What to Feed a Horse to Keep It Healthy

Pasture Grass and Tender Plants

The natural diet of the horse is pasture grass and tender plants. Good pasture contains most of the nutrition a horse requires to be healthy. It also contains silica, which is important for dental health. Primitive horses can live on sparse rations and often have to make do with less than ideal pasture and living conditions. This is likely why problems like obesity, equine metabolic syndrome, and laminitis are rare in wild horses but occur frequently in our modern horses. Pasture grass isn't necessarily the problem; the type of horses we've developed and the lack of exercise are.

Those of us with easy keepers need to limit the amount of fresh grass our horses have access to. Introducing lush pasture suddenly to a horse not used to it can cause serious problems as well. For the horse that is a hard keeper, however, good pasture provides the best nutrition.

Hay

Many of us don't have the luxury of being able to let our horses graze on pasture throughout the whole year. When grass isn't available, hay is the next-best choice. Finding good horse hay can be tricky. It helps to have hay tested, so any shortfalls in vitamins and minerals can be compensated for with supplements. For some horses, rich hay can be a problem in the same way rich pasture grass can be. ​Easy keepers may need to be restricted from 24/7 access to a bale feeder.

Grains

Oats are a traditional grain fed to horses. However, horses may also be fed small amounts of other grains like corn. Some grains, such as wheat, aren't always good for horses. The seed head of grasses would be the closest thing a ​wild horse would come to eating grains in their natural environment.

Grains that are grown, harvested, and processed using modern-day methods are not natural foods for horses. It is easy to feed too much grain to horses. Grain also doesn't require a similar length of chewing time, nor does it contain the levels of silica that grass does. This can contribute to issues including ulcers and dental problems. A horse that over-eats a large amount of grain may have colic or founder.

Concentrate Mixes

Concentrates are usually a mixture of things like grains, flaxseed, beet pulp, molasses for energy and flavor, bran, vitamins and minerals, and other ingredients. Commercial mixes may have a number of ingredients in them, or some feed mills will mix concentrates to your specifications (only practical when you have a large number of horses to feed).

Concentrate mixes, like grain, help make up for any shortfall in nutrition and provide a quick source of energy. Mares in foal, nursing mares, performance, or working horses often benefit from being fed concentrates in addition to grass or hay.

Salt and Minerals

Supplements such as salt and minerals may be included in a concentrate mix or may be offered separately. A salt block or loose salt in a pasture or stall allows horses to help themselves when they have a craving. Some salt may come mixed with minerals. Some people offer free-choice minerals as well, or they may add them into the horse's grain or concentrate meal. Many people find that salt is consumed more during the summer months than in colder weather.

Treats

Many of us like to feed our horses treats. These tidbits may include things like apples, carrots, or other favorite fruits or vegetables, handfuls of grain, sugar cubes or candies, or sometimes odd things like a bite of a hot dog or boiled egg. However, it may not be advisable to feed horses meat or too many sugary treats, including fruit. Horses are herbivores, and even though a horse may not show outward signs like colic when fed meat, they may still feel some discomfort and strange foods could affect the intestinal flora.

Of course, a horse won't make the connection to the hamburger they ate an hour ago and the discomfort they're having now, so they'll probably eat any food they like over and over again. This is why it's important to feed treats in small amounts. Treats need to be considered as part of the overall feeding plan and kept to a minimum if your horse needs to watch its weight. Your horse also needs to be respectful when being fed treats.

Water

Of course, a horse doesn't really "eat" water. However, water is an essential part of the equine diet. A horse eating pasture grass probably won't drink as much water as one on a hay-only diet. However, fresh, clean water is essential for both.

A Note About Bran

Brans, including wheat and rice bran, are not recommended as a major part of your horse's diet; they can cause mineral imbalances.