Preparing your horse’s feed

The horse is above all a herbivore

In a natural environment, or when bred extensively, horses spend 60 to 70 % of their time feeding. They move around a lot and select the species which compose their ration.

The use of the horse today has brought about a decrease in the time spent at pasture, sometimes even foregoing it completely. Therefore the horse’s requirements have been subject to modifications due to the work demanded (above maintenance levels : work, competitions, producing foals out of the grazing season, and needing to be used early on, therefore requiring optimal growth). This has led to the introduction of more concentrated feeds in the daily ration (cereals, oleaginous seeds, and protein crops….).

Several options are available to the breeder or horse user with regard to the daily ration :

Using simple grain feeds compiled to balance a daily ration. This is often more economical but requires a good knowledge of the concepts of rationing..
Using concentrates, either to complement cereals and forage, or complete feeds, covering daily nutritional needs.

However, some feeds need preparing :

To take into account the features of horse’s digestive system :

        ◦ Digestive valuation of the feed
        ◦ Need for roughage
        ◦ Optimising the time spent eating

limit the risk of disorders due to feeding mistakes

Composition of a grain or seed

A cereal grain is composed of :

An enveloppe or husk, which is more or less hard and essentially composed of cellulose/ lignin which is not digestible by enzymes (stomach and small intestine), lipids, protein and mineral matter. This envelope is an obstacle for the action of digestive agents.
The cereal germ.
The seed, particularly rich in energy : starch is mainly digested by enzymes when it is accessible

Depending on the cereal, its distribution mode, and the quality of the horse’s mastication, the grain enters the large intestine more or less whole. It will therefore be more or less well utilised by the horse. Some preparation methods aim to optimise digestion of cereals by improving the accessibility of the nutritive part. These methods are presented below.

Tourteau de soja — Soya meal © L. Marnay

In the same way, oil and protein crop seeds (linseed or flaxseed, soya, groundnut, sunflower, rapeseed) are rarely given whole to the horse. They can be :

Either prepared in the same way as cereals
Or, as is often the case, the oil is extracted prior. The meal – i.e. what remains after poil extraction - is then given to the animals, They are however rich in energy and especially in protein. Their nutritional worth depends on how the oil is extracted (deoiled or extraction)

Preparing the feed

Rolling / Crushing

The grain is rolled or crushed between two grindstones, either with teeth (maize or barley) or without (oats).
This is of interest especially for :

Hard grain : maize or barley
Horses with digestion problems : (worn down teeth, convalecing horses)
Greedy horses who do not chew enough before swallowing (whole grain which then germinates in the droppings).

Concasseur placé sous un silo — Crusher, placed beneath the silo © L. Marnay

Crushing or rolling can take place either before buying, or on the farm thanks to a crusher. Depending on the number of horses, the additional cost of buying the grain regularly by the bag should be offset against the investment of a crusher + the labour cost.

In addition, crushed cereal is more sensitive to becoming stale (lipids) and fermentation (glucids : starch). It should therefore be fed rapidly after preparing it (48 hours), and extra care should be taken with storage conditions. Any grain presenting heat or a suspicious smell should not be fed to the animals.

Lastly, rolling and crushing can generate dust (flour) which in turn can generate breathing issues… better to favour coarse crushing.

Soaking

avoine germée — Germinated oats © L. Le Masne

Soaking cereals (barley), softens the grain and makes digestion easier without having to invest in any machinery (soaking for the night is sufficient) and it is also without dust.

Germinated grain can be used for horses suffering from digestive issues, constipation or lack of appetite. The starch is then more digestible. However, germination causes a loss in nutritional value. Finally, it should be meticulously checked :be careful of the risk of mould !

Note : Cereals are not balanced in terms of minerals, much more markedly than hay from natural meadows. They are particularly rich in phosphorous, but lacking in calcium, they require supplementation with a MVS (Mineral and vitamin supplement) which aims to correct this imbalance in rations composed of cereals.

Cooking

Using dehydration

Toasting (steaming) and flaking (steam cooking + rolling) both increase the dry matter (DM) content of cereals, and the digestibility of starch.

Pelleting (cereals + by products + forage + other) is carried out thanks to the action of water vapour and high pressure.

The final nutritional value and the price, depend on the composition of the original mix.
Integration of the mineral and vitamin supplement balances the feed to cover the horse’s daily requirements.

Humid cooking

Mash is generally composed of cereal, linseed, and other foodstuffs in varying proportions. In French some call it « barbotage » as it consists in soaking cereals with the possible addition of bran, others call it mash, when a little bran is added, it is therefore very wet.

Cooking for an hour in water enables :

To soften the outer husk of whole grain
Add foodstuffs which are indigestible when raw (linseed)

Wheat-bran is added at the end to absorb the excess water. Generally, the mash fed to horses contains 50% water, 50% dry matter.
It is usually given once a week, often on rest day, and the benefits are :

It is very palatable and digestible
It is a ration with a substantial volume. It takes the horse longer to eat than a normal ration of hard feed.
It contains a lot of water which increases the sensation of fullness, and it fills the digestive tube (limits the consumption of straw).
It has a slightly laxative effect, it limits the risk of colic by acting on digestive transit.

Mash can also be recommended for weakened horses or suffering from dental or digestive ailments, or for convalescing horses as a transition feed.
However :

Mash does not have abalanced mineral content (composed mainly of cereal it is high in Phosporous, low in calcium). It should not be overused… or the lack of calcium should be corrected with adequate mineral supplements.
A horse’s feed should be a routine : it is not good to completely change this routine one day/week. (food transistion should be implemented).
It has a « washout » effect on the digestive tube.
Take care when preparing it : both man and horse could be exposed to the risk of scalding !

A few basic remarks

Observing the horse’s droppingscan give a lot of information on the quality of the horse’s digestion : smell, texture, humidity, presence of long fibers, whole grain….
Rolled or crushed cereals are more subject to becoming stale or to fermentation : be careful of storage conditions and rapidity with which they are consumed after preparation.
Be mindful of mistakes in distribution, the preparation changes the cereals density ! For example a litre of whole oats = 500g ; 1 litre of rolled oats = 220g !