Feeding Guidelines for Horses
Dr. Robert E. Bray, Star Milling’s Consulting Equine Nutritionist

Feeding Forages - all diets must contain adequate amounts of forage that can be provided in the form of pasture or hay; grazing horses or horses fed free choice quality hay will consume about 1.5-2.5% of their body weight per day (based on dry matter consumption).

• Minimum Hay Intake - for most adult horses, feed a minimum of 1.4 - 1.5% of body weight per day of hay; for example, an 1100 lb horse would be fed a minimum of 15.4 - 16.5 lb of hay per day; long-stem forage or pasture is recommended to minimize digestive challenges; forage provides dietary fiber that is essential for promoting gut integrity.
  
  
• What Constitutes a Diet Change? – a "change-over" or change in the daily diet represents any increase, decrease, addition, or replacement of the feed; a change may influence the relationship of the amount of forage and the amount of concentrates being fed; the concentrate-to-roughage ratios can be modified to accommodate individual situations and is one of several methods to influence “energy levels and quality” of the diet.
  • Diet Adjustments for Hay - changes in types of hay such as legume to grass, grass to legume or grass to grass will determine the rate of change; changing legume hay (for example alfalfa) to grass hay or grass hay to legume hay the recommendation is ¹/₂ – 1.0 lb change-over per day; from one type of grass hay to another type of grass hay the recommendation is ³/₄ – 1.5 lb change-over per day.
  • Diet Adjustments for Concentrates – for changes in concentrates, that is grains, grain base mixes, commodities (oats, corn, barley, wheat bran, etc.), or balanced feed mixes, the recommendation is approximately ¹/₄ lb change-over per day; some circumstances may require changes on an every other day basis.
    
    
• •Alfalfa Feeding Limits - alfalfa hay (bale, cube or pellet) should not exceed more than 50% of the total forage consumed per day; granted alfalfa is high in protein and calcium and if fed as the only forage source, more often than not, will adversely influence the relationship of these nutrients to energy; however an important consideration is that a 100% alfalfa forage diet usually provides significantly less fiber than traditional grass forage diets from timothy, Bermuda grass, and orchard grass hays; depending on the region and cutting, alfalfa can provide up to 25% less dietary crude fiber when compared to a typical grass hay.¹
  
  
• Long Stem vs Processed Forages - long-stem hay (bale hay) should be at least 50% of the total forage consumed per day; processed hay (pellets or cubes) should not exceed more than 50% of the total forage consumed/day; long stem fiber promotes the gut to contract with more vigor thus promoting gut integrity and long-stem hay requires more water intake by the horse than processed hay; an increase in water intake promotes gut integrity.
  
  
• Processed Forages & Consumption Influences - usually there is less feeding loss when feeding processed hays compared to baled hay; forage pellets and cubes are usually fed in tubs and troughs that minimize loss as compared to hay flakes fed in racks or on the ground; thus, you may feed less total forages if processed hays are a portion of the daily ration.
  
  
• Food Bolter – if a horse bolts his food and consumes his pellets or grain mixes very rapidly, consider placing large “bolder-like” rocks as obstacles in the feed tub to force him to navigate around the obstacles to eat; feed tubs designed to reduce bolting are commercially available; if the horse is located in a coral, establish several feeding stations with the to force time between bites while walking from one feeding station to another.
  
  
• Water - should be provided free choice and not be limited prior to performance; water sources whether they are water buckets, water troughs or automatic water bowls MUST be checked daily; ideal water temperature is 50° - 65° F; animals will consume less water if the water temperature is too cold or too hot; horses that consume less water are more likely to be candidates for digestive disturbances.

 Estimated Feed Consumption by Horses (% body weight)^a