How To Care For A Horse: Feeding And Watering

Hi. My name's Jenny and we're here at Wimbledon Village Stables and we're going to learn about the different aspects of horse riding and horse care. There are many rules which you should stick to when feeding your horse to ensure that your horse remains happy and healthy at all times.

First of all it's important that you feed little and often. Horses can feed up to anything up to sixteen hours a day in the wild, so giving all the horses feed at once is pretty detrimental so it's important you space their feed times out and make sure they are at regular times so the horses get used to being in a routine, because this is what they like. Make sure you feed clean, dry food and it has no dust on it which could cause a horse ill health.

It's important that all their feed buckets and any equipment you use for storing food is incredibly clean and the horse has access to water at all times. It's also incredibly important that you give your horse time before and after feeding. You should never feed your horse directly after exercise and you should never feed your horse within an hour before you ride.

Feeding can be very difficult so make sure you ask help from an expert. There are several different feeds out there which will suit your horse. It's important that it suits the weight of your horse, the type of horse, the breed, it's age and the amount of work it's doing.

This will ensure that your horse does not get 'A' overweight or 'B' underweight and doesn't get too much energy for the amount of exercise it's doing. To ensure your horse is happy and healthy always ask advice form your feed merchant or the person who runs your yard, to ensure your horse is getting the correct feed. And make sure he gets plenty of roughage in his diet and you're not just feeding concentrate. .