free choice of hay

Question
hello ma'am, i read in internet that a horse should be fed less and often since they are always on pastures. but here in indian racetracks, we have got 720 racehorses, all thoroughbreds. but the club cant afford a pasture for all those horses and our horses are always in the stall standing in the same old square. so, should we feed our horses less or a bit more hay as we dont turn out for grazing. can i provide free choice of hay for our racehorses? here club made a rule to feed 5kg of kancha hay. kancha is a breed of grass grown in india. the hay stems are long and thorny.

Answer
Hello Rohit,

In my opinion, horses should have access to either pasture or hay free choice.  That's to say that forages (pasture and hay) should be available to horses at all times and this includes racehorses and horses living in stalls.  The horse's digestive system was designed to always have food in it and prolonged periods of empty digestive tract can cause severe digestive upsets.  

Grain feeding is somewhat different.  Grain should be fed frequently and in small amounts throughout the day because the horse's stomach is not designed to handle sudden and large volumes of grain.  Feeding too much grain at once can also cause digestive upsets.  When people refer to frequent small feedings, they should be talking about grains and supplements.

Thanks, Corlena