Newsdate: February 17, 2025 11:30 am
Location: GILROY, California
The horse's digestive system and its nutritional requirements have not changed since it was domesticated thousands of years ago. In fact, the horse's digestive system continues to obtain maximum nutritional benefit from a diet of high fiber and low energy grasses and hay. A basic knowledge of horse nutrition can help you provide a cost-effective and complete diet for your horse's natural state,.
In the horse's natural state, he will spend most of the hours of the day grazing from plant to plant while ingesting various kinds of grasses and plants. When the horse became domesticated, it became dependent upon its owner for its feed, usually at the convenience of the owner or handler. This meant that the horse was given a large amount of feed usually twice a day.
Unfortunately, the horse's digestive system has not had time to evolve to meet these new demands of larger feedings at given times, and, as a result, horses have a number of problems related to feeding and their digestive system.
Since a horse is unable to vomit or belch, consuming too much feed too rapidly can have disastrous consequences for the horse. The customary way of feeding horses large quantities twice a day can be unhealthy and possibly dangerous. Because the horse's colon bends back upon itself numerous times, it leads to greater utilization of the roughage in the horse's feed, but can also cause digestive problems when a horse is not fed properly.
One of the first natural needs of the horse that we need to recognize as owners and handlers is the fact that horses need small amounts of feed frequently throughout the day to maintain a healthy digestive system.
Feeding guidelines for more natural nutrition
- A diet of high quality hay or grass will provide the energy and protein that a non-working horse requires. Remember that there are big differences between legume hay such as alfalfa and clover and grass-type hays such as Bermuda and Timothy. Consider giving your horse a tree branch or a branch from an edible shrub occasionally to help keep its teeth in working order. Educate yourself about available feeds and use your knowledge to choose wisely for your horse. If a horse is in training or is ridden frequently, you may want to supplement the diet with grain.
- Feed your horse as frequently throughout the day as possible. If necessary incorporate automatic feeders and waters into your system. Although not "natural" they will allow for a more grazing-like timing of feeding that will better meet the digestive requirements of your horse.
- When feeding hay, weigh it to make sure you are giving your horse the correct amount for its needs and, if possible, place the hay in several small piles either at ground level or slightly above to allow your horse to assume a better position when eating in a more natural grazing manner. Place the hay on in low feeders or on rubber mats or other protective surfaces if you are afraid your horse will ingest sand or dirt.
- Choose your hay wisely since all hay is not the same. Good hay is leafy as opposed to having too many stems. It will be a light green color as opposed to brown or dark. It will have a fresh, sweet smell with no moldy or musty odor and will contain a minimum of weeds and debris. A variety of hays and grasses from different sources should be fed to help prevent nutritional deficiencies as a result of hay grown in deficient soil
- If your horse's work level makes feeding grain necessary, feed a natural grain diet instead of heavily processed feeds. Supplementing your horses diet with oats, corn or barley, or a combination of mixed grains works well for most horse owners. Pay attention to well-researched advances in feed science, and be sure to purchase quality grain and feed according to the needs of your particular horse.
- Horses should have access to a free-choice salt and trace mineral product formulated for horses. Most horses instinctively limit themselves to what their bodies need when it comes to salt and trace minerals. In some cases, your veterinarian may recommend supplementing your horse's diet with other minerals and vitamins. These should be given directly to make sure that the horse gets the right amount at the right time.
- When providing water for your horse, follow nature as closely as possible with low troughs or bowls that allow the horse to drink closer to the ground. Always make sure that troughs or bowls are clean and algae-free and contain plenty of fresh, clean, palatable water. Occasionally allow the trough or water bowl to overflow to give the horse's hooves an occasional moisturizing bath especially in warm dry weather. Don't over do letting your horse stand in water; however, because too many wet-dry episodes can lead to drying, cracking hooves.