What do you feed your mini?

Question

Every day I give my mini (12yrs old) 36" a cup full of Safechoice pellets and a flake of alfalfa/hay.She is in good shape but she is pregnant so should I feed her more.She has 5 acres to graze on 24/7 everyday.Does this sound right? What do you feed your mini?

Answer 1

well i dont have one=[

Answer 2

I'd say that sounds great as long as she has the lush 5 acres to graze on. I feed my minis a bail of hay a day (that's with the boys-my two horses, and a donkey, and my two girls, my appy-bays). And when we go for a ride or if we take the minis for a walk they all get grain. They have 15 lush acres to graze on also.

Answer 3

try add  some MEDOW chaff dont feed lucerne as it is dangerous

Answer 4

If your mare is on good grass I would not up her feed. Mini's tend to get really fat and she could possibly founder with too much feed.  I would not change her feed amounts. Instead try adding some good supplements to give her a little boost for the foal.

If she was on a dry lot (no grass) then I would let her have free choice of a good hay (as much as she wants) and then slowly bring her feed levels up the further she gets along in her pregnacy.

I have 2 mare's that are currently at 3 months gestation. They are both on grass only. We have a costal pasture. And they are doing great. Starting at around the 9th month I will very slowly, over a month, start to give them grain again and will move them to a smaller paddock with less grass. After 1 month they will be started to be put into stalls over night to be watched. 1 to 2 days after foaling they will go back into the small paddock until the foals are weaned. Then I will start to back off on their grain amounts until they are back on grass only again. They are both healthy and sound horses.

The other open mares and retired horses stay on pasture only year around.

My boys and show horses are all worked daily and are on pasture for 4 to 8 hours per day. On average I feed them 1 to 2 pounds (depending on time of year and that perticular horses needs) of grain broken into 2 meals per day and are on free choice hay. None of them are skinny or fat. I feed a good quality grain, costal hay, alfalfa and supplements.

In all reality, you should talk to your vet to see what they think. So, the next time they come out or you take the mare in ask. Explain everything to them, from what feed, how much, the type of grass, etc...They can tell you the best way and amounts to feed your mare. Each horses needs are diffrent. You can't always just throw extra feed to them just because they are pregnate.

Answer 5

Well at our barn we feed our mini like a handfull of grain twice a day, and like a 1/4 of a flake of hay 4 times a day. Our mini also does not have a paddock for grazing either, and our mini is deffinatly not pregnant because it is a boy!!!