FEEDING ON THE TRAIL

Trail riders are regularly faced with making choices about feeding on the trail. Do we need to feed, what to feed, and when to feed are some of the questions that we face. And it is difficult to have blanket answers or solutions to these questions as the horse, the available feed, the time of year, and the length of trip are only some of the factors that would affect decisions. Riders also have different opinions on these matters and there is more than one way to ensure a trail horse gets good nutrition on the trail.
Although the value of green grass varies, palatable green grass generally has all of the nutrition that your horse will need on the trail. If you are able to feed your horse on the available green grass, you generally do not need supplement of any kind. It may be surprising to some that high mountain grasses often have more protein and energy than valley bottom grasses. By contrast, as the season progresses and grasses lose their value, and horses have been on the trail all season it can be critical to supplement the natural feed.
Maybe the first thing to consider is the length of your trip and the time of year. If your horse is on a two-week trip or less once a year and goes on to the trail healthy and with good weight, and green grasses are available for feed, then supplemental feeding for health purposes is unnecessary. If the horse is pasture fat it would be just fine to lose some body weight working on the trail for a week or two, provided feeding times are generous. Outfitters and trail riding operations that use horses throughout the season need to give more consideration to extra feed and supplements as these horses are spending calories over a long period and will lose condition. As fall grasses lose value the condition of horses that have not been ‘kept up’ will drop off quickly.
The most common problem that we see with trail feeding is horses that are given only one or two short feeding periods during the day and then tied up or confined for the night. A horse’s stomach and intestine are best suited to multiple feedings over a long period of time, and it does not have the capacity to hold large quantities and ruminate as a cow’s gut would. An hour of feeding in the evening and in the morning may be enough for a one-week trip but horses that are used throughout the season need to be turned out for multiple feeding times or hobbled or picketed all night on good feed. With our horses, if it is necessary to tie them up overnight, the rule is that the horses are turned out with hobbles to feed for 3 hours in the evening and 2 hours in the morning before saddling up.
A cow can utilize coarse cellulose due to bacteria, protozoa in the hindgut that break down rough fiber, and create enzymes that allow the material to ferment and produce carbohydrates. Horses do not have this ability to ruminate and break down coarse cellulose. Many good trail horses enjoy willow and other coarse feed while on the trail and they get limited benefit from it. Many horses over the years, and wild horses today, survive winter conditions by eating roughage.
If the conditions allow it, which is 90% of the time for use, we find that turning out horses with hobbles to be the most effective way to ensure good feeding on the trail. It is the most environmentally friendly as the horse is only tied to a tree or a limb for a short time while saddling and unsaddling then turned loose. Many times, we have seen picket lines and high lines destroy vegetation to the point where they were wide swaths of dirt because horses were confined this way over night. And similarly destroy trees they were tied to. Proper highlines on hard ground and similar methods do work well and, in some parks, or areas where feed must be packed in and free grazing not allowed. If you use a picket line be sure that the feed is good, there is no brush to get tangled in, and move the line often. We find tying to a foot safer than the halter, and better yet train the horse to accept a picket line attached to a back foot. Avoid leaving the horse over night as they can get tangled, or worse. Horses have been choked to death when picketed to a halter. Picket lines need to have quality swivels on the horse end and the anchor end.
If we are packing in supplemental feed, we prefer alfalfa cubes as alfalfa has an abundance of all of the valuable nutrients horses need. Feeding from a feed bag is better than dumping feed on the ground but if you must feed on the ground, you lose less feed with cubes then with pellets. Make sure horses get plenty of water if feeding dry feed, if not, they are prone to colic, particularly in warm weather and working conditions. If we need to pack in feed, we generally use a alfalfa/ grass cube mix. I am not a fan of packing in hay because of the widespread destruction created by rampant weeds from these practices. Why hay bales were ever allowed to be packed into park areas is beyond me. Just because the sign says weed free hay only it, does not mean that it is. Again, unless it is a high use area, free grazing is less destructive.
Supplementing with grain is just fine and adding a vitamin and electrolyte mix is a great idea, especially for longer trips and late in the season. Feeding small quantities of grain mixed with supplement as a treat keeps horses healthier and friendlier and close to camp. I you make a habit of feeding at a certain time, say first thing in the morning, the horses will make a habit of being there, saving you lots of legwork.
When you stop to camp be sure that the area is rich with feed or the horses will head out looking for better feed. Making your camp near the trail you came on will allow you to hear horse bells and stop horses with the devious intention of heading back out on the trail that they came in on. If grass is wet with rain or heavy dew then horses will not have a need to drink free water, but in most cases, you need to camp with water available, and accessible water as many streams have steep banks. Unless feed has been sparse the night before we do not let horses feed as we ride as it is bothersome to other horses and our progress. Similarly, if you let a horse drink at every puddle, they soon learn the game and demand to stop at every puddle for a drink. Drinking a few times during the day is enough. Avoid a tug or war with the reins from trying to keep the horse from constantly dropping their head to feed and drink. Tie a knot in the reins that just allows free movement of the head and neck but not enough slack to lower the head far enough to grab mouthfuls of grass. They will quit the battle almost instantly.
Colic is a serious problem for trail riders, from changes with the type of feed on the trail compared to home, and trailering. Never feed dry hay in the trailer when on longer trips if free water is not available. Horses can lose up to 15 liters of body water in an hour in a hot trailer. If we are hauling for several hours, it is safer to feed and water when you arrive than to feed dry hay during the journey. We always let the horse’s water after long trips first, before they eat, and turning thirsty horses out to dry pasture, especially if it is an abrupt change of type of grasses, may also create colic. Riders often worry about weeds on the trail, but we have found that horses are very good at choosing not to eat toxic plants. The problem comes when good grass is not available, for example closed in pastures, and they resort to eating plants they would normally avoid.
I heard an old saying from a back country horse rider – “I would rather count ribs than count tracks,” meaning that they will tie up horses at night rather than turn them out and must find them in the morning. Personally, I disagree. I have always lived by the belief that horses need to be turned out on good feed for the night and that riders need to use good wrangling technique to keep horses close, and that horse camping is not for the lazy. There are late season trips where the weather changes and horses need to make long, hard miles in poor conditions, like mountain passes or riding in the snow. In these cases, a horse’s condition may drop off rapidly, and hobbles may inhibit pawing in the snow. Training horses to accept back foot hobbles with help in these instances and, again, packing in feed late in the season can be a great benefit.
Good luck, have fun and feed well!

High mountain grasses are surprisingly rich in vitamins and minerals, often more so than wild grasses at lower elevations. Green grass generally has all the vitamins, minerals, and energy that horses need for back country trips, provided the horses are turned out to feed for the night or 3 hours in the morning and evening. Horses on longer trips in the fall, when the quality of feed drops, will benefit greatly from daily mineral/vitamin supplement
powder mixed with grain or alfalfa pellets. Outfitters, pay attention!

A proper highline may be necessary in areas where free grazing is not permitted. Always be sure horses are watered well when feeding dry feed. Horses trained with hobbles on the back feet can still paw for feed in snow. Consider pulling shoes when riding in snow as snowballs up in shoes and slipping and sliding can be a serious issue.

Giving horses a daily treat of mineral/vitamin supplement not only helps keep the horse healthy but also keeps them camp friendly. We mix powder supplement with rolled grain or alfalfa pellets. Like green grass, alfalfa has all the nutrients needed.