What Goes Into Feeding a Horse?

SARATOGA SPRINGS — Feeding a horse correctly is a science and an art. Many experienced horsemen spend countless hours planning out specific nutrition plans for each horse. Horses are fed from two to five times a day depending on the horse. 

A horse’s digestive system is complicated and sensitive. They are prone to stomach issues such as ulcers and colic. Colic means that a horse is having abdominal pain, but typically in the horse world we use this term when the pain is severe enough that the horse’s gastrointestinal tract may be in danger of knotting and can even lead to death.

Therefore, we keep a close eye on our horses to make sure that the nutrition that we are giving them fits their specific needs.

Horse nutrition has three main components: foliage, grain, and water. Foliage is the hay and grass component of a horse’s diet and makes up 65-percent of their diet. We provide our horses with about 15 pounds of hay per horse every day.

One of the most complicated parts of a horse’s diet is the grain portion, which makes up 5-percent of the horse’s diet. In 24 hours, a horse can only digest four-pounds of grain, which sounds like a lot, but we tend to forget that these animals weigh around 1000 pounds. The equine grain market has an endless selection of grain and each company argues that they sell the “best” grain. Often horsemen have to know the work level of their horse and their medical needs. For example, if you have a high-performance horse like a racehorse, you increase the protein in their grain because they tend to burn off a lot of calories every day. Our ex-racehorses who come right off the track often have to be slowly brought down in grain intake so that their bodies are able to adjust to a more leisurely lifestyle without losing weight too fast because of less protein and exercise. 

Another important component in horses’ grain is fiber. This goes back to the concern of their body being able to process the amount of grain that they consume daily. Fiber helps their bodies work through the food and have healthy bowel movements. Fat is the third most important component in grain, as fat helps keep weight on our horses without having to increase their intake too much.

After you find the best grain for your horse, you can add supplements to their grain. In many cases, horses need help with their hoof health and supplements can be added to increase growth as well as stability.

Lastly, 30-percent of a horse’s diet is water. Unless specific needs are required, water should be available for horses at all times. A healthy horse on average drinks about 8-10 gallons of water. Just like people, the older the horse gets, the lower they are on water intake.

When you complete all horse nutrition steps carefully and correctly, you find yourself with a healthy horse.