19/08/2026
Very important information!
When your horse is away at Pony Club camp or an event, their usual routine can change completely.
At home, many horses have access to pasture or forage for much of the day. Away from home, they may instead spend long periods stabled, yarded or tied to a float, which means we have to provide the forage they would normally seek out for themselves.
Under the Pony Club Australia Horse Welfare Policy, it is a breach of the policy to allow a horse at a Pony Club event to go for more than six hours without access to food.
But that six-hour limit is not the goal.
Horses are naturally designed to spend a large part of their day eating and foraging. The PCA Horse Welfare Policy notes that horses would normally spend more than 60% of the day grazing, and describes their need to eat, chew and search for high-fibre food for around 13โ16 hours a day.
So if your horse is away for a night, a weekend or several days, itโs worth looking at their whole 24-hour feeding plan.
A biscuit of hay in the morning and a hard feed at night may mean your horse has technically been โfedโ, but it doesnโt necessarily mean they have had enough forage.
As a general guide, horses should receive around 1.5โ2% of their bodyweight each day in forage dry matter, unless there is a veterinary or nutritional reason to manage them differently. For a 500 kg horse, thatโs around 7.5โ10 kg of forage dry matter per day.
Why does it matter?
Regular access to forage supports normal gut function and gives horses the opportunity to chew and forage as they are naturally driven to do. Long periods without forage can affect both physical and mental welfare, particularly when horses are also being worked and spending more time confined than they would at home.
If youโre heading away with your horse, check:
โข What forage is being provided by the camp or event?
โข Will there be enough across the whole day and overnight?
โข If not, how much do you need to bring yourself?
โข Will your horse have forage available during long periods in a stable, yard or at the float?
โข And will clean water be readily available? You will most likely need to pack a safe, non-spillable container.
Pony Club camps and competitions are a big change of routine for our horses. Planning their forage and water properly is just as important as packing the saddle, rugs and feed buckets.
๐ค Donโt just ask, โHas my horse been fed?โ Ask, โHas my horse had enough opportunity to eat and forage today?โ
