Five factors determine how much your horse needs. Once you know them, you can see for yourself when the feeding plan needs adjusting, instead of guessing.
The quality of the forage, the horse's weight, the workload, the horse's health and the weight of rider and tack. If one of them changes, the dose changes too.
You can work out the weight yourself: the girth in metres multiplied by itself twice, multiplied by 80. 1.7 m gives approx. 392 kg.
How workload changes the dose
Workload
Ekstra dosage per 100 kg per day
Light work / turnout
65 g
Moderate work
80 g
Hard work
106 g
Every Day Happy and Peak Performance, 0‑14 years. 500 kg horse = multiply by 5, so 400 g at moderate.
What you need to get right
Know the quality of your forage, either from your supplier or from your own analysis
Dose according to your horse's current weight, never its ideal weight
Judge the workload in minutes per session, not by feel
If you and your tack weigh more than 20% of the horse, the dose needs to go up
No forage analysis: feed at Ekstra level until you have it
No scales at the yard: a tape measure and a calculator are all you need. The formula is below
No tape measure: feel the rearmost ribs. If you can feel them easily without seeing them, your horse is a normal weight
Unsure about the workload: write down one week and add up the minutes per session
Want to know more?
Work out your horse's weight with a measuring tape
Stand your horse on level ground and let it rest on all four legs. Measure the circumference of the belly at the girth line, and pull the tape snug so it lies right against the coat.
The formula is girth measurement cubed times 80. The measurement must be in metres, so 170 cm is 1.7 m. The calculation becomes: 1.7 x 1.7 x 1.7 = 4.9. Then 4.9 x 80 = 392. The 392 kg is an educated estimate of your horse's weight.
Overweight, too thin or just right: the rib rule
Start at the horse's rearmost ribs. Run your hand lightly over them.
Normal: you can't see the ribs, but you can easily feel them under the skin. Over: you can't feel them without pressing hard with your fingers. Under: you can clearly both see and feel them.
Feel your horse over every time you're with it. That way you'll spot changes while they're still small. Remember to always feed vitamins and minerals according to your horse's current weight, not the desired ideal weight.
Forage: why its quality determines everything else
The quality of the grass, hay or haylage you feed has a big impact on how much vitamin and mineral supplement and how much fibre mash your horse needs. That's why we recommend that you either buy forage from a supplier who has had the batch analysed, or have the analysis done yourself.
Your horse needs at least 1.5 kg of dry matter per 100 kg per day, ideally up to 2 kg. If sugar is below 5‑7% of dry matter for a good doer, and protein around 10%, the forage can be fed on its own. Otherwise it needs supplementing.
Rider, tack and balance
The weight of the rider and tack affects the workload. The ideal ratio between rider with tack and the horse's normal bodyweight is 1:5. If you exceed 20% of the horse's weight, you need to compensate with a larger daily dose, because the workload is increased.
Your balance on the horse and the position of the tack also count. A rider or a saddle that sits crooked increases the strain and calls for a larger daily amount of vitamins, minerals and herbs.
Physical and mental health
Health has a big influence on the workload. Physical health is defined by health, conformation, muscling and weight, conditions in the stable and paddock, the arena surface and the other surfaces you work on, such as woodland tracks, beach and water.
Mental health and stress levels are affected by health and injuries, social skills and relationships within the herd, and the physical surroundings.
Several of these points are often forgotten or overlooked, and in the long run that harms the horse. If your horse has special needs or is struggling, get an individual assessment from the nutrition consultant.
