feed for my new horse

Question
hello ma'am. i have a plan of buying a thoroughbred horse(ex-racehorse). he is a 6 year old chestnut gelding. i am buying only for pleasure riding. can you please tell me what all and what not to feed?

Answer
Hi Rohit,

Thank you for your question.  Without knowing a bit more about your horse's body condition and general health status, I can only give you some general suggestions about what to feed him.  First and foremost, his diet needs to be primarily quality forages.  So good quality pasture or good quality grass or legume hay.  As long as the forage is of good quality and the horse is only being used for pleasure purposes (assuming he's in good condition) you may only need to add some mineral to the diet.  Commercial mineral/vitamin supplements are easiest and the manufacturer often provides recommended feeding rates.  If he needs to gain weight and/or muscle you may need to consider feeding a complete feed of some sort.  Which complete feed to choose depends on how he reacts to different feed ingredients.  For weight gain in inactive or pleasure horses consider fat and fiber based feeds and avoid too much starch (from cereal grains) wherever possible. Once you have the horse, I can be a bit more specific in my recommendations if I know his condition, body weight, workload, your forage quality and what feed companies you are able to work with.  Let me know the details and I will elaborate.

Thanks, Corlena