feeding

Question
Well I was hoping that you could give me an estimate of how much it costs to feed a 1100lbs horse with a moderate work load per month. I have asked family and friends but I have gotten prices ranging from 50-150 dollars per month and I was hoping that you can give me another number to through into the mix. If it helps I live near austin tx and the area I am keepeing the horse does not have a huge amount of grass to graze on.

Answer
Hi Morgan - There are countless variables at play when feeding a horse so even guessing at this is very difficult.  Age, current health, activity level and geographic location are just a few things that will affect how a person feeds a horse but a very, very rough estimate would absolutely fall in between the ones you have already received.  I'm currently spending roughly $70 just on grain for my 15 year old Thoroughbred but he's eating really high dollar feed - Purina Ultium.  Since he has no access to pasture he probably goes through one bale of hay every two days so that's 15 in a month at $7/bale equals $105.  So you can see that I'm barely under $200 a month just in feed.  I sure hope that helps.

thank you :)

Judi