Hacking

[Topper07]

Hi am new to this so no nasty comments please, but was just wondering what people feed there horses I hack him out everyday does a lot of road work I don't want anything that will make him fizzy as he's already really forward and wanti something to put bit more weight on nothe lot though

 

[Skib]

You ask people to avoid nasty comments. This is your first post so a word of advice. Your thread title is Hacking but the question is not about hacking skills or training it is about feeding a horse.
And asking what to feed a horse requires some details. So you need to give those: Like weight, height, age and breed of horse. Whether it is turned out or stabled and how long the turn out is. What you have been feeding it until now. And why you want to alter the diet. I imagine it is relevant how far and for how long and at what speed you hack him.
No one on a forum can advise what to feed an unknown horse. This is a small forum. Not everyone owns a horse and your best hope is that if you provide enough info, someone here who has a similar horse or has wanted to make similar changes will discuss with you what they have done.

 

[Jane&Ziggy]

Skib's right! We need to know a bit more about your horse before we can help - she's said the sort of thing we usually ask.

If he in poor condition after a lean winter? Does he live out?

 

[Mary Poppins]

I don't give my horse any hard feed. He works reasonably hard, I ride him everyday and we do a mixture of dressage/school work, jumping and pole work, mini XC and lots of cantering round fields. I am on a misson this time of year to keep his weight down and allow him to be turned out overnight on our very good grazing without his muzzle. So far it's working, but if I don't keep up the exercise he will quickly put on weight and then need his grass restricted.

All horses are individuals. Ben's next door neighbour has 3 big hard feeds per day, and 2 huge nets full of haylage every night. He works about 4 days per week but is a different breed and has a different metabolism from mine.

If you need advice, your vet is the best person to advise.

 

[Jessey]

More info would be useful, but my general opinion, unless your horse is a really hard keeper it likely doesn't need a lot of hard feed just for hacking (it sounds like he has plenty of energy already ) especially this time of year, why do you feel he needs more weight? what is his body condition score?

 

[Trewsers]

Why would anyone be nasty?!