Hello, Dr. Getty:

I will soon be getting a 2 year old filly. This will be my first time raising a young horse. With my previous adult horses, I've always been able to feed them free choice hay and just a handful of grain to get the supplements down. I don't believe in feeding much grain, if any at all. So, I'm not sure how to feed this filly. I'd like to follow the same basic plan that I had with my mature horses. I want to keep her on the leaner side, not skinny and definitely not chubby, and my goal is to nourish her so that she'll grow normally, without encouraging fast growth by overdoing the hard feed. Now, how to do that? I hope you can offer some advice.

Our hay is around 8% protein, and she'll be on pasture 24/7 with free choice hay. Her exercise will be minimal - just light ground work, trail walks in-hand, etc. By the way, this filly is an easy keeper. Will the hay and just a handful or two of grain with supplements keep her sufficiently nourished?

Thank you,
Jennifer

Where are you from? Boerne, TX

How did you locate this forum? Friend

Hi Jennifer,

Generally speaking, the free choice hay, along with a small amount of grain, will be fine. However, a 2 year old still has additional protein needs and calcium needs that cannot be adequately met by this diet alone. So, instead of a handful of grain, you would improve her diet by giving her a pound of alfalfa pellets. Alfalfa is a legume and provides additional amino acids (building blocks of protein) that grass hay does not have enough of. Therefore, the protein quality will be improved. Alfalfa also provides additional calcium.

Congratulations on your new filly! Keep me posted on her progress!

All the best,

Dr. Getty