What should I feed my horse? 

Do I need to feed my horse if they have forage? 

You’d imagine that grass and forage (hay/haylage) would provide all the nutrients a horse needs, however, it’s now widely recognised that modern pasture and forages are deficient in vitamins (such as vitamin E), minerals (such as copper and zinc), and often in protein.  

Protein is essential to provide the building blocks of all body tissues e.g., muscles, while vitamins and minerals are involved in the structure and function of the whole body. Horses with nutritional deficiencies may not always showobvious clinical signs, and any evidence of nutrient shortfalls may be more subtle, like poor hoof or coat condition, or a lack of energy.   

What should I feed my horse? 

Now we know all forage is deficient in some way, a supplementary feed is recommended, even for those horses and ponies who maintain condition on forage and/or grazing alone. This can take the form of a broad-spectrum vitamin and mineral powdered supplement – added to a chaff or soaked beet pulp – or a pelleted balancer, which also supplies nutrients without calories but protein as well.  

Requirements for these essential nutrients increase if a horse is working, competing, growing or pregnant, even if they  maintain their body condition well on grazing and forage. Balancers are available which are specially designed to meet the needs working or breeding horses, as well as those at rest or in light work. 

For horses who need more calories than grazing or forage can provide to maintain a healthy body condition, a fully balanced compound feed, such as a coarse mix or cubes/pellets, may be necessary. These supply varying levels of additional calories, to meet varying workloads and requirements, along with an appropriate balance of protein, vitamins and minerals.   

Calories and energy are the same thing. Horses requiring more calories/energy could be fed fibre sources which are more digestible and calorific than forage, like beet pulp or alfalfa, or more energy/calorie-dense ingredients, such as cereals or vegetable oils. Cereals supply their calories from starch, which is digested quite quickly and absorbed as glucose straight into the blood stream. It is often referred to as “quick release” energy and cereals may be the energy source of choice for many hard-working horses. 

Fibre is fermented by bacteria in the hindgut to release its energy content and oil is also digested more slowly hence calories from these sources are termed “slow release”. These are ideal to help promote stamina and for horses who may be prone to excitable behaviour related to quick release energy from cereal-based feeds. 

How much should I feed my horse? 

All mixes, cubes and balancers are formulated to be fed at recommended rates (which can be found on feed bags), alongside forage, to provide a fully balanced diet supplying all the nutrients a horse or pony needs to maintain health, body condition and well-being. Feeds designed to meet the needs of those in light, moderate or hard work not only supply lower, medium and higher levels of calories/energy respectively, but also levels of other nutrients tailored to the relevant requirements. If they are fed at less than the recommended amount, the horse or pony will miss out on essential nutrients. It is also important not to overfeed, especially if your horse is prone to weight gain. For more information on managing your horse’s weight, please see our Weight: is your horse the right weight? page.  

Feed company web sites and nutritionists will be able to help advise on the most appropriate feed for your horse or pony as well as on how much to feed. 

Thanks to Baileys for their continued support and provision of nutrition advice.  

For more information on creating a feed ration for your horse, you can download our ‘Build a Feed Ration’ guide written by equine nutritionist, Clare MacLeod. 

There is a huge range of different feeds and supplements available. To help you cut through clever marketing ploys and misinformation, Clare and Liz from Bailey’s have taken part in two Welfare Wednesday Webinars.

Webinar: Equine Nutrition Myths and Marketing

Webinar: Nutribaloney Part 2: Exploring common horse nutrition myths