Looking after your horses properly is vital to keeping them healthy and to get the best out of them. But there are some important things you should know.Firstly, you do not have to look after your horses every day. As long as you don't do anything with them, they will just exist. Sounds weird but if you imagine - my best friend LucyLou has over 3300 horses. There's no way she could look after them all! So if you don't have time - it's OK.
Secondly - your horse always needs food, water and to be groomed whenever you 'wake' him. He also must be put to bed at night. A lot of people make mistakes with feeding because it's not very clear.
This is a standard method I use for all my horses:
1.5 hours in the meadow
Saltstone (if you have one*)
Then do whatever you need - lessons, rides, races etc
Stroke
Carrot (if needed**)
Water
Feed (details in a bit***)
Groom
Bed (Put in the box if it's less than 10 degrees and he has no blanket)
*You can find Saltstone and other items like blankets when you put your horse in the box. This can take a quite a few attempts. I put new horses in the box for 2.5 hours a day, each day until I get the items I need. Blankets mean they can sleep in the meadow in any weather. Once you've found a Saltstone, you will always have one for all your horses for ever.
**Each night, your horse MUST go to bed with at least 20% energy, otherwise he will lose health and morale overnight. So, if you've stroked your horse and he still has only, say, 14% energy left, give him a carrot.
***Your horse has to stay at a weight that is right for his height. If your horse gets too fat or too thin, you will get a warning and will need to adjust his feed. So, when you get to feed him, the info tells you how much food he's already had (by being in the meadow) and how much he needs in total. For example 4.2/13.3 Which means he's eaten 4.2 pounds of fodder but needs 13.3 pounds in total. That's a difference of about 9 pounds. So feed him 9 pounds of fodder. He also needs oats. Just feed him the amount the box tells you to.
That's enough for now! Good luck.
Lucy
