Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Elk Hunting horse feed?

Thaks for all the advice, I need it. I am thinking now maybe we go in with as much as we can, set up camp then the next day make another trip for a few more bales of hay and not deal with the alfalfa cubes at all. Leaving my partner to scout on foot the day before season. so heres a question, if I feed 20 Lbs of baled hay a day and let the horse free graze for 2 hours a day and its fair grass is that enough? I've been on a trip with horses, not mine, and thought they were not fed enough. I am renting horses and want to take proper care of them. Have talked to the owner and he expects them to be a little thin when we return them. I want to take care of them like they were my personal horses and plan on being a return customer on renting his horses. Water will not be a issue, we know where there is a spring up high and a lake a little lower. Bringing in 2 5 gallon pails and a collapsable 6 & 3 gallon. Also bringing in some grain mix that the owner recommends to add for feed, going to measure that out ahead of time and only bring that amount in. I have equipment for a high line and know how to use it. Any other advice someone can offer I'm listening...

The horses won't think it's enough, but 10 lbs of hay per day per horse plus grazing a few hours plus some grain is probably a pretty decent ration. Especially if the grass is abundant and in decent shape.


Knowing the horses really can change how you keep them around though.

I like to picket a horse or two and hobble/bell the rest. I just returned from a pack trip with my 4 horses, 1 on picket, 2 hobbled (1 of them also belled) and the 4th loose with a bell. But with my 4 if the one I have on picket is there the others will be too.

Some people don't want to picket and some horses shouldn't be on picket. Horses have died on picket, but plenty have killed themselves on a high line too.

With two horses I didn't know though I'd feel much better about tying them up all night given what you can feed them. And I'd be walking/riding the horses to water, not hauling it.

Unless they are really big horses,they don't need 20 #'s of hay a day. Especially if you plan to graze a bit

ok, thanks. Guys are telling me they need 30 lbs a day.

General rule of thumb is 1.5 to 2% of the horses body weight in hay per day, you can do less hay if you add in the grain mix and grazing. I would do the 2 trips, if the horses are not used to the cubes or pellets they can be a problem. I was feeding my horses soaked cubes and I still had one choke. Luckily I am just 2 doors from my vet and he took care of it quickly but I thought I was going to loose the horse.

Well there are hard keepers and easy keepers. We had an old thoroughbred which would lose weight all winter at thirty to forty pounds of quality hay/day. And I have owned horses which would stay fat and slick on seven or eight pounds of hay through the winter.

I have nine head of hayburners out in the pasture right now. My favorite old mare is from a 1/4 horse/appaloosa cross mare bred to a really nice Morgan stud. She will keep well with a small amount of hay each day.

But this half Morgan mare will eat anything she can get and fatten to the point of foundering. On pasture she gets so fat that one can hardly get a saddle on her while other horses in the same pasture are showing their ribs.

It is hard to predict what your horses will demand for feed without knowing the horses.

Oh yes, I agree that it is a lot easier to take the horses to water twice a day, than it is to carry water to the horses. And of course, we water each one every time we cross a stream during the day's ride. Just be careful to not allow a horse to drink too much while saddled unless you loosen the cinches. But a few swallows at each water crossing will go far to keep the horse hydrated without hurting him.

I have a 13 hd mule that is like that.Can't fill him up.

Get a pony. Most ponies get fat on air! <grin>

Good points.

In general, I want to know that my horse is right where I left him the night before, so I tether. I know some who use portable (runs on 'D' cells) fence charger and love it. if going that route there are three things to keep in mind - Ground it, Ground it, Ground it.

However, I have one old boy that has never learned not to tangle and panic. He is left loose dragging a lead. i have to select which horse I ride if I want ol' hank to stay in camp. He will follow my main boy, so I'll ride another to keep hank in camp.