A new diet for my horse

Hello,

I have a 19 yr old Quarter Horse cross gelding that does light to moderate work (trail riding). He is currently on Alfalfa hay in the morning and 3-way hay in the evening, and for lunch he gets half a bucket of Triple Crown equine senior. He also has access to a mineral block. I've recently moved to a new boarding stable and I have to supply my own hay and I've been shopping around for good quality Alfalfa, but everything I've seen is very very rich. I'm now considering switching him to Timothy mix hay in the morning and 3-way in the evening. I’m not familiar with feeding my own horse, since I've been boarding him for the past 14 years, so I'm wondering if this is a good diet for an older horse that does light to moderate work? Any pros or cons to Timothy mix hay? Would 3-way hay alone be enough?

Thank you for your help.

 

Before I can know how well the diet fits the horse, I would need to know a little more about the horse. Aproximate weight, how much is he trail ridden? Every day? Is he at a weight you would like to maintain or does he need to put on or lose weight? Also, how much by weight is half a bucket of feed? Or at least how big is the bucket? I would think however that that switching to a timothy mix would be fine as his work load doesn't appear to require alfalfa.

 

Before I can know how well the diet fits the horse, I would need to know a little more about the horse. Aproximate weight, how much is he trail ridden? Every day? Is he at a weight you would like to maintain or does he need to put on or lose weight? Also, how much by weight is half a bucket of feed? Or at least how big is the bucket? I would think however that that switching to a timothy mix would be fine as his work load doesn't appear to require alfalfa.

 

Thanks for your response.

My horse is about 1000-1100lbs. His current weight is good; if anything I would prefer another 50lbs on him. On the average he is trail ridden 3-4 times a week on 1 to 1-1/2 hour rides. The days we don’t go trail riding, he is either turned out or I ride him in the arena for 30 minutes doing light riding. The amount of equine senior he gets is about 2-3lbs. Now that I have relocated to this new stable and have better trail access, I would like to build up his stamina to do more trail riding because most of the terrain is hilly and I’ve been keeping him on easier trails. Also, since he's getting older, the better shape he is now, the least problems he'll have in the next few years to follow.

 

The volume of food being fed seems perfectly fine. He's definetely doing light work for right now, if he works more or on harder terrain(canter, sweating and fast trotting or 3-5 hours of work per day), I would consider it moderate work(by feeding standards). I see no reason why the 3-way alone wouldn't be enough. considering the amout of grain he eats and his weight, he should still be able to consume a little over 20 lbs of hay a day(a flake weighing 3-4 lbs). This is assuming his teeth are still fine and has no trouble eating hay. Of course if he's unable to maintain his weight with it you should add the alfalfa back in.

 

Thank you for your help. I decided to pass on the Timothy mix idea and was debating with myself about keeping his diet the way it is and keep hunting for good quality Alfalfa or put him on 3-way alone. You're right his work regime right now is very light and feeding him just 3-way would be good enough as long as he gets his Eq. Senior. I can try that for now and as his workload increases I'll see how his weight condition holds up and see if he needs to go back on Alfalfa. Thanks again.

 

Personally, I like grass hay best. It will put weight on your horse and he won't smell acidic. Like when he pees, it smells really bad right? well, if he goes on grass hay, it won't smell bad. Just a thought...