Feeding Horses: The Basics

THE ESSENTIAL ROLES OF WATER, FORAGE, AND FEED.

A well-balanced diet is essential for every horse's health and well-being. Whether your horse is a competitive athlete, a trail riding partner, or a cherished pet, meeting their dietary needs is vital for their longevity and overall quality of life, and may require more intentional management than you’d expect! The equine diet revolves around three key components: water, forage, and feed. Each of these plays a distinct role in keeping your horse healthy, hydrated, and energized for daily activities.

Let’s break down these components and explore why each one matters—and how to make informed decisions to support your horse’s nutritional needs.

1. Water: The Forgotten Nutrient

Surprisingly, water is often ignored in discussions about equine nutrition, yet it is the most vital nutrient in the equine diet. Horses can survive significantly longer without food than without water, much like humans. Dehydration can cause a variety of serious health problems, from lethargy and muscle cramps to colic, heat stroke, kidney failure, and even death in severe cases.

How Much Water Do Horses Need?

On average, a healthy adult horse drinks between 6 and 18 gallons of water daily, although actual intake depends on several important factors:

• Water Quality and Palatability: Clean, algae-free water encourages horses to drink more. Some horses can be sensitive to taste changes that may be caused by algae content or new water sources (e.g., during travel), while others adapt easily.
• Water Temperature: Research shows horses prefer water between 45°F and 65°F. In cold weather, they’ll drink more if the water is warmed. In hot weather, cool water is preferred.
• Activity Level: Horses lose water through sweat and increased respiration. The more they work, the more they need to rehydrate.
• Feed Type: Horses grazing on fresh pasture consume less drinking water because grass is high in moisture (up to 80%). Hay and grain-based diets are much drier, prompting increased thirst.
• Health Status: Pregnant and lactating mares need significantly more water. Certain medical conditions, such as Cushing’s Disease or PPID, or kidney dysfunction, can also increase or alter water intake.

Encouraging Better Hydration

To support proper hydration:

• Provide clean, fresh water daily
• Control water temperature with tank heaters in winter or shaded troughs in summer
• Supplement with electrolytes when needed (especially in heat or heavy work).
  • Consider ULTIMATE RECOVERY™ as a palatable option for electrolyte supplementation!
• Offer loose salt in the diet—about 1 to 2 tablespoons per day for an average 1,000-pound horse—to stimulate thirst. Unlike cattle, horses can’t get adequate salt intake from salt blocks due to their smooth tongues.

2. Forage: The Foundation of the Horse’s Diet

Forage—whether it’s pasture, hay, pellets, or cubes—should be the main source of nutrition for all horses. Their digestive systems are specifically designed to digest large amounts of fiber through a process called hindgut fermentation.

In the hindgut, billions of beneficial microbes (also known as bacteria) break down plant fibers, producing volatile fatty acids that horses absorb and use as energy.

How Much Forage Should a Horse Eat?

The general recommendation is that horses consume 1.5% to 2.5% of their body weight in forage daily. For a 1,000-pound horse, this equals 15 to 25 pounds of hay or forage each day.

To monitor intake:

• Weigh your hay
  • You can do so using a fish scale and a hay net, or a luggage scale and a laundry basket
• Aim to maximize forage intake – it promotes digestive health, provides energy, and prevents boredom or behavioral issues
• Whenever feasible, offer free-choice access to hay or pasture unless your veterinarian or nutritionist advises differently (i.e., obesity, metabolic disorders)

3. Feed: Cereal Grains and Commercial Products

Once a horse’s forage and water needs are satisfied, feed can supplement additional energy, protein, vitamins, and minerals. “Feed” is a loosely defined term in the equine industry and can mean anything from cereal grains to modern commercial feed products, depending on management styles.

Types of Feed

Cereal grains historically fed to horses, like corn, oats, and barley, are high in energy but lack many essential nutrients. They must be processed (e.g., crimped, cracked, or steam-flaked) to improve digestibility.

Commercial feed products are usually pelleted, textured, or extruded and are formulated to be nutritionally complete when fed as directed. Many are fortified with essential vitamins, minerals, and amino acids.

It is important to emphasize that not all commercial feeds are created equal—some are merely mixtures of processed cereal grains that require feed rates over 10 pounds daily to meet your horse's nutritional needs, and may be milled with the same equipment as medicated cattle feed (increasing your horse's risk of toxin ingestion). Responsible commercial equine feed producers offer products formulated by equine nutritionists, specifically designed to support horses of various life stages, such as performance horses, senior horses, or those diagnosed with metabolic conditions. These products will fulfill your horse's daily protein, vitamin, and mineral requirements when fed as directed, and typically will do so in a much smaller volume of feed than cereal grain mixes.

It is crucial to consider the medication and ionophore status of your feed manufacturer. BUCKEYE Nutrition™ is proud to be a 100% equine-focused, 100% medication-free manufacturer of premium equine nutrition products.

When and Why to Use Feed

Feed becomes essential when:

• Your forage alone doesn’t meet calorie or nutrient demands
• It is rare to find forage capable of meeting our horses' vitamin and mineral needs, even for horses in no work who are easy keepers.
  • Ration balancers may be appropriate in these scenarios!
• Your horse has a high workload or is underweight
  • Feed concentrates may be appropriate in this scenario.
• You’re feeding growing horses, pregnant or lactating mares, or breeding stallions
• Your forage quality is poor, limited, or your horse can no longer adequately chew hay
  • Complete feeds may be ideal products to use in this situation!

Building a Balanced Equine Diet

A superior equine diet relies on a solid foundation of clean water, plenty of forage, and suitable feed for your horse's body weight and workload. Each of these three elements is crucial to maintaining your horse’s overall health. While water and forage maintain hydration and a healthy gut environment, feed addresses nutritional gaps that your forage alone might not cover.

By understanding how these components work together, owners can make informed, proactive choices to help ensure their horse thrives, no matter their lifestyle or workload.

When in doubt, please reach out to us through our Contact Us page, and our nutrition advisors would be happy to help you develop a tailored diet, unique to your horse's nutritional needs.