Horse feeding

By: Virginia Imberti Posted: 10/02/2021

How to feed horses the right way?

Horses are herbivorous animals with a delicate digestive system. Knowing how to feed horses correctly is fundamental to avoid the occurrence of diseases such as colic, astrogliosis, gastritis, tympanism, among others.

Since the equine stomach is very small, it is only capable of processing small quantities of food and, therefore, it’s convenient to give horses small portions of food at short time intervals.

Likewise, the correct rationing of food that a horse may need will be determined by many different factors, like physical activity, physical needs, breed, teeth, age, and the physical space where they live.

An example of what was mentioned before can be seen in the following situations: If a horse makes an effort that entails a physical exhaustion, its diet will be in accordance with its physical activity.

If it is an aging horse, it has probably lost its capacity to absorb nutrients such as proteins due to the loss of efficiency in the digestive tract. In this case, what should be done is to give the horse a larger amount of nutrients that can be easily absorbed.

What do horses eat?

As we said at the beginning, every horse’s diet is based on grass. But, among them, there are differences and, depending on the purpose that each horse has, it will have to follow the diet that suits its needs best.

According to its purpose, horse diets can be divided into three categories: with pasture, with hay or with concentrate feeds.

Pasture

It is common sense to say that horses eat grass, because it is the weed they can easily have access to in fields, ranches or open spaces. But not all types of grass are useful for a horse. Many times, grass could be contaminated or even in bad conditions, which could affect the metabolism.

Hay

This grass, together with pasture grass, is one of the most natural ways to feed horses. Hay includes various grass or legume species, and it is the result of cutting, drying and using such plants as foodstuff for animals.

In those regions where the climate is dry and hot, hay is made of very dry, rough grass, which has very little nutritional value. In such case, it is advisable to combine it with other grass types or grains in order to complete the horse’s nutrition.

It is also important to make sure that the hay is free of dust and mould, because if horses eat mouldy hay, they can have colic as well as breathing problems. To avoid these situations, you can soak the hay before feeding your horse.

There are three basic types of hay: grass hay, alfalfa hay, and the mixture of grass and alfalfa. Some think that one of the best ways to feed a horse is combining alfalfa and pasture, and that is why the combination of timothy hay, brome grass and alfalfa is so common.

Concentrate feeds

To compensate for the deficiencies caused by grass and hay, concentrate feeds are produced for those hard-working horses and pregnant or lactating mares. Some examples of concentrates are cereals, sweets and manufactured foods. Such feeds can be bought in bags, developed for each stage of a horse’s life, whether it be a foal in a developing stage or an adult horse.

In turn, concentrate feeds or supplements can be classified into:

1. Energy boosters
   • Grains: oats, maize, barley, wheat, flax, etc.
   • Fats: vegetable oil (maize, soybean or sunflower), animal fat.
2. Bulking
   • Brans (wheat or maize).
3. Protein feeds
   • Flours: soy, sunflower, etc.
   • Meat flour.
   • Fish meal.
   • Dairy by-products.
4. Commercial or balanced feeds
   • Complete feed.
   • Supplementary feed.
   • Mineral feed.
   • Vitamin-mineral feed.
5. Additives
   • Vitamins.
   • Minerals.
   • Vitamin-mineral additives.
   • Others: molasses, carrots, yeast, etc.

What nutrients does a horse need?

As mentioned before, the amount of nutrients will depend on many different factors, such as weight, age, teeth, or the physical activity the horse does. Nevertheless, there are a number of nutrients that must be always present in a balanced diet.

Vitamins

Vitamins are essential to strengthen the immune system and to ensure the right functioning of the equine organism.

The vitamins that horses need are classified into two big groups: water-soluble and fat-soluble vitamins. The most important ones are: vitamins A, D, E, K and the B-complex. Some of these vitamins can be obtained by adding them to the daily fodder, while others are metabolized by the horse’s own organism when grazing or by exposing itself to sunlight and being outdoors.

Vitamin A is important for normal vision, reproduction and the birth of foals. It is found in its provitamin form in horse fodder. A lack of this vitamin can cause embryonic mortality.

Vitamin D plays a key role in the regulation of calcium and phosphorus levels. It is produced in the skin as a response to sun exposure, the same as in human beings. Vitamin D deficiency can cause bone deformities due to the lack of calcium and phosphorus concentrations in the bone.

Vitamin E helps improve immune response and the energy metabolism of horses. Fresh pasture and green fodders are good sources of vitamin E for horses. This vitamin deficiency causes diseases such as the white muscle disease in foals, a degenerative disease of the spine, equine degenerative myeloencephalopathy.

Vitamin K plays an important role in helping the blood clot, preventing excessive bleeding. If there is a deficiency of this vitamin, there could be clotting problems.

Vitamin B2 (Riboflavin) is vital for antioxidant defence mechanisms. This vitamin for horses can be found in larger concentrations in legumes like alfalfa and, in smaller quantities, in cereals.

Proteins

As regards proteins, there are some essential amino acids like lysine, vital for efficient growth. This substance must be included in the horse’s diet via soybean flour or flax and legumes (alfalfa, clover, etc.).

The main function of protein as a nutrient is providing the basic components of tissues, muscles, hormones and enzymes.

Minerals

Horses require several minerals to satisfy a wide range of functional needs, including the skeletal integrity and cell communication.

Minerals can be subdivided into two groups:

• Macro minerals (they are required in relatively larger amounts) include calcium, phosphorous, sodium, potassium, chlorine, magnesium and sulphur.
• Trace minerals (they are required in relatively smaller amounts) include cobalt, copper, zinc, selenium, iron, iodine, etc. Since the presence of minerals tends to vary in horse food, which generally has small amounts of sodium and chloride (salt), it is advisable to give all horses some kind of salt source, such as a salt block.

Water: an essential component in nutrition

How many times a day should I feed my horse?

The small size of a horse’s stomach requires small quantities of food, and that is why it is better to divide the food in as many portions as possible, and in that way, the horse’s digestion and nutrient absorption will be improved.

We recommend feeding your horse twice or three times a day, when it makes a physical effort (the bigger the effort is, the more you feed it).

The best thing is to keep a regular schedule and to allow for an hour between the horse’s activity and the feeding.

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