I have two draft cross mares. My six yr old is a bit over weight, and my three yr old is just right. I keep my horses on a friends property 45 minutes away from my house. My friend travels quite a bit so I go up to feed for her when she is out of town. Normally she feeds twice a day (alfalfa), but when I go up I only feed once. My older mare began getting sand colic. Probably due to over-grazed sandy pastures they are on and my feeding once a day here and there (I do use a feed bin, but they graze the sandy soil for what they can find when they are bored) I slowly switched to a good quality oat hay, and am wanting to fill their feed bin completely to allow them to free feed, cure boredom, not have to go 24 hours between feedings every six weeks, and not gain more weight. I have heard free feeding is not good. Does anyone have any comments/experience with the subject? I did go up today and feed twice the amount I usually do ( 4 oat flakes and one alfalfa flake) and they did not finish the oat hay (about two flakes left). They walked away after about an hour, dissappointed I assume,,,,,,any suggestions would be good thanks!

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