the horses nostrils, causing airway irritation and coughing.
 

• Feeding Hay and Hay Stretcher
• Grain for Hoses
• Feeding the Older Horse
• Horse and Water
• Horse Supplements