Feed plan?

Question

How does this look for a daily feeding plan for an 8 yr old 15.3hh dressage horse ridden 3 week days for about an hour and 2 hours a day on weekends.

1kg econimix

1kg barastoc cool command

2kg 50/50 chaff

2 cups speedi beet

1 biscuit lucerane hay

100g mineral mix

he is kept in a paddock 24/7

Answer 1

I am guessing you're not from the U.S..  I'm not positive what a "biscuit" of hay is - but I'm guessing that it's the same thing that we call a "flake" - one section of hay from a bale.

If so, that's not enough hay.  Horses need 1-2% of their weigh in hay every day.  So, an 1100 pound horse is 11-22 pounds of hay (or 5 - 5.5 kg).

Remember, horses in the wild would eat large quanitities of low quality roughage.  Horses naturally graze for close to 18 hours a day and would travel atleast 6 miles.

I'm glad that he's kept out on a paddock - that's a good thing.  Horses aren't meant to be kept in stalls!  A little grain and feed supplements are good, but large quantities of roughage is the most important thing to have a happy healthy horse that doesn't colic!

Answer 2

Sounds good. If this horse hasn't been used to hard feed I'd introduce it with approx 3 cups and build up by 20% each day. But the lucern/minerals I feed all of from the start.

Answer 3

i would pesonally cut down on the econimix usless he is skinny  thats all, and maybe take off a tad of chaff

GOod LuCk

Answer 4

You should be feeding hay be weight, not volume.

Horses generally require 1.5 to 2% of their weight in hay each day.  

Concentrates like grain only need to be fed if a horse is unable to maintain his weight on forage alone under current excersize loads.

Too much concentrate increases a horse's risk for problems like laminitis.

Personally, I would up the hay to 2%, feed enough concentrate to get him his minerals, and see what his weight does.  I prefer simpler concentrates like oats and beet pulp, but I also don't have a performance horse.