What do horses eat?

Horses are herbivores and, as such, they need a very specific diet. They must consume lots of fibre to keep their extremely long and sensitive digestive tract working and they must eat little and often, almost all day long. In simple terms, horses eat grass and hay or haylage, but salt, concentrates and fruits or vegetables can also enhance their diets, depending on the required work regime and available feed.

What do horses eat?

Horses naturally want to graze all day and should eat little and often. Here are our top types of horse feed:

• Grass – horses love grass. It’s their natural food and great for their digestive system (although beware of your horse eating too much lush grass in spring as this can cause laminitis). Ensure you also fully clear from your pasture any plants that could be harmful to horses, such as ragwort, which is very common in the UK.
• Hay or haylage – keeps your horse full and its digestive system working, particularly in the cooler months from autumn to early spring when pasture isn’t available.
• Fruit or vegetables – these add moisture to the feed. A carrot cut lengthways is ideal. There are some fruits and vegetables you should avoid though – see the type of feeds horses shouldn’t eat section below.
• Concentrates – if your horse is old, young, nursing, pregnant or competing, your vet may recommend concentrates, which are grains like oats, barley and corn. These give your horse energy. Be aware that these can be dangerous if you mix the wrong amounts or combinations, causing mineral imbalances.
• Salt – it is good to offer your horse a salt lick block or loose salt in a separate container in a pasture. Many owners find that horses love eating salt in the summer months.

Type of feeds horses shouldn’t eat

What horses eat can seriously affect their health. So, as well as making sure your horse is eating small quantities of food, you also need to ensure you avoid feeding your horse the following:

• Lots of fruit snacks/treats – these can cause colic, obesity, and may lead to serious health problems, including the painful foot problem laminitis. Ensure you don’t feed your horse more than one or two wedges of fruit, such as an apple, or one or two carrots a day. Also make sure your horse isn’t grazing near an orchard or fruit tree in season and put up signs on fences asking members of the public not to feed your horse or give it treats.
• Stone fruits – if not pitted these could cause your horse to choke.
• Chocolate or other sugary foods – although your horse will enjoy eating it, these high sugar foods are not needed and could lead to health problems or obesity.
• Bread and cakes – these could cause a blockage in a horse’s digestive tract.
• Meat – this can be harmful to your horse in the long term and they just don’t need it from a nutritional perspective.
• Vegetables in the cabbage family – turnips, cabbages, kale, broccoli, Brussels sprouts etc will leave your horse feeling real discomfort and will make them very gassy.
• Potatoes and tomatoes – these members of the Nightshade family should not be fed to horses.
• Garden waste – there are so many risks from garden clippings, including plants, weeds and toxins from garden sprays that may be poisonous. Although giving horses freshly cut grass might seem like a good idea, you can’t be sure what other garden waste could be in there and your horse might eat the grass much more quickly than if naturally grazing. Colic could be a result.
• Mouldy or dusty hay – this can damage your horse’s lungs.
• Brans – are not good for horses and should be avoided unless they are needed for a specifically prescribed diet.