Three of us are packing in 10 miles,Eaglecap wilderness for mule deer.. Original plan was 2 horses apiece,one to ride and one to pack,but now have decided to walk in,each leading a pack horse...Three horses to take care of sounds way easier than six..

Question for those with experience with packer pellets..How many pounds of pellets per horse,per day, supplemented with grazing...??

Plan on maybe six days back there and hopefully , should someone connect early,can ride out with a couple packers for more supplies...Hopefully..

Santiam,
I've never fed pellets exclusively. So I don't know how much a day, but I would advise to ease them into eating the pellets pre trip. Lots of horses that shift straight into pellets end up with colic. Water is super important with the pellets as well.

I have no idea on quantity either, but if you want to use pellets, wet them down before you feed them.
I reckon I'd take some oats and equipment to picket the stock to graze, assuming they are broke for that.

That's why some people use llamas. They'll eat anything.

We usually use a smaller size pelletized complete chow, but are considering switching to packer pellets.

They always have graze, but depending on how late in the year, sometimes it’s not very good. The standard ration we use is ~3pounds per horse, using the old style metal coffee can. 2X per day. If a horse is left in camp for the day, he might not get pellets. If they are working, they get them.

Wetting them is never wrong, but I don’t typically do that and have never had a problem at home or in the field. I water before feeding and our horses are seen by an equine dentist every year, so the have good teeth and chew the pellets. Poor teeth lends itself to choke.

Good luck.