show jumping horse feeding formula according to its body weight

Question
hello ma'am, you answered me a question regarding feeding formula for show jumping horses. i didnt understand much but i took one decision. i will introduce all my novice show jumpers horses to pasture. i will do this job slowly and steadily. i will follow a feeding formula which is as follows
(body weight/100)*2 as show jumping horses are not fast gallopers. if my formula is wrong, please correct me. please dont mind. i am expecting for perfection.

Answer
Hi Rohit,

Your formula works for the total dry matter (total of all feed sources) your horse will probably eat in a day.  If you are looking for a formula for how much grain your horse should eat in a day, that could be more difficult to calculate.  As a rule of thumb, the horse should not eat more than 50% of it's total dry matter intake in grain daily (so take the final answer from your equation and divide by 2...and that is the most grain you should feed in a day).  BUT, that is the absolute most grain your horse should eat...the less grain you can feed, the better your horse will do.  Use the body condition score system I gave you as a starting point for determining if your horse is getting enough (energy) and increase or decrease grain feeding rate accordingly.  The actual formulas for calculating rations for performance horse are quite extensive.  If you want to do the best you can, you should use a ration balancing software to help you figure out feeding schedules.  The NRC Nutrient Requirements for Horses has a free online software for calculating rations.  I use my own software for balancing rations, and you can find more information about it at 'www.rationexperts.webs.com'.

I hope that helps.  Keep in mind that rations can be a very lengthy and technical aspect of nutrition, and hard to answer concisely.

Thanks, Corlena