How much hay does a horse need?

There is no single amount of hay that suits every horse, but bodyweight gives you a useful place to start.

As a general guide, horses normally eat around 2% to 2.5% of their bodyweight each day.

For a 500kg horse, 2% of bodyweight is:

500kg × 0.02 = 10kg per day

If you do not know your horse's current weight, use our Horse Weight Estimator to get a useful estimate before calculating their forage requirements.

If hay makes up most of the horse's diet and there is little or no useful grazing, around 10kg of hay per day would therefore be a sensible starting point.

That does not mean every 500kg horse should automatically be given exactly 10kg. Grazing, workload, body condition, age and the type of forage all make a difference.

Quick hay calculator

If hay is providing most of the horse's forage and there is little useful grazing, these figures give you a rough starting point:

These are guides, not fixed feeding instructions.

A horse maintaining weight on good grazing may need considerably less supplementary hay. A horse with little grass, a higher workload or difficulty maintaining condition may need more.

Does grass count?

Yes.

Grass is forage too, so a horse grazing for much of the day may already be getting a significant part of its daily intake from pasture.

This is particularly important in spring and summer when grass growth can be strong.

In winter, during dry weather or where grazing is heavily restricted, grass may provide much less and more hay will usually be needed.

If you are planning ahead for winter, our Winter Forage Planner can estimate how much forage you may need to buy based on your horse's weight, daily allowance and the length of the feeding period.

Because it is difficult to know exactly how much grass a horse is eating, body condition is often a better guide than trying to calculate pasture intake precisely.

Should horses have hay available all the time?

Horses are naturally trickle feeders and are designed to eat small amounts of forage throughout much of the day.

Ideally, they should have regular access to forage rather than eating one or two large meals and then being left without anything to eat for long periods.

For some horses, particularly good doers, unlimited hay can result in weight gain. In those cases the answer is not simply to leave the horse without forage for long periods.

Options can include:

• weighing the daily forage ration
• using small-holed haynets or other suitable slow feeders
• choosing a lower calorie forage
• soaking hay where appropriate
• managing grazing
• spreading forage across several feeds

If your horse needs to lose a significant amount of weight, speak to your vet or a qualified equine nutritionist before heavily restricting forage.

What is the minimum amount of forage?

UK welfare and feeding guidance commonly uses 1.5% of bodyweight per day as the lower end of forage intake.

For a 500kg horse:

500kg × 0.015 = 7.5kg

That should not be treated as the normal amount to feed every horse.

The 1.5% figure is particularly relevant when managing overweight horses and ponies. Going below it should only be done with professional veterinary or nutritional guidance.

For most horses maintaining a healthy weight, around 2% to 2.5% of bodyweight is a more useful starting point.

Weigh the hay

Guessing by eye is surprisingly unreliable.

The weight of a haynet can vary considerably depending on:

• how tightly it is packed
• the type of hay
• how dry the hay is
• how large each section of the bale is
• the size and density of the bale

One "slice" of hay is not a useful unit of measurement because bales vary so much.

A cheap hanging or luggage scale makes it easy to weigh a filled haynet and gives you a much better idea of what your horse is actually eating.

Once you know roughly how many kilograms your horse is eating each day, you can use our Hay Cost Calculator to work out what that amount is likely to cost over a week, month or longer period.

Hay or haylage?

Hay and haylage should not automatically be fed at the same weight.

Haylage normally contains more moisture than hay, meaning each kilogram contains less dry matter. As a result, a horse will generally need a greater weight of haylage to receive an equivalent amount of forage.

The exact difference depends on the individual batch.

If you are changing between hay and haylage, make the change gradually rather than simply swapping the same number of kilograms overnight.

Does the quality of the hay matter?

Yes.

Hay can vary considerably in energy, sugar, protein and overall nutritional value.

A late-cut, stalky meadow hay can be very different from an early-cut, more nutritious hay even if both look perfectly acceptable.

Forage should be clean and free from obvious mould and excessive dust.

If you have a horse that is overweight, prone to laminitis or has specific dietary requirements, having your forage analysed can be useful. This tells you much more about what the horse is actually eating than appearance alone.

How do I know if I am feeding the right amount?

The best guide is the horse itself.

Regularly monitor:

• bodyweight
• fat or body condition score
• changes in the crest, ribs and hindquarters
• workload
• how much forage is being left
• changes in grazing through the year

A weighbridge gives the most accurate bodyweight, but a weigh tape is useful for tracking changes when used consistently.

If your horse is gradually gaining too much weight, the whole diet and exercise routine may need adjusting.

If your horse is losing weight despite receiving plenty of forage, speak to your vet. Dental problems, illness, parasites and other issues can all affect weight.

A simple example

Take a 500kg horse that is stabled overnight and has limited winter grazing during the day.

Using 2% of bodyweight gives:

500kg × 2% = 10kg per day

The horse will get some forage from grazing, so you might not need to provide the full 10kg as hay.

Instead, you could start with an appropriate weighed amount, monitor the horse's condition and adjust it as the grazing and weather change.

That is more useful than deciding that every 500kg horse needs exactly the same haynet every night.

The simple answer

For most horses, around 2% to 2.5% of bodyweight per day is a useful starting point for total daily intake.

If your horse relies mainly on hay:

Horse weight in kg × 0.02 = approximate daily amount in kg

So a 500kg horse would start at around 10kg per day.

Not sure what your horse weighs? Start with our Horse Weight Estimator. If you are planning your winter supply, the Winter Forage Planner can then turn that daily figure into an estimate for the whole season.

From there, adjust for grazing, body condition, workload and the individual horse rather than treating the calculation as a fixed rule.

Useful StableMetric tools

If you are working out your horse's forage requirements, these tools can help:

• Horse Weight Estimator - estimate your horse's bodyweight from measurements
• Winter Forage Planner - estimate how much forage you may need over the winter
• Hay Cost Calculator - calculate the cost of your horse's hay based on how much they eat