How much does a 900 pound horse eat in a day?

Answer 1

Are you asking about grain, grass, or hay?

Grain- a 900lb horse can usually have 1/3 of a coffee can full.

Hay- They will continue eating all day but they can have 4-6 flakes a day.(less if in pasture)

Grass- Horses will eat as much grass as possible, as they are grazing animals, and they should be allowed to eat for a few hours in the pasture daily.

They can also drink 12lbs of water or more daily so they should always have that on hand.

(Be careful not to overfeed with grain or you could increase the chance of colicking. To help prevent this you can wait an hour after they are done working to feed, and if you plan on riding them after they eat, you should wait an hour for him to digest)

Hope this helps you :)

Answer 2

Horses should be fed by a percentage of their bodyweight and never in measurements of 'scoops, flakes, and can-fulls'. A 900 pound horse should eat anywhere from 1.5% to 3% of it's bodyweight in feed per day. That means the horse would be fed 13.5 to 27 pounds of feed daily, with 2.5% being the 'normal' percentage fed (22.5 pounds.) The ratio of forage to concentrates will depend on the horses age and activity level along with any health issues that may be present.

1. Idle horses or those in little to no work and that are easy keepers should receive 100% forage in the form of grass, hay and/ or beet pulp.

An idle horse that is a hard keeper may require something like a fat supplement or a ration balancer to provide extra calories.

2. Light work: Easy keepers should be on a diet where the majority is forage and either a ration balancer or a feed designed for horse in light work. Some horses do fine on 100% high quality forage.

Hard keepers may need a higher grain / concentrate ration.

3. Moderate work: Forage should be no less than 60% of the ration amount, but you will likely have to increase the amount of hard feed (grains and concentrates) to give the horse enough energy to perform at a higher level of activity. A hard keeper will require a higher weight ration and likely a fat/ calorie supplement.

4. Hard work: The ration can be as high as a 50/50 split of forage and hard feeds. Horses in hard work are typically Three day eventers, racehorses, and endurance horses. These horse will need extremely high quality feeds and usually their owners work with a equine nutritionist to get a balanced diet that is appropriate for their horse.

5. Broodmares require a diet that changes gradually as they get closer to foaling and while lactating and it can be hard to pin down what percentages of each feed a mare needs as each mare requires something different. You should work with a equine vet and a equine nutritionist to formulate a correct feeding plan