As has already been stated the horse is an animal that is constantly grazing if you look at them in the summer months you will see that they dont do alot more than graze most of the time but in winter there is no grass so it is left up to us to provide them with their food and this comes in the form of hay which is after all dried grass so surely if the majority of horses in the summer months are allowed to graze constantly on the grass how can people justify giving one or two slices of hay to last for a few hours at a time,what is the horse supposed to do for the rest of the time ?? i like to see hay left over when i visit my horse because then i can see that he has had more than enough to eat.

I agree. I like to leave my horse out as long as possible, even in winter, and when in the stable give him heaps of haylege. While muzzles are not attractive, i have used one to good effect in spring to ensure my horse/ pony always gets out. It's difficult in livery yards I know, especially if you rely on them to feed your horse, but if at all possible i would always invest my money in lots of forage and cut back on hard stuff or some new riding gear.

I have an exracehorse who has spent 10 years more or less in the stable, he is 14 now and quite a toughy for a tb, i too leave him out as much as possible with hay and a feed even in the summer as he has been used to top quality forage all his life, i only bring him in if the weather is at its worst, he has constant grazing if he wants it, even though he did spend so much time indoors he has taken to his new outdoor life very well and touch wood no laminitis up to now !

I have 2 TB X ID both have at least one whit sock and get very bad mud fever. So during the day in the winter they are sectioned into the highest point in the field for as long as possible with hevay duty rugs on. During the night they are given 2 full haynets each with smaller holes so it takes them longer to eat and there is always some left when the are put out in the morning.

sorry meant to say white socks lol