Feeding a horse correctly

Horses are herbivores and spend an average of 15-16 hours a day feeding in the wild, in the form of multiple small meals, day and night.

• Its digestive system is adapted to this mode of feeding. This particular type of feeding must be taken into account when preparing daily rations, at the risk of incurring health problems.
• Its teeth, which continuously grow, are adapted to consuming large quantities of forage and fibres, which leads them to wear down regularly. You need to make sure, therefore that the horse has sufficient quantities of food available throughout the day.
• The horse’s stomach is relatively small, adapted to small amounts ingested at each meal several times during the day.  Horses are not ruminants, they swallow their food only after carefully chewing and humidifying it, using their abundant production of saliva. 

The distribution of large meals results in incomplete digestion in the stomach and small intestine, as well as large inputs into the large intestine that can cause colic. Not eating food for a long period of time during the day results in acid build-up in the stomach that contributes towards the creation of potentially very painful stomach ulcers.

• Digestion in the caecum and large intestine involves the many microorganisms that make up the horse’s intestinal flora. This is adapted to what the horse eats and changes progressively according to what they consume.

Respecting the digestion of your horse means giving it regular meals, at set times, divided into at least three meals a day. This ensures that consumption is spread over the day and part of the night. This is especially important for concentrated foods, especially cereals, which if given in too large quantities, are pushed into the large intestine where they ferment, causing very painful colic.

In addition, eating fibre throughout the day ensures that nutrients are consumed more slowly, meeting the horse’s need to chew and ensuring a regular flow of food into the digestive tract. Dietary changes must be gradual to ensure that the flora in the large intestine has time to evolve and be effective. This flora not only feeds on the food but makes it digestible to the horse.
Dietary transitions must take place over several days (concentrated feeds) or even a few weeks (change of forage). Making the transition too rapidly can cause diarrhoea and colic.
 

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Food which is adapted to the horse's needs, must respect the horse's natural feeding behaviour as much as possible.

Horses are herbivores. They eat:

• Pastured grass, potentially 50 to 100 kg gross per day if available and depending on physiological needs
• Preserved forage (hay, baleage and silage, straw)
• Concentrated feeds (various cereal grains or processed feeds containing cereals, meal, co-products, fodder, minerals and vitamins). For more information: how to read a food label

Of course, horses also consume water which must be freely available at all times. Water consumption will depend on the type of horse, but also on the type of feed consumed, its physiological stage (suckling), climatic conditions and any work it is doing.

Horses are also sensitive to the quality of the feed offered. They have a rather sophisticated palate and will tend to refuse spoiled or badly preserved food. However, if such food is consumed, it can cause potentially serious digestive disorders. How to assess the quality of forage ?

Likewise, care must be taken about the dust content in the environment and especially of the horse’s feed. Because a horse is constantly breathing on its food, it can inhale large quantities of particles that can irritate the respiratory system (pollen, soil, moulds and various microorganisms). In the long run, this leads to chronic irritation of the respiratory tract, causing a worsening decline in performance.

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As well as paying attention to the choice of feeds (baleage, hay, flakes, etc.) it might also be a good idea to humidify some feeds just before serving them. Also pay attention to the quality of the horse’s bedding!

Encouraging feeding from the ground also helps the systems that eliminate the particles inhaled by the horse to perform better, due to the downward position of its neck and therefore its trachea.

A horse’s nutrition needs vary depending on the horse’s breed, sex, age, size, physiological stage, temperament and any work it is carrying out. Nutrient intakes should therefore be assessed against all of these criteria (see preparing a ration of feed). For example, a sport pony will not have the same needs as a lactating saddle mare or a draft horse which is resting or working a little.

Observing your horse helps you establish and regularly check that the rations you are providing are appropriate to its needs: weigh the horse to define its needs, and then assess and monitor its body condition (the weight it has put on) at regular intervals.

It is important to adapt a horse’s diet:

• Take into account the amount of grass potentially consumed by a horse which has daily access to a paddock or even a meadow, depending on the season.
• However, don’t forget to supply regular and sufficient forage (at least 1 to 1.5 kg per 100 kg of live weight/day) for horses on artificial bedding. 

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Finally, if you have any doubts or questions, get in touch with a professional, a vet or specialised technician who will be able to advise you.