more on feeding schedules

[Horsestwo <Horsestwo@aol.com>]

I should have elaborated about my situation and feeding schedule.  My horses
are kept in a corral together (not much pasture in the desert) but are
separated for their major feedings (those with alfalfa and/or grain) to avoid
squabbles and to be sure that each has gotten their supplements.  They are fed
4 times a day with the last feeding of Bermuda hay at bedtime.  They don't get
free choice but it comes darn close.  My question had to do with the
utilization of the nutrients.  I had read that when fed on a tight schedule
the horse utilized its feed better; that it actually got the digestive system
ready for the meal it knew was coming.  On a day to day schedule the horse can
utilize its feed better.  I wanted to find out if that still held true.

On a related subject Tom Ivers answered about the spacing of feed times.  Here
in AZ if some boarding places feed 3 times a day it is on human's schedule of
morning, noon, and dinner.  Then the horse sits with no food for 12 hours or
so.  Now I realize that the optimal situation is pasture but in lieu of that
we should be trying to give the horse more, smaller meals spaced out over 24
hours.  Again I realize that at the bigger barns it would be hard to have the
staff to be available at 10 PM to feed.  Still I want to check on my 2 before
going to bed so why not throw them a big flake of grass hay that might last a
couple of hours?

Melanie in AZ
Another quote from a book I got last Christmas "Horse Quotations"
"A horse can lend its rider the speed and strength he or she lacks -- but the
rider who is wise remembers it is no more than a loan."