Walk into any feed store and you'll see stacks of hay that look pretty much the same. Green, baled, and ready to go. But ask anyone who has spent years around horses, and they'll tell you the truth: hay is the single most important thing your horse eats, and not all of it is created equal.
A horse's digestive system was built to graze for most of the day. Forage keeps the gut moving, supports healthy teeth, and helps prevent colic and ulcers. Grain and supplements matter, but they sit on top of the foundation. Hay is the foundation.
At Fox Feed, we've been helping Santa Clarita horse owners make that choice since 1976. Here's what we've learned about picking the right hay for the horse in your barn.
How Much Hay Does a Horse Really Need?
A good rule of thumb is that an adult horse eats about 1.5 to 2.5 percent of its body weight in forage every day. For a typical 1,000-pound horse, that works out to roughly 15 to 25 pounds of hay daily.
Where your horse falls in that range depends on its age, workload, and body condition. An easy keeper on light trail duty needs less. A hard-working performance horse or a senior who struggles to hold weight needs more.
The best way to know is to weigh your hay instead of counting flakes. Flakes vary a lot from bale to bale, and a few pounds a day adds up fast over a month.
Grass Hay or Alfalfa? Knowing the Difference
Most hay falls into two families: grass hays and legume hays. Each has a place, and many horses do best on a mix.
Grass hays include timothy, orchard grass, bermuda, and oat hay. They're lower in protein and calories and higher in fiber, which makes them a great everyday choice for easy keepers, pleasure horses, and horses prone to weight gain. Grass hay lets a horse munch for hours without overdoing it.
Alfalfa is the most common legume hay in Southern California. It's richer in protein, calcium, and energy. That makes it valuable for growing horses, pregnant or nursing mares, hard-working horses, and seniors who need extra calories. Fed alone to an idle adult horse, though, it can be more than the horse needs.
That's why many local owners feed a combination, such as grass hay as the base with some alfalfa added for horses who need the boost. The right blend depends on the horse in front of you, which is exactly the kind of question worth talking through with someone who knows.
How to Spot Good Hay
You don't need a lab test to tell good hay from bad. Your senses will tell you most of what you need to know.
- Look at it. Good hay is green and leafy, with fine stems. A bleached outer layer is usually just sun exposure, but brown or black patches inside the bale can signal mold or heat damage.
- Smell it. Quality hay smells sweet and fresh. A musty, sour, or dusty smell is a warning sign, since mold and dust can cause respiratory and digestive trouble.
- Feel it. It should be soft and pliable, not brittle or full of coarse sticks. Leaves carry most of the nutrition, so you want plenty of them.
- Check for extras. Weeds, dirt, trash, or dead critters have no place in a horse's diet.
In our dry climate, storage matters too. Keep hay off the ground, out of the rain, and somewhere with good airflow so it stays as good as the day you bought it.
When Hay Alone Isn't Enough
Even great hay can leave gaps. Hay loses vitamins as it sits, and the minerals in it depend on the soil it grew in. That's where a well-chosen feed earns its place.
Purina has spent decades researching equine nutrition, and a few of their products are built to work alongside forage:
- Purina Enrich Plus is a ration balancer. It adds protein, vitamins, and minerals in a small serving, without piling on calories. It's a good fit for easy keepers on a hay-based diet.
- Purina Hay Stretcher is a pelleted forage product. It helps when quality hay is hard to find or when you need to stretch your supply.
- Purina Equine Senior has forage built right in. It's designed for older horses who can no longer chew long-stem hay well.
The goal is never to replace good hay. It's to fill the gaps so your horse gets everything it needs.
Talk to People Who Know Horses
A website can sell you a bale. It can't look at your horse's history, ask what you're feeding now, or tell you what's been working for other owners down the road in Agua Dulce or Acton.
That's the difference a local feed store makes. For 50 years, the Fox family and our team have been answering these questions face to face, one horse at a time. We know the hay, we know the climate, and we know the people who ride here.
Stop by Fox Feed at 17028 Sierra Highway in Canyon Country, or give us a call at (661) 252-9790. Tell us about your horse, and we'll help you find the right hay and the right feed to go with it.