at what time to provide oats, flaxseed, barley, sweet corn, hay, pasture

Question
hello, at what time to feed bran mash and at what time to feed oats, flaxseed, barley, sweet corn? also tell me at what time to provide free access to hay and at what time to set loose a horse on timothy pasture? equine nutrition is an ocean....lol

Answer
Hello Rohit,

Thank you for your question and welcome to the ocean :)  

Horses should have unlimited free access to either hay or pasture...which means at least one of them in front of the horse at all times.  They should never run out of forage.  Bran mash, which we've discussed, is fairly useless, can be fed anytime of day.  Feeding complete feeds or starch sources takes a little more timing.  Because grain needs to be properly digested in the horse, we want it to stay in the stomach and small intestine as long as possible.  But exercise increases the rate of passage...which means we don't want to feed grain too close to the beginning of work because the grain will not stay long in the stomach, will not get digested properly, and will make it to the hindgut where bad things will happen to it and to the horse.  There should be a minimum of 2 hours between when they finish their grain and when they start work.  There is no particular time of day that affects when you should feed the grain so time feedings around (and away from) exercise.  You also don't want to feed lots of grain when the horse's stomach is empty (but since I've suggested they always have forage, their stomachs technically should never be empty), and you don't want to feed grain to a hungry horse followed by forages...they will eat their grain followed by lots of hay, the hay will force the grain out of the stomach without it being digested.  Therefore if your horse doesn't always have forages in front of them you want to feed hay first wait 30-60 minutes and then feed them their grain.

I hope that helps.

Thanks, Corlena