What to Actually Feed Your Horse (And Why Hay Alone Isn't Enough)
Horses evolved to graze. They are designed to eat small amounts of forage almost continuously — not two large grain meals a day. Most of the digestive and behavioral problems common in domesticated horses trace back to feeding practices that don't match that basic design.
Forage First: The Foundation of Every Horse's Diet
The horse's digestive system is built around fermentation of fibrous plant material in a large hindgut. That process requires a near-constant supply of forage to function correctly. When a horse goes more than 4 to 6 hours without forage, stomach acid — which the horse produces continuously — has nothing to buffer it. Gastric ulcers are a direct consequence of intermittent feeding schedules.
Good quality grass hay or mixed hay should form the base of most horses' diets. The minimum for an adult horse at maintenance is roughly 1 to 2 percent of body weight in dry forage per day — around 10 to 20 pounds for a 1,000 pound horse. Horses in heavy work, breeding, or poor body condition need more.
The Problem With Grain
Grain is calorie-dense and easily digestible in the small intestine. When fed in large amounts, the excess passes into the hindgut where it ferments rapidly, disrupting the microbial balance and causing lactic acid buildup. This is the mechanism behind grain overload, a serious condition that can trigger colic or laminitis — a painful inflammation of the hoof structures that can cause permanent lameness.
Horses that need more energy than hay provides — performance horses, horses in hard training, nursing mares — should get it through additional forage first, then small, frequent grain meals rather than large ones. The standard recommendation is no more than 5 pounds of concentrate per feeding and no more than 0.5 percent of body weight in concentrate per day.
Salt and Water
Horses require sodium chloride daily and cannot obtain adequate amounts from forage alone. A plain white salt block available free-choice covers the baseline requirement. Horses in heavy work that sweat significantly lose more electrolytes and may need supplemental electrolytes in feed or water.
Water access should be constant. An adult horse at rest drinks 5 to 10 gallons per day. Working or lactating horses drink significantly more. Restricted water access reduces feed intake, decreases performance, and increases colic risk.
Supplements
Most horses eating good quality forage do not need supplements. The exceptions are horses on specific diets (all-hay with no pasture access), horses in hard work, breeding stock, growing horses, and horses with documented deficiencies. A hay analysis from a feed testing laboratory is the most accurate way to identify what a specific horse's diet is actually providing and what it lacks.
Sources
- Merck Veterinary Manual — Nutritional Requirements of Horses — Forage requirements, grain risks, and water intake standards
- University of Minnesota Extension — Hay for Horses — Hay quality, minimum forage requirements, and feeding frequency
- Kentucky Equine Research — Equine Gastric Ulcer Syndrome — How intermittent feeding causes gastric ulcers in horses
- RSPCA — Horse diet and feeding — Welfare-based feeding standards and forage-first guidelines
Products That Help
Our Slow Feed Hay Net extends eating time by making horses work for forage — reducing the idle time between feedings that contributes to ulcers and boredom. Browse it in our Horses collection.
For horse vitamins, electrolytes, and feed analysis services, search horse supplements on Amazon.
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