As herbivores horses have a natural diet consisting of constant pasture grass eating. A good pasture will contain all the nutrients that a horse needs to function normally on a daily basis.
Most horses can survive on sparse rations and often must make do with less than suitable pastures and living conditions. This proves that while horses obviously need to be well looked after by their owners, it doesn’t take much to keep horses healthy and in good stead.
What this does not mean for horse owners is that they should do the bare minimum for their horses by providing a pasture and nothing else as their entire dietary plan. There are many different foods that do not fall under a grazing pasture that are fantastic for horses and their general health.
By incorporating some of the following foods into your horse’s diet you can avoid chronic problems and health issues such as obesity, metabolic syndromes, and laminitis.
A varied diet is also generally healthy for your horse.
1. Hay: if you want to give your horses a bit of food variety and in order to ensure that they aren’t just eating grass every single day you can add hay into their everyday diet.
Hay normally contains all of the essential vitamins and minerals that horses need to stay healthy although it might be smart to have your hay tested for shortfalls as supplements can then be added to improve the overall diet of your horse.
2. Salts and Minerals: Salts and Minerals can be added as a supplement to any food-based diet that your horse might currently be operating on.
A loose salt block can be added to pastures for grazing or hay and is extremely healthy and tasty for horses who may have a craving. You can hang it up and go, leaving you time to play at https://roulettecanada.com/ without worrying about their nutritional intake in this department.
3. Grains: Grains that are grown for humans with modern techniques are not naturally good for horses and as such finding good grains which are consumable for horses might be a bit tricky.
However, grains do not really require any chewing time for horses and as such are great foods that do not contribute to dental issues and mouth ulcers for your horse.
Natural oats are a traditional grain to feed to horses and are the closest food that a wild horse would eat if not tamed and living under human care. Grains can be used as a supplement to provide energy to a working horse.
4. Cut Corn/Maize: Corn is generally fed to farm animals such as pigs and cows but is also a healthy source of energy for your horse. It also contains a fair amount of fibre, which is essential to a healthy diet for a horse because of their long digestive tracts.
Maize however is not healthy in portions that are too large for horses and as such should be fed restrictively as it isn’t always easily digestible.
5. Treats: if you want to spoil your horse there are some treats that are relatively healthy for them.
These include apples, carrots, cubed sugar, and boiled eggs to name a few.