Horses should have access to forage feed through much of the day and night but may be fed additional concentrate (hard) feeds according to their requirements.
As horses have small stomachs and short intestines they cannot handle large amounts of concentrate feed at one time so if a horse is to be fed a large amount of concentrate feed in a day this should be split across 2 or 3 smaller feeds rather than fed as one large feed.
Concentrate feeds should be fed at regular times each day and a horse should be given a 1-2 hours between having a heavy feed and carrying out strenuous exercise, as strenuous exercise on a full stomach can cause breathing problems and also put strain on the heart.
A horse should also never be fed a heavy concentrate feed directly after hard exercise but should be allowed to rest for an hour to cool down before being fed.
