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Post by Sydney on Jan 29, 2009 3:09:08 GMT -5
Okay so I'm trying to figure out what to feed my horses in BITS. I want to make a chart of what they get. I'm just not farmiliar with feeding show ad race horses. I have a Paint horse, 15.3hh 950-1000lbs that is ridden/worked 4-5 days a week for 30-90 minutes. He is fit and healthy he get 1 flake alfalfa in the morning and about 2 flakes of alfalfa at night, with a pound scoop of pleasure grain and I used the same scoop for brain(which is about .5 lbs I think). He stays at a good weight, but he isn't having stressful showing or racing work.
The Info
So here's a little info on it. I have reining/cutting, western pleasure/trail, and hunter Paint horses, along with flat racing Thoroughbred. I'm sticking to feeding them 3 times a day (6am, 1pm, 7pm) with Alfalfa, Bermuda(grass), and race/performance grain.
I was told that a flake of alfalfa was 2lbs. And that a flake of bermuda was 1lb. Then I have been reading more and it sayd alfalfa flakes are about 4-5lbs and that grass flakes are 2-3lbs. I'm not sure what it really is. At our ranch we go by weight but since we don't have a scale its hard to tell how much flakes weight. So therefore, I wondering....
How much does a flake of alfalfa and bermuda weight each?
How much should I feed my race horses?
How much should I feed my show horses?
Right now what I have for feeding my horses is....
Race Horses
6am: 2 Alfalfa, 1 Bermuda
1pm: 1 Alfalfa, 1 Bermuda
7pm: 2 Alfalfa, 4lbs Racing Grain
Show Horses
6am: 1.5 Alfalfa, .5 Bermuda
1pm: 1 Alfalfa, .5 Bermuda
7pm: 2 Alfalfa, 3lbs Performance Grain
I personally think I am feeding my horses way to much. I'm not used to feed RL horses 3 times a day. Where I was working before we had morgans and saddlebreds and we feed 2 times a day.
6am: 2-4lbs alfalfa pellets
3pm: 1-2 alfalfa flake, 2-4lbs sweet feed
I personally hated the way they feed and at what times they feed. The morgans weren't all that thin, the saddlebreds were a little more thin. But none had ribs showing or anything they just didn't have a good amount of meat on them which I hated. I felt so bad feeding them in the more after waiting almost 15 hours until being feed again by 6am horse were tearing down the barn to get food and all they got was a measly 2-4lbs of pellets! I know most horses go through the night with out being feed. But I think these horses were starved a bit.
So with all this I'm just not sure what to feed. I know I need a blance because feed. 1 flake of alfalfa and .5 flakes of bermuda 2x day seems to little but I think what I have down to feed them seems to much. Do you have answers for me? LOL!
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Post by Maya on Jan 29, 2009 10:36:22 GMT -5
It's actually better to feed 3 smaller meals than 2 larger ones... more natural for the horse's digestive system. You don't necessarily have to feed MORE, just more often.  My horses in RL (who live out 24/7 with blankets) get 3 Alfalfa flakes each in the morning, and then 4 alfalfa flakes at night. The amount of grain varies per horse... my 25 year old retired Trakehner gelding gets 2 litres (about 4lbs ?) of KER Phase 4 (equivalent to your 'performance grain' I think) in the morning, and another 2 litres at night. The 2 TBs get 1 litre each (2 lbs?) in the morning and again at night. And the Morgan gets a scoop of vit/mineral supplement only because he's a fat pig. lol. But, none of these guys are in work... if they were in training (they are all eventers) their grain intake would double, or almost double. The majority of the horse's feed intake should come from roughage (hay)... Personally, the minimum hay I would ever give a horse (who doesn't have access to grass) is 2 flakes of Timothy (similar to Bermuda) in the morning and at night... But he'd have to be an easy keeper. If they are on good pasture, hay may not even be necessary, excepting hard keepers, of course. In the summer, you obviously need less hay, if your horses have access to grass. Oh, and all this is assuming you're using standard small square bales -- large square bales are a totally differens ball game. Hopefully this helped! Have to get back to work now |
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Post by Sydney on Jan 29, 2009 13:42:31 GMT -5
Yes. I'm going for small square bales. It helps alittle. I just not sure the amount. Do I need to cut my horses feedings by 1/2? Or should I just routate grass and alfalfa? I'm not a fan of Timothy hay, we've used it before in RL and it's done nothing it's just a mess and really expensive.
I'm thinking since the Paints are alittle bulkier and would probably be easier keepers to do.
6am: 1.5 Alfalfa
1pm: 1 Bermuda
7pm: 1 Alfalfa, 3lbs Grain
But the Thoroughbreds are what I'm not sure about. I know they need my fiber and more food becasue of their work. I'm just not sure what amounts to feed them.
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Kate
Second Level
Posts: 262
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Post by Kate on Jan 29, 2009 17:56:13 GMT -5
At the college we feed our TBs twice a day and give them unlimited hay. Most of them get 3 lbs per feeding. In the spring when training resumes, they get a lunch meal added with another 3 or 4 lbs. Dont know if that helps at all. We also feed at 6:30, 11:30 and 4:30 (not sure if u wanna do that or not..)
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Post by Maya on Jan 30, 2009 9:30:02 GMT -5
You will want to split the grain into at least 2 feeding per day -- so feed 1.5lbs in the morning and 1.5 at night... or 1lb 3 times a day would be ever better It is the golden rule of horse feeding -- "Little and often" A TB in race training, as Kate said, would need a lot more grain than 3lbs per day... Depending on what you're feeding, at least 6-10lbs. A trainer I used to work with had a rule of thumb where she'd start any new horse she got by giving it a coffee can of grain twice a day, and then adjust up or down depending on how the horse responded to that. (A coffee can is approximately 3 litres, weight will vary depending on the type of feed you use). Your hay still seems pretty low, considering it's winter... I'd personally modify it to be 1 bermuda + 1 alfalfa in the morning, 2 bermuda in the afternoon, and 1 alfalfa + 1 bermuda in the evening, at the very minimum (your original hay amounts were good!). Paints are generally better keepers, as you said, so most of them may even be able to make do with less than this (or without the alfalfa altogether), and less grain, too.  But you always want a horse to be eating more hay than grain... A showhorse in moderate work (ie ridden every day but not doing like high level eventing or showjumping) should have a ratio of about 70 or 80% hay to 20 or 30% grain. A racehorse could be 50/50 or even 40% hay to 60% grain by weight, depending on the type of feed and the individual horse. TBs in race training should probably have haynets that are kept full all day (bermuda), as should any hard keepers. Anyone who is still having a hard time staying in ideal body condition should have their haynet soaked twice a day. The TBs can have a flake or 2 of alfalfa thrown at them with every meal, also, if they need it. Your original feeding schedule for the TBs was pretty good, I think -- I'd just split up the grain meals into 2 or 3 smaller ones throughout the day, and allow them free access to hay all day For the show horses, all I'd do to your second schedule is split up the grain meal into 2 or 3 smaller ones. Oh, and if the horses are on grass for most of the day... they probably won't need alfalfa (the showhorses) unless the pastures are very low quality or get grazed down. lol, but since this is SIM, that probably won't happen. I forgot you are in California... I bet you guys still have grass right now, huh? lol. There is snow so deep outside here right now that I literally can't see out the front window of my house. >.< And the top of the window is about 5 feet off the ground. *sigh* Anyway, hopefully that wasn't too confusing and was actually helpful. lol. And of course this is just based on my experience here in Ontario. Bermuda is actually almost impossible to get here and the timothy is super high quality and super cheap... so I'm basing this on the assumption that your Bermuda is nutritionally reasonably equivalent to my timothy. Oh, and I actually just found an article online that might be helpful... It's actually a book. lol. There's a section in there about feeding that is pretty good. CLICK ME! |
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Post by Maya on Jan 30, 2009 9:31:32 GMT -5
LOL I just started reading that book and the first thing in there is about the "Golden Rules of Feeding" See, I'm not crazy! |
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Post by Sydney on Jan 30, 2009 17:36:31 GMT -5
Thanks Kate and Maya. It helps alot more. I'm just not farmiliar with feeding race/show horses I've only fed fat pleasure horses that don't do anything. My horse is the hardest work horse on our property and he is ridden for like over an hour 6 days a week. And if I don't get time to ride he's lunged until all the jitters are out of him and he is sweaty. So It's hard to figure out what to do. Plus we live in Cali which sucks because I've never experienced the feed changes drastically. The most we add is maybe a 1/2 flake at night. Frog gets about 2 flakes at night and stays that way all year round. I hate that its 75+ all year. The lowest during the day that we've hit this year was 45! And people were wigging out saying we were going to freeze to death. Yea it's chilly but not freezing. Anywho I have my BITS farm located in Delta, CO so there will be snow. Maybe not alot but it's cold and snowy. Horses are housed in a barn they have heavy blankets to keep them warm. So will all that I found this site: www.baileyshorsefeeds.co.uk/feedingexplained/calculator.htm. The only thing is I have to know the weight of each horses. Which is hard and varies. So I'm thinking I'll do 1/1 with the hay. So here we go ha: Show Horses6am: 1 Bermuda, 1 Alfalfa, 2lbs Grain 1pm: 1 Bermuda, 1 Alfalfa 7pm: 1 Bermuda, 1 Alfalfa, 2lbs Grain Race Horses6am: 1 Bermuda, 1 Alfalfa, 4lbs Grain 1pm: 1 Bermuda, 1 Alfalfa, 2lbs Grain 7pm: 1 Bermuda, 1 Alfalfa, 4lbs Grain Blah, How does that look? Decent? Should I reduce my show horses feed? |
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Post by Maya on Jan 30, 2009 18:02:42 GMT -5
Nah, I think you're good!  I mean, depending on the horse, 4lbs a day might be too much or too little, but as a general average, I think that's a pretty good estimate |
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Post by Elise on Jan 30, 2009 19:01:57 GMT -5
Personally, I would feed them more hay, especially since its winter. Atlas is a larger horse, but an easy keeper and I like to see him a little chunkier in the winter, but he gets 3-5 flakes AM/PM. In the summer he gets less, only 2-3 flakes unless they're not finishing it but there's also grass for him to munch on all the time.
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But you always want a horse to be eating more hay than grain... A showhorse in moderate work (ie ridden every day but not doing like high level eventing or showjumping) should have a ratio of about 70 or 80% hay to 20 or 30% grain. A racehorse could be 50/50 or even 40% hay to 60% grain by weight, depending on the type of feed and the individual horse.
I mean, depending on the horse, 4lbs a day might be too much or too little, but as a general average, I think that's a pretty good estimate 
