May 28, 2014 – If I told you my brother eats like a horse, what would you think? Would you think that he ate horse food, that he had a big appetite or that he was a horse? Eats like a horse is an idiom. When someone eats like a horse, they always eat a lot of food. “Although he eats like a horse, he never gets fat.”

Forage is one of the most important components of your horse’s diet. Hay provides most of a domesticated horse’s forage intake. The amount of hay your horse needs every day will depend on the size of your horse and how active he is. The amount of nutrition that is in the hay also has a crucial role in how much is needed to sustain a healthy animal.
How Much Hay Does Your Horse Need
Louisiana State University and the Humane Society of the United States agree that a horse needs to eat 1 to 2 percent of his body weight in roughage every day. If your horse has free access to plenty of grass, then grass can serve as his forage. If your horse has limited grass then you must make sure his diet is supplemented with hay. The average 1000 pound horse should eat at least 20 pounds of hay every day according to LSU

In Iceland – grass is often in limited supply – So, the Icelandic learns early in life to munch every blade of grass. One blade at a time – hour after hour! I have watch Perla do just that!!!

But ,then we put out hey for them – We scatter the piles all around – Sometimes, I think the Icelandics do not share well – “Get out of here this is my plile” – re-enforced with laid back ears, a threat made with the turning of the head and a look with the eyes, or a bite, or a kick. I mean business – “Get out of here”

Hay in – Poop out!!!          —–       According to the internet questions.com The average horse produces 9 tonsof manure every year.
A 1,000 pound  horse will deposit approximately 35 pounds  of manure daily plus 6-10 gallons of urine.A horse produces about 9 tons of manure per year and 3.5 tons  of urine. 

How often does a horse poop? It’s actually a relevant question, so responses such as ‘as often as it needs to’ is a tad silly!
As a general rule of thumb a healthy, relaxed horse on a balanced diet will defecate every two hours. Responsible horse owners will need to know this so they can understand how their horses are (health wise). A stressed horse will defecate so they’re ready to run away, it’s a natural instinct! If you’re feeding poor quality feeds / forage again they’ll do a significant amount more / less.
Urination is important but difficult to detect, this isn’t something they do when stressed, but either when they need to or if they are sick, generally they urinate 4/5 times in a 24hr period, the liquid will be pale and wont smell too strong of ammonia.
Good question, try looking at some horsey websites such as Horse & Hound, they have a vets corner 🙂
Source:
Yard Manager, experienced owner and instructor

Share – No way! My friend in Iceland sent me a digital envelope of hay – It is all mine!!!