Convenience, tradition and individual circumstances affect when we offer hay and meals to our equine friends. But what would they choose, if they could order? Answer: Something to nibble on 24/7 😉 Why? Their stomachs produce acid on a constant basis, without that acid having something to devour, it attacks the stomach lining instead, resulting in those dreaded ulcers, affecting mood (pain) and health, and with that the performance of our equine partners.
Feeding Schedules
Horses aren’t that bothered about timings, it is us humans, which make it so. We need schedules for efficient organisation. What is true is that horses get used these schedules and suddenly diverting from them could cause anticipation stress.
Horses living on pasture will come running for that extra yummy meal, but unless you have a reason for them to come galloping to you at a certain time, these meals can really be given any time.
Horses in paddocks and boxes with a 24 hour hay supply could be treated similarly, but those rationed will expect meals more eagerly.
Varying the timings slightly though, diverting by an hour or so more frequently, could actually reduce anticipation stress, as horses won’t expect the meal at a fixed time. In Europe, for example, I haven’t seen any horse in distress because of summer/winter time clock changes, which weren’t taken into account for feeding times.
Rationed Hay
If you need to ration your daily amount of hay, take into account depending on the horse of course, how quickly they eat it. Ideally, no equine wants to be without roughage for more than four hours in a row, because of the aforementioned acid production. Adapt your hay feeding accordingly as close as possible to this goal.
Tip: Consider giving the biggest portion as late in the evening as possible and a first hay snack as early as possible in the morning, to reduce night time ‘drought’ hours.
Meals
I would like to highlight here that meals are extras not a hay replacer unless we’re talking fibre based meals, such as hay cubes. I have far too many times seen some believing we gave them feed, no need for hay.
The digestive system is by nature not set up to digest the content of our meals, grains and commercial mixes, easily.
Gobbling it down because there is nothing else around contributes to undigested matter, such as grain, ending up in the hind gut, causing acidosis. Ideally, horses should have their hay portion not long before their meal.
Tip: Add some chaff and/or beet pulp to your feed to bulk out the ration and slow down eating.
The frequency, once, twice, or three times daily of meals should also be determined by the quantity given. Never exceed more than two kilos in one setting, because of the aforementioned digestibility issues. Smaller portions more often the better.
Changing Hay and Feeds
Whenever you get a new batch, and especially when changing type of hays, or feed do it slowly. The beneficial bacteria in your horses´ digestive systems changes according to what it is dealing with. A sudden change compromises efficient digestion, as the ‘wrong’ bacteria would preside to deal with the incoming. This could result in colic!
So consider changing over for a certain a period, 10 days has always worked well for me, for example. Which basically means you feed 25% of the new and 75% of the old for four days, on day 5 change to 50/50 and so on until you reach day 10 the full ration of the new hay/feed.
Equally, don’t just throw a horse out into the pasture 24/7, if it isn’t used to it. Start with a few hours and increase the time slowly.
Happy Feeding!