THE BASICS OF FEEDING A MINIATURE HORSE:
- About $ 0.50 per day will keep a mini happy, individuals may not require this amount of food outlined below. It may be too much.
- Feeding a mini is very inexpensive since they eat about 2 - 4 measuring cups of sweet feed or just plain oats a day until they are mature, about three years of age. A 50 lb. bag of top quality sweet feed is approx. $11.00 and that would last at least, 50 days. The daily cost for sweet feed is $ 0.22
- During periods of time where you have no pasture grazing available you need to give a mini 1 - 1.5 lbs. of grass hay morning and night. A bale of hay weighs about 50 lbs at the cost of $ 5.00 per bale. $ 0.30 per day cost for grass hay.
- One acre of pasture can sustain about 5 minis depending on the climate.
- Always have a salt or salt/mineral available in the pasture or stall with your horse.
- Plenty of fresh clean water must always be available. Rinse out your water buckets daily. A horse needs a lot of water, so not to get constipated and colic.
- A horse needs plenty of exercise.
- A horse that is too fat is just as bad as one that is too thin. Check the ribs by gently pressing you fingers into their side. If you can't feel the ribs, slowly taper the grain and hay ration down. If the ribs are very easy to feel and are prominent, begin to slowly increase the amount of feed you give them. They should have a nice fat layer over their ribs. This test is especially important during the winter when they have a heavy winter coat. They may "look" fine on weight but do the rib test.
WHAT DO WE FEED OUR MINIATURES?
During the summer months when there is plenty of grass, we do not feed very much gain if any. However, too much grass in the early spring can be very harmful to all horses. They will overeat and get colic which can cause them to founder. Please limit them to grass at this time to just a few hours a day. If you have a large pastures and can't keep your mini off the grass for long periods, a grazing muzzle works great. This will allow them to graze, but can't overeat until they colic and could lead to founder.
During the winter months we feed them twice a day. You can choose a feed for horses, such as a 9 % to 12% protein of sweet feed or just plain oats. About 2 - 4 cups would be plenty.
Hay should be fed after graining. A small flake in the mornings, and in the evenings is enough. Make sure the hay you get is good quality "horse" hay. Hay that can be fed to cows, doesn't mean it is good for horses. Horses have very sensitive stomachs, and can't eat moldy, or hay that has been wet.
What to watch for
Always watch your horse when you feed him. Observe how they eat. This will tell you a lot about your horse. If they don't look like they are eating at the same speed or act funny, then something is wrong with your horse. A horse that does not eat should definitely be looked at for sickness. Even if you turn them out in the pasture everyday, observe them for a while before heading back to the house. If they don't start off grazing, that could be a sign of something not right.
Keep in mind to make any changes to your minis diet slowly! Abrupt changes in diet can cause a variety of health problems like colic, founder and hyperlipemia.
