Feeds & feeding minis question

[Grace67]

I know this is a very broad based question but I need some help tailoring a feeding program for my miniature geldings especially during the wet winter months when they won't be getting worked as consistently. My big horses have always done well with twice daily feedings of good quality timothy or locally grown orchard grass hay and then a small "lunch" of their supplements (whatever a particular horse might require) mixed with either alfalfa or timothy pellets and soaked in water to make a soupy mash.

I'm finding that my two geldings are very easy keepers but the older one especially so, he is a glutton for sure. I tend to stay away from alfalfa, grains and complete pelleted feeds and like to keep them busy "grazing" with their hay since we have no pasture but I'm tending to overfeed the hay I think as they are both developing some pot bellies. I've read various posts about folks using soaked hay cubes, pellets, complete feeds, etc. and am now beginning to wonder if that might work better for these little guys since its much easier to weigh and control portion sizes? Also trying to establish what supplement they might need, if any to balance out their diets? I'd still like to include some hay but need help figuring out how I might best keep them in shape.

I want to avoid cresty necks, pot bellies and the myriad of health issues that come along with overfeeding and it seems that it can be difficult to avoid. I'm located in northern California so what's available on the east coast is probably not available out here.

 

[Reignmaker Miniatures]

I don't know how much help I will be since I'm pretty sure our climates/ feeds available etc. are quite different but I absolutely recommend slow feed hay nets and a fish scale. The scale can be found anywhere they sell fishing tackle usually and you can easily weigh their hay portion by putting it in the net and then hanging the net from the scale. I always aim for 2% of the horse's body weight and then adjust it according to the individual, if they loose weight, add more, if they seem to be gaining reduce it but I will never reduce beyond 1% of their ideal weight for the forage portion of their diet. Beyond that I try to keep it simple by feeding a hi protein ration balancer at the recommended amount. Since I have started this I do not have any horses who have cresty necks. I would recommend adding some alfalfa to the forage portion of their diet (if you prefer to use cubes or pellets just weigh them(dry) and subtract that from the amount of hay offered), it usually helps with the big belly problem.

 

[BriarwoodAcres]

my horses dont have anything but a dirt lot either. I feed their ration half pelleted complete feed and half senior feed. and unlimited hay grass supply. alfalfa is $12 a bale so we dont buy it

 

[VerticallyChallenged]

With hay prices skyrocketting this year, and not near as much off our fields as we're used to, not only did we have to buy extra hay, but we invested in Cinch Chix haynets. We have a round bale net for our big horses, and bought their "west coast bale" net for our minis...it holds two small square bales end to end. They are awesome! But, our weather is different here in WI, we get bitter cold and snow, and all diets go out the window in the wintertime. Instead, the horses are basically free fed (grass hay) to keep their bodies warm. We have had a ton of waste in the past....this year, with the hay nets, it's been awesome! We bought the regular size squares for our big horses, and extreme slow feed net for our minis. It doesn't slow them down too much, because these nets really are meant for big horses....but, two bales (four minis) will last two days, whereas before if we threw two bales out, they'd have it all gone in one day. I think we've made a great investment this year! But, if you don't get bitter cold like we do, free feeding 24/7 may not be something you want, or need to do.