If you search hard enough there’s quite a lot of anecdotal info on how horses were fed during the Peninsular War. One thing that surprised me was the reluctance of some officers to allow horses to graze, something that we’d consider essential today. Perhaps it was because they were so poorly fed at times that they would gorge themselves on any fresh forage.
Here’s one example of the importance of grazing. Esskay seems to have put back the weight he lost last autumn when the grass went off. I try to keep his condition on the light side given his historic leg issues, his age (23), and the fact he’s a decent-sized warmblood – they tend to be prone to arthritic changes. And although he’s been having extra rations over the winter, he moved to fresh grazing a couple of weeks ago. Which just goes to show that Doctor Green is the best medicine.
Novel pic just to show him as a cover-model!