How much does it cost to feed a horse

EquineObsession

EquineObsession

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Mar 23, 2012
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Nottinghamshire
Just curious

For a horse that hacks, schools and some entry level competitions, 14.3 - 16 hands

I've been trying to figure it out..

So far I've got that she'd have 15 - 20kg of food, I got the price for blue chip original, so about £40 a month..

But then there's other food aswell isn't there?

PS I hope this is in the right place and not a really stupid question..
 
How long is a piece of string? :wink:

Each horse is different; some will do that work on nothing but good forage and a balancer, others will require a lot of hard feed. Some will excel on certain feeds and not tolerate others...

...in short, without more specific details about the horse, it's impossible to say.
 
It really depends on the horse and how much you want to spend.

My good doer wouldn't need anything other than a token amount of chaff to bung a vitamin supplement in. Some would argue she doesn't even need that and wouldn't feed at all if grass is plentiful. She was in hard work at a riding school on unlimited grass and in a 52 inch girth. I bought her and immediately greatly restricted her grazing and she's in a 44 inch now.
 
It's not a stupid question, but it really does depend very much on the horse so it's virtually impossible to answer!

The basis of your ration must be forage - grass, hay, haylage or in some cases some straw - & some will manage very well on this plus a balancer or general vit & min supplement.

As a very rough idea my approx 14.3 welsh cob is out in the day muzzled & in at night. At night he gets a slice of hay & a net of clean oat straw, a double handful of Safe & Sound & a balancer - he's a painfully good doer! My approx 16.3 ID is also out in the day & in at night, at night he gets about half a bale of hay, a quarter bale of HorseHage, half a scoop high fibre nuts, three quarters of a scoop of bran & a balancer. Both have plenty of energy on that.

Cost wise a £5 bale of hay lasts the cob about a week, where the ID eats approx £17.50 worth of hay a week & nearly a couple of bales of HorseHage which is approx another £15! A sack of balancer probably lasts the cob £50 days (working on 400g a day), it lasts the ID about 30 days (based on 650g a day). I buy big bale straw so thats cheap to feed, must be less than 50p a day, a sack of nuts lasts at least a couple of weeks.

These really are very rough figures though. If you get a por doer & your grazing isn't good the feed bills can rapidly run up :help:
 
As others have already said, very much depends on the horse and your budget, I have a good dooer TB who is in light work, he gets grass, hay at night if he's in (steamed) and a handful of chaff with vits/garlic in thats it. My biggest expense feed wise is hay.
We have another TB on the yard who gets two hard feeds a day, chaff baileys outshine or somehting like that, ad lib unsoaked hay, who is also in light work but is as skinny as the day.
RI has a beautiful Lusitano mare who she competes regularily on, she gets a handful of chaff and vits and looks super on it.
So in answer to your question - which isn't a stupid question at all by the way - is it depends on many factors including what your idea of a 'healthy' weight for your horse is.
 
We only feed ours when there's snow on the ground, or very, very little grass on the ground. Never hard feed, just haylage
 
Our TBs in competition work munch their way through £2 worth of haylage a day each and about 50p worth of hard feed all year round. Non working TBs and RS horse and ponies have grass only in summer and horses much the same as TBs ration in winter. Ponies only have haylage when the ground is snow covered.

So varies from nothing to £17.50 per week per horse.
 
If you don't ask you'll never know!

Most leisure horses don't actually need hard feed - especially not something like Blue Chip. My 27yo pony gets feed purely because of her age - my 4yo lives on grass and haylage and the occasional handful of the pony's chaff. He won't get much in the way of feed until he's competing every week at a decent level. Most of my clients's horses are only on 'maintenance' feeds when with me - things like Happy Hoof or balancers, if anything at all.

A rundown of what I have at the moment:
- 14.2hh 27yo pony mare being worked every day including jumping, schooling, hacking and entry level competitions. Two big feeds of chaff and Hi-Fibre Cubes a day. Costs about £20 a month. One medium and one large haynet with haylage a day, sometimes a small net during the day if I think she wants it. Yard charges me £10 a week for haylage.

- 16.2hh 4yo warmblood schooling and hacking. No hard feed, currently out on grass. In winter he gets ad lib haylage in the form of 3 very large haynets. Yard charges me £14.50 a week for haylage.

- 15.1hhish 5yo Welsh D x Arab, client's horse currently being backed. Owner feeds a cup of Happy Hoof every day but since he's been with me I've only given him a feed a handful of times. Costs owner about £10 a month I think. 2 medium-large haynets a day, £12 a week.
 
I am about ready to drop one of our horses of at the trainers. If I just pasture boarded her there (without training) it would cost be just about the same as what it costs me to feed her here at home!
Same horse, same food requirements. What's the difference? The trainer lives in an area where he can grow grass so a lot of the horse's needs are covered by that. I have to feed hay year round and that's a lot more expensive.
 
My two go through a bale of hay a day - less if we get turnout, but at the moment we are on 4 hours turnout max. Sooooo £35 a week for hay. I feed a complete feed that costs £56 for 30 days supply (it's high quality and doesn't need any supplements/oils etc adding just a tiny bit of chaff) for two horses.

Chaff - I don't know... erm... A bag will probably last me more than a month but for the sake of argument lets say I get a bag a month of a nothing added chaff. £8.

(35x4) + 56 + 8 = £204 a month for two horses, £102 a month for one horse. About £25 per week, per horse. Less than I cost to feed and I'm not that big! LOL.

We could probably do it for less but this way I know they are getting everything they need and they are both veterans and deserve to be spoiled. :giggle:
 
Gosh it does vary quite a bit!
The DIY board at my riding school is £30 a week includes bedding and hay and paddock, stable and use of facilities.
So this is probably another stupid question but is the hay for eating rather than bedding because it lists them seperately... If so then would I only really need to buy some hard food maybe?
The food thing's really confusing me...
I don't think I can really budget the cost per month either
Thanks fo your help!!
 
You use hay for eating.
Bedding must be separate but I'd enquire what is on offer for types of bedding. Some horses eat straw so you may have to get something else but I can't offer much advice on types of bedding.
I'd have thought if you get a good doer, like a native that can live practically on fresh air anyway, you won't need any hard food. The carriage ponies I help look after get some happy hoof mix, with some carrots, fibre beet, and soaked hay plus some turnout but not a lot as the grass is so rich at the moment.
 
Yes, hay is for eating. No offence, but if you need to ask that then maybe you should look at learning some stable management & horse care before buying?

From experience if hay is included in your livery then check how much you are allowed & what the quality is like. If you have a horse that needs a lot it can be a problem if you're restricted to a small net a day & then have to buy extra at an extortionate rate & aren't allowed to bring your own in. Likewise if the quality is poor - dusty, unpalatable, mouldy or containing poisonous weeds.
 
Good on you then, I wasn't trying to be a bitch but sometimes it does worry me how little people know before buying a horse. I hope you enjoy your course :)
 
Thanks I'm really looking forward to it! I won't be getting a horse for awhile not until I'm completely confident that I know what I'm doing! Got to put on a rug and use the hoof pick at PC today for the first time! x
 
My 16hh shire x tb has no hard feed at all. He is a very good doer so comes in during the day to get away from the grass. As I don't like to leave him in all day without food, he gets a small double netted haynet with soaked hay, but he doesn't eat much of it. We don't work very hard compared to some of the other horses on the yard, and he eats the least by far.
 
Well, I seem to feed a lot more then I would like but then both of mine are poor doers.

Neither are overweight and Ellie is a teeny but underweight.

Harvey has two feeds a day breakfast of scoop hi fi lite, 1/4 scoop cool condition cubes and 350grams of balancer. Dinner is the same without the balancer. He is a 13.3hh welsh x

Ellie had the same but with only 250grams of balancer. Ellie also has c- aid supplement for possible cushings.

Both are out all day and have ad lib hay at night. Harvey eats a full 1 and a half haynet at night Ellie eats about half a haynet at night.
 
My soon to be two from three are both good doers and once they go onto the grass field with only get a token feed with their balancer in.

Balancer costs me £35 for a 4kilo tub which lasts a month.

They get quarter scp dry fast fibre (thinking of changing to cool and collected) and a small handful of easyrider. Which lasts me about 3 months.

Fast fibre about £9 a bag

Easy rider £9 a bag also

So in total cost me £41 a month to feed but i also have hay which i get every two months and i pay £40 a round bale.
 
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