What's the best to feed a skinny horse?

0 votes
asked Mar 12, 2022 in Horses by AndySteel (800 points)
What's the best to feed a skinny horse?

1 Answer

0 votes
answered Mar 19, 2022 by 51Hawker (1,060 points)
The best thing to feed a skinny horse is high protein and high fat grain combined with rich alfalfa hay.

High fat, high protein grain combined with a rich alfalfa hay can quickly put weight on a horse, if there is not an underlying medical condition.

Allowing 24/7 access to pasture or hay (or as much forage as possible).

If increased amounts of hay aren't enough, try offering a higher quality hay such as alfalfa or an immature grass hay.

Alfalfa tends to be higher in energy and protein and lower in sugar.

Alfalfa can be fed as hay or as cubes/pellets.

When your horse won't eat it could be that they are tired of the same old food you're feeding them.

You should try feeding your horse some other foods such as apples, carrots, etc.

Or even mix some of these foods into the horses feed.

Bran.
Honey.
Molasses.
Applesauce.
Grated carrot or apple.
Brewers yeast; or.
Lucerne chaff.

If the horse still won't eat then they may have some other health issues and you should have a vet see the horse to make sure they are okay.

Sometimes horses may stop eating for awhile and then go back to eating.

The horse may also have an upset stomach and may not want to eat.

When feeding your adult horse the adult horse should be fed at least one percent to two percent of the horses body weight.

The daily dry matter intake of an adult horse performing light work should be about 1.8% of its body weight each day.

At least 65% of this amount should be forage.

In other words, a 1,000 lb horse should be fed 18 pounds of dry matter each day.

The correct food for a horse is good quality hay, pasture, grass and good quality horse feed.

Also feeding your horse some carrots and other vegetables and even apples can help the horse stay healthy.

If hay isn't enough, grain can be added, but the bulk of a horse's calories should always come from roughage.

Horses are meant to eat roughage, and their digestive system is designed to use the nutrition in grassy stalks.

Hay for a horse can cost from $300.00 to $500.00 per month depending on how much hay your horse eats and the cost of hay in your area.

A horse eats on average of 15 to 30 bales of hay per month.

So you should have at least 30 bales of hay per month to feed your horse and if you have some left over they can eat it the following month.

It's always better to have more hay and feed than you need so you don't run out.

The most popular breed of horse is the American Quarter Horse.

The American Quarter Horse, or Quarter Horse, is an American breed of horse that excels at sprinting short distances.

The American Quarter Horse's name is derived from its ability to outrun other horse breeds in races of a quarter mile or less; some have been clocked at speeds up to 55 mph.

Other most popular horse breeds include.

Arabian.
Thoroughbred.
Warmblood.
Morgan.
Appaloosa.
Pony.
Tennessee Walker.

Some of the best horse breeds besides the above are.

Hackney Horse.
Orlov Trotter.
Marwari Horse.
Gypsy horse.
Friesian Horse.
Morgan Horse.
Arabian Horse. This horse is the champion of all steeds.
Carolina Marsh Tucky.

One of the most useful horse breeds when it comes to living a long season into the woods in winter.

98,443 questions

94,708 answers

1,269 comments

6,992,366 users

...