Discuss Terrance Hall's answer to: Does it matter what time you feed your horse, just ...

Dear God please know the time your horses eat makes ALL the difference.  You operate on a clock but your horses and cattle adjust to the sun.

Horses operate on a solar clock.  That varies with the season.  You will hear them "ripping" (passing gas) just before dawn and that is because what you fed them at dusk has digested.  When they stop ripping they have digested.  They need to eat within an hour of when they begin ripping.  Let them drop their turds in one paddock and then feed them in another: you like to keep your bathroom apart from the dining hall too, right?

Race horses are professional athletes and will kill themselves in a race to make youhappy.  Many do.  They always need "hot feed" like oats and molasses.  That maybe 3 times a day and 4 on race day.  Don't spare the water.

Set out your hay in loose blocks in mangers a few minutes before dawn and if you need to give them oats (for a cold day) give them the oats half an hour after they eat hay.  Be careful about giving a starved horse too hot feed: it can lead to colic or collapse.  There is an insulin hassle with it.  Horses are really sensitive to timing.  They begin producing insulin as they see the sun starting to crest the horizon.

After a good morning feed, lead them back to the dirty paddock and let them relieve themselves.  Clean it with the tractor as soon as the moisture equalizes.  Check their stools when you do.  If they are green and well formed they are getting enough hay and water.  If it looks soft and soupy they need less grain and more hay. 

Feed again just before the sun turns good and red on the horizon.  If you don't have lights over the feed paddock then feed them in the barn where they can see what they are eating. 

Don't over feed!