Are You Feeding Your Horse Enough Hay?
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P.S. We love AI, but this content is 100% human generated. 💕
Author: Dr Nerida McGilchrist | PhD Equine Nutritionist and Founder of My Happy Horse
There is a very good reason the saying “You eat like a horse” exists;
Horses. Eat. A. Lot!!!
The amount of forage you feed your horse has a HUGE impact on the health, welfare, behaviour, gut health and performance of your horse as well as your horse’s risk of diseases like colic and gastric ulcers.
Feeding enough hay, in situations where no pasture is available, is absolutely critical to ensure your horse’s mental and physical health and happiness.
Harris et al (2016), in their paper “Review: Feeding conserved forage to horses: recent advances and recommendations”, recommend a minimum of 1.5% of bodyweight (BW) of forage per day! This is equivalent to a minimum of 7.5 kg/day for a 500 kg horse.
Here at MyHappy.Horse, we will always aim for 2%+ BW of forage per day, where this is possible!
Here is what the bare minimum of 1.5% BW, a good amount of 2% BW and the best case of 2.5% BW looks like for horses of different bodyweights.
| Horse’s Bodyweight (BW) | Bare Minimum (1.5% BW) in kg/day | Good (2% BW) in kg/day | Great (2.5% BW) in kg/day |
|---|---|---|---|
| 200 | 3 | 4 | 5 |
| 300 | 4.5 | 6 | 7.5 |
| 400 | 6 | 8 | 10 |
| 500 | 7.5 | 10 | 12.5 |
| 600 | 9 | 12 | 15 |
| 700 | 10.5 | 14 | 17.5 |
Note: 1 biscuit/flake/piece of lucerne hay is roughly 2kg and 1 biscuit/flake/piece of grassy or cereal hay will be very roughly between 1.5 and 2 kg.
Not sure if you are feeding enough hay?
Run free diet checks on your horse’s diet using the MyHappy.horse app. Download here.
About the Author
Dr Nerida McGilchrist
Dr Nerida McGilchrist is an Australian equine nutritionist with a PhD and over two decades of experience. As the founder of Equilize Horse Nutrition, and advisor to some of the world's largest nutrition companies, she’s built an international reputation for blending science with practical solutions. Now, she’s bringing her expertise to My Happy Horse to make advanced nutrition accessible to all.