How much does a horse eat?
As a general rule, a horse needs 2 to 2.2 pounds of feed for every 100 pounds of body weight. So a 1000 pound horse, needs 20 – 25 pounds of hay or grass from grazing. The most natural food for horses is good quality pasture. Most mature pleasure horses doing light work will do well on pasture alone if they have sufficient grazing. However, horses are selective grazers and need a large area to meet their nutritional needs. Just because a field is green does not mean it contains sufficient grazing for a horse, and depending on where you live, for a large part of the year pasture is not available and you need to supplement them with hay. When temperatures dip in the winter, the best heat source for a horse is extra hay. A mineralized salt block should be available free-choice.
