:: neighborly advice

Feeding Your Horses

A mature pleasure horse should be fed 1.5 to 2 pounds of good quality grass hay (such as fescue, prairie, brome or orchard grass) per 100 pounds of body weight. Therefore, 1,200-pound horse should eat 21 to 24 pounds of grass hay daily.

If a legume hay such as alfalfa is fed, feed 1.5 to 1.6 pounds per 100 pounds. A 1,200-pound horse should be fed 18 to 21 pounds of good-quality legume hay per day.

If a horse is not ridden often, hay may be the only feed needed. However, feeding 1-2 pounds of grain daily makes a horse easier to catch and allows the owner more easily inspect the horse.