All horses should be fed by weight -- both theirs and the weight of the feed. The next considerations are activity level and stage of growth. Your horse would currently fall into the adult maintenance category until he starts working on a more regular basis. Even then, unless he has a rigorous exercise program of about 20 minutes plus 5-7 days per week, he may still be able to do quite well on the adult maintenance diet.
Here are a few rules of horse nutrition:
1) All horses (unless medically unable) should receive
at least 1% of their ideal body weight in long stem fiber (long stem = 1" or greater) per day, i.e. hay, chopped hay, grass, hay cubes, or even beet pulp can qualify for part of that amount. This helps a horse maintain proper gut health. If your mini weighs 250 lbs and his goal weight is 200 lbs, then 1% of 200 is 2 lbs of hay or other long stem fiber source per day. Most horses will do well and maintain their weight on 1.5% of body weight (in our example horse, 3 lbs of hay).
2) The
average horse is usually fed 1.5% of body weight per day. Some horses will require more, but 3% of body weight is about as much bulk as a horse can handle in a day. Our ideal body weight mini of 200 lbs would therefore receive 3 lbs of feed daily. He could have that in many combinations. A maintenance horse might not need ANY grain to keep his proper weight, or if overweight probably should NOT have any grain. He might do well on 3 lbs of hay per day, period. Another diet plan might be 2 lbs of hay and 1 lb of a grain or grain mix per day.
3)
Grain should not exceed 50% of the total daily diet (unless it is truly a complete feed which can substitute for hay -- it will say so right on the bag). In our above example, this would equate to a maximum of 1.5 lbs of grain which could be matched with 1.5 lbs of hay.
4)
Hay will likely not provide 100% of horse's daily nutrient needs. Horses on an all hay (or pasture) diet will need to be supplemented with at least a general vitamin/mineral mix on a daily basis. Also free choice white salt and clean water should always be available.
There is a formula for estimating your mini's weight.
body length x body length x heart girth divided by 300
Here is a link to an article which will show you how to take the measurements using a standard dressmaker's tape measure:
Estimating Horse Body Weight with a Simple Formula
Once you know your horse's weight, you can estimate what an ideal body weight should be (if he is overweight) and feed accordingly. A simple postal scale or kitchen scale is accurate enough to weigh small amounts of feed and a fisherman's hanging scale and a plastic garbage bag provide an easy method of weighing hay.
Robin C
