As an herbivore, the horse can normally be satisfied with a ration made up of fodder, quite likely to cover its maintenance needs. To qualify these needs, we distinguish:
- the ingestibility which corresponds to the level of voluntary consumption of the animal with this food in self-service;
- the palatability which expresses the gustatory aspect, the attraction that the horse will have for the food in question;
- digestibility, a characteristic of the feed that allows to quantify the part of it that is absorbed in the digestive tract after enzymatic and microbial degradation;
- the composition, which provides the relative richness of the feed in each of the nutrients it contains and allows the mixing of feedstuffs to produce a nutritionally balanced ration.
The horse and green forage
Green fodder comes from the grass of different meadows:
- the so-called natural meadows because of their varied floristic composition. The horse will appreciate English ryegrass, dactyl, arrowgrass, white clover, cretelle but will accept much less dandelion, red clover, fescue, vulpine or plantain.
In its food value, grass is characterized by great variations in relation to the age of the plant (seasons): too young it is too bulky for the stomach, too poor in energy and unbalanced in nitrogen and minerals; too old, it will be too rich in insoluble fiber.
For grasses, the optimal feeding value is at the beginning of the season and before the heading, while for legumes, the best stage is when the flower buds appear. In artificial grasslands, the farmer will choose the floral composition according to his region and to preserve palatability and nutritional value.
Preserved fodder
For preserved fodder, the feed value will depend on the composition of the green fodder on the ground at the time of cutting, and then on the conditions of preservation (tanning, ensilage…)
The horse and hay
The feed value of a hay will always be lower than that of the green fodder from which it is made. Its quality will be appreciated, in addition to food analyses, specifying the nutritional value, by the human senses:
- sight (proportion of leaves to stems, fineness of stems, color, dust)
- touch (softness, absence of prickly plants)
- smell (good smell of classic hay).
These hays are most often distributed to horses in a long form (in standardized bales). To allow their incorporation into compound feeds, they can also be packaged in pellets (called condensed hay), in plugs (compacted hay without crushing) or in the form of cakes (compressed fodder).
The horse and straw
Straw is not a real food for the horse but an element that allows him to escape from his boredom in the stable. If the choice is available, oat straw is preferred, as it is less cellulosic, while wheat straw is the most used. A good straw is sometimes better than a bad hay!
The horse and silage
Silage is a method of preserving green fodder that is widely used for ruminants and more rarely for horses. After having been packed and covered with a hermetic tarpaulin to eliminate oxygen as quickly as possible, the forage rapidly undergoes fermentative degradation which acidifies the environment and blocks any further alteration, a bit like obtaining sauerkraut.
The horse and cereals
With the increase in energy requirements linked to the physiological states of the horse, grains have become more important in the horse’s daily diet. Among these, oats are mistakenly considered to be a staple food for the equine species; it should be noted that in most countries, they are absent from the ration! Oats are simply a medium energy grain, richer in proteins and cellulose than other grains and with stimulating tonic properties for “cold” horses, which have not been scientifically proven. It is also less rich in starch which, considering the low enzymatic digestion of raw starch in horses, makes it an interesting cereal.
Corn, which is widely used in the United States, provides excellent results (when distributed in a ground form) and has the best energy density.
Barley, the basis of the Middle Eastern and North African horse diet, must also be flattened or crushed before distribution; it can be used soaked or even germinated. In the past, barley was stripped of its bran to distribute a “hulled” or “pearled” barley.
Wheat, finally, contains a very fermentable starch which imposes to ration it in a stricter way especially since its richness in gluten can generate the formation of dough in the digestive tract.
The horse and the grains
Among the milling products, wheat bran can be used for its emollient properties in the digestive tract, thus facilitating intestinal transit.
The horse and roots and tubers
The succulent or sweet foods that are roots and tubers have above all the role of “refreshing” the animals that only consume a dry diet without green fodder and of exciting their appetite. Carrots, a sweet and succulent food, are particularly appreciated by horses.
Beets are a cheap equivalent to carrots, while potatoes will improve their palatability and digestibility by cooking (beware of the danger of green or rotten tubers). Particularly appetizing and nutritious, carob (a pod from the legume family) can be used without any inconvenience by distributing it crushed and mixed with other foods to avoid the risk of choking accidents. It is used in the composition of many elaborated foods (pellets and flakes).
Phytotherapy allows the use of certain plants to prevent certain diseases or to strengthen the horse’s immune system.
The horse, seeds, and cakes
Protein seeds (peas, beans) are rich in protein and lysine, and are used for broodmares. Oilseeds (soya, flax, sunflower) provide fats that increase energy concentration, but soya and flax should be used after cooking to destroy their anti-nutritional or toxic factors. Among the oil cakes (residues obtained after extraction of the oil from oilseeds), soybean and sunflower cakes can easily be used for their protein content.
The horse and elaborated feeds: the complete feed
Although the horse’s diet is traditionally based on a combination of forage and oats, the constant search for a better nutritional balance is leading more to the use of complementary compound feeds or specialized complete feeds.
The complete feed, as its name indicates, ensures the coverage of the horse’s nutritional needs by allowing a perfect adaptation of the feed formula to the horse’s physiological state. It is therefore particularly suitable for feeding competition horses.
As this type of feed is by nature concentrated and therefore quick to ingest, the animal’s mental food hygiene, to prevent the appearance of tics, will require
- the provision of palatable hay, if possible, in a net;
- the multiplication of the number of daily meals.
It will then be possible to make the most of this elaborate and balanced diet:
- nutritional balance;
- ease of storage and preservation
- excellent palatability;
- reliable and stable food value;
- rapid distribution with minimal risk of error.
Supplementary feeds are designed to correct imbalances in a basic ration of forage and grain and should be used as such after a precise ration sheet has been drawn up.
There are also treats specially designed for horses, which are more educational and entertaining.
If reading the label of an elaborate feed provides useful information and is subject to strict legislation, we advise you to choose a feed by taking your time and asking the manufacturer directly for the technical and scientific information deemed useful.
As an herbivore with a very particular and fragile digestive tract, the horse requires a careful, balanced, and rational diet that integrates the evolution of its nutritional needs as well as its behavioral characteristics. The classic combination of hay and oats is not a panacea and should only be considered as an outdated tradition. Progress in equine nutrition research over the last 20 years has led to the emergence of a range of complete or complementary feeds that now provide all the guarantees needed to obtain a safe, effective, reliable, and practical ration.
This is a fascinating and complex issue for the veterinarian, especially for those who, as a nutritionist, are trying to understand the physiological functioning of a digestive system that has been poorly designed by its creator… or by evolution!
The horse is fragile despite its appearance, to the point of rarely tolerating mistakes. For those who seek and teach, the horse can only attract the mind and motivate knowledge, to contribute to the evolution of certain mentalities that make tradition a prerequisite to any scientific evolution.
This horse, which often crosses my path on the site of the National Veterinary School of Alfort or, unfortunately, sometimes that of my activity of Veterinary Fireman within the Brigade of Firemen of Paris, deserves respect and passion, and that a work, of such a quality of content and form is dedicated to him, was well the least of the possible tributes.
The horse athlete gradually replaced the steam horse after the Second World War. It is obvious that the technical progress that has surrounded the human athlete has been progressively applied to the race and sport horse. These elements allow us today to have serious bases on how to manage our high level equine athletes, with in particular many recent studies on their nutrition.
Having practiced veterinary medicine for 12 years on leisure horses as well as on sports horses and having had the chance to be in contact with their riders, their grooms or their breeders, many lessons have enabled us to write these texts on the nutrition of the horse athlete and the art of feeding his horse well. Feeding is a subject that requires a lot of theoretical knowledge, undoubtedly unpleasant, but it also requires a lot of common sense, feeling and contact with the individual horse. This information on digestive physiology and nutrition considers field experience, human and equine contacts, but also very recent scientific publications, which will allow you to better understand this extraordinary athlete.
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