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How can you tell your horse is healthy and happy?

How could a horse have a balanced diet without grain?

How many times per day should a horse be fed?

Since I was a kid, I’ve heard that horses should eat grain. But you say they shouldn’t?

Ask the Vet Questions about Maintaining a 
Horse's Health

“We will regularly post questions posed by visitors to this site. To get the ball rolling, here are some questions I often get from horse owners. Contact me at smfinfo@SquareMealFeeds.com with your questions.” Dr. Harlan Anderson, DVM.

• How can you tell your horse is healthy and happy?

You can tell a lot by the way the horse looks and acts. An important way you can tell how your horse is doing with its feeding program is by evaluating its temperament. Horses express their dissatisfaction through several behaviors, such as boredom or frustration typified by wood chewing, weaving (standing in place and swaying), stall walking (the horse equivalent of human pacing), and cribbing (arching the neck and sucking air). If you see those symptoms, you need to change your horse’s feeding program.

 

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• How could a horse have a balanced diet without grain?

 I ask people to think about what a horse would eat in the wild, or a hundred years ago. They are made to eat forage, such as grasses. Grains actually disrupt a horse’s digestive process.

 

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• How many times per day should a horse be fed?

Horses need to feed freely and frequently – their stomachs are small compared to body size and cannot hold large amounts of food. Therefore, it’s best to allow horses to choose when to eat by providing free-choice feed, giving them the option to eat small quantities when they’re ready, supplemented with plenty of fresh water (horses can drink five to 10 gallons per day) and free-choice loose salt.

 

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• Since I was a kid, I’ve heard that horses should eat grain. But you say they shouldn’t?

 I hate to tell you, but it’s an old wives’ tale. Over-feeding grain is terrible for the horse