How to feed your horse - hay

Little square bale (20kg approximately)

When you have your horse in a stable everything is simpler. Someone feeds him and gives him the right amount of hay and/or food. When you have him at home you have to understand what is better for him and the right quantities. Let's start talking about hay. It is the most important component of a horse diet so its quality is very important. Of course it's great if your horse can eat fresh grass but most of the times you have to provides hay too to his diet. As the digestive system of a horse is so complex he needs to eat for the two third of the day to keep it working properly. There are different types of hay and they are baled in different shapes ( square bales of approximately 20 kilos, big square bales weighing 400 kilos or more and big round bales of 400 kilos). If you have many horses it is better for you to choose the big round or rectangular bales but in case that you have only 2 or 3 animals it's better to buy the little ones. These are easy to handle and transport and you don't need too much space to store them. Another good thing about small bales is that you can easily see what is in it; sometimes you can find trash or pieces of wood or little animals in hay bales (once I found a tractor tyre!). Generally horses don't eat "bad" things that can damage them but just having a look you can avoid giving them plastic bags or things like that. Another thing that you have to look at is the hay quality. The color should be green/ yellow (it depends basically on the type of plants that are in the bale) and it should be fresh without any trace of mold (you can clearly smell it). To avoid hay with mold you have to try to buy hay that is not old (if don't have any choice and you have to buy old hay look at the place where it was stored). Another important thing is that you can buy fresh hay but if you leave it in the wrong place it can be easily damaged. So store it in a covered and dry place, it shouldn't be in contact with water (rain for example) nor stay under direct sunlight. Remember that feeding your horse with moldy hay can cause colics or respiratory problems. If there is dust in your hay (or your horse already has respiratory problems) you can water it some hours before giving it. Keep in mind that hay bales prices may vary according to the harvest, the place in which you live or the type of hay you're buying. Personally I tried different solutions like hay pellets or hay cubes but finally I found it better to use the classical hay bales (the other two solutions can be interesting in case you have a horse with respiratory problems because they do not have dust inside but not too good for horses without problems). 

How much? Let's say that normally a horse should eat something like the 1/2 % of his weight per day: this means that a horse weighing 400-500kg should eat almost 10kg of hay daily. 

Where? The best choice probably is letting your horse eating on the ground. If you think that he can eat dirt too you can use a feeder put on the ground. Horses are meant to eat with their heads down so it's good to let them eat in this position.

Example of big round bales