Do you know the #1 cause of horse death is colic?
It’s sad. More so because the majority of colics are preventable.
How do we prevent colic?
1) Feed horses horse-appropriate food
2) Don’t feed horses anything but horse-appropriate food.
So what is horse appropriate food? In a single word…hay.
Horses are designed to eat coarse, fibrous hay. Grass hay. No rye, no alfalfa, no clover.
They are not designed to eat any grains. (including grain hays, like oat, barley, or wheat hays)
As soon as you feed the horse grain, the microorganisms of the gut are devastated, due to the sudden pH change.
Grain will cause the die-off of the majority of microorganisms needed for hay digestion.
Which means:
Once your horse has gulped its grain, the gut pH and microorganisms are trashed.
Then, he or she eats the hay.
But now the hay is no longer easily digestible…because the hay microorganisms have died.
Studies have shown it takes about 18 hours for the horse to correct the pH and make enough hay-digesting microorganisms.
But by then, the horse has had more grain.
Meanwhile, the grain-digesting microorganisms create a lot of gas. This can cause gas colic, and potentially torsions from large gas bubbles.
We can avoid all this by just feeding grass hay. 24/7 access to as many types of grass hay as you can get.
Let me know if you have any questions.
Here’s to no more colic!
Renee Tucker, DVM
PS: For more details on this, and everything else a horse needs, please see my Happy Horse Mini Course
FAQs for hay, feeding, pellets, pasture
PELLETS
No pellets for three reasons: 1) they are mostly high heat processed. High heat denatures proteins, so that’s not good. 2) pellets stay in their shape because of microplastics and 3) horses need some long strands of fiber for best digestion.
WILD HORSE DIET
Wild horses don’t eat hay, correct. However what they do eat is sparse, tough, fibrous, many species of grasses. Of course they’ll also eat some bark, weeds, and dig for minerals and salt.
The closest we can get to their wild diet is hay.
Typical lush green pasture is not fibrous. It almost “melts in the mouth”. It needs different microorganisms than regular sparse fibrous grass. So feeding pasture with hay defeats the purpose of balanced microorganisms for the gut.
TEFF
Teff is ok. Some horses seem to do well on it, particularly if they have other grass species of hay as well. (no rye, no alfalfa, no clover)
But other horses don’t do that well on Teff. It seems to depend on how it is grown/cut/fertilized; and sometimes has high oxalates as well.
WEIGHT GAIN/HARD KEEPERS
My question is, what should I do for my hard keeper, if oats and alfalfa are not ideal.
If a horse is thin, should one continue to just feed hay?
For hard keepers, it can get tricky. Three basic things:
1) 24/7 access to multiple species of grass hays. (no rye, no alfalfa, no clover)
Studies show that no hay for as little as 4 hours and the gut microorganisms start dying.
2) No grain at all. While tempting to use to put weight on, it changes the pH and actually makes weight gain more difficult.
3) No dewormer. Worms remove heavy metals. Without worms, the liver is overloaded with heavy metals and can’t function well…so it can’t help digest food well.
Some horses still have difficulty if you do all that. Then we need to know if the teeth are still good enough for grinding hay. Sometimes they’ve lost teeth; sometimes they’ve been over-floated, or incorrectly floated so the molars don’t touch. (if the molars can’t touch, they can’t grind hay).
At that point, you’ve got to decide what is best. Generally start with hay cubes, and potentially hay pellets.
If there’s still trouble, then it’s not the diet, per se. It’s something else not functioning well in the horse. So then you need a TBT practitioner. :)
GIVING SUPPLEMENTS WITH NO GRAIN
How do you recommend giving supplements without grain to make a mash? Are Timothy pellets a good alternative or soaked grass hay cubes?
For supplements, the first question is….does the horse need supplements?
In the ideal world (I know we don’t live there, but we should consider it), horses would go about in nature and eat whatever bark, weed, mineral, they need.
Therefore, I generally suggest free-choice loose salt, separate free-choice minerals, and even ideally free choice plants.
If the horse must have supplements, then yes soaked grass hay cubes would be best.
USING SINGLE TYPE GRASS HAY/CAN’T FIND MIXED HAY
I’m in northern California and mixed species hay is nearly impossible to find. When I do find it, it always has rye in it.
I can find single species grass hay such as orchard, Timothy, and teff. Would you recommend buying what single species grass hay I can and mixing them together?
Yes, it is tough to find mixed species, also called mixed meadow hay in some places.
It is totally fine to get the single-type grass hay bales, and mix them together.
If that is too difficult, some people just alternate the type at each feeding.
Although, ideally horses should have these multiple grass hay types available free-choice 24/7.
NON-GRAIN FEEDS
Is a forage based, non- grain feed ok to feed?
Sort of. It will work if that’s all you’ve got.
1) I’ve looked at the ingredients of some of these bags, and they often add things that aren’t good. So while a grass hay may be the first ingredient (yay!), they can add other not-so-good ingredients like soybean, or legumes (not good for horses).
2) The super-short chopped grasses are less desirable than a horse eating longer grass hay. When the horse chews, the hay is obviously chopped up into shorter bits. However, when the horse chews, saliva is added to the hay. Moistening it and getting digestion started before the horse even swallows.
It is also less likely to get compacted when the horse chews the long fibers.
SHOULD FEED SUPPLEMENTS FOR SPECIFIC PROBLEMS
If my horse is healing from a bone and ligament injury, should I be feeding those supplements that supposedly target that kind of healing? Or just hay?
This question depends a bit on the horse. If the horse’s immune system and healing mechanisms are strong, then just hay. A healthy horse can easily heal from a bone and ligament injury.
However, if there are underlying conditions affecting the horse’s ability to heal, then supplements may be necessary.
BEET PULP
Is soaked beet pulp also a danger?
Yes. Beet pulp is not good for horses. It is washed with chemicals (no matter what the internet says). It is also high in oxalates, which are not good for horses. I realize it may appear that horses gain weight when given beet pulp. That is “water weight” that the horse is using to dilute the chemicals from the beet pulp.
ALFALFA
I thought alfalfa was recommended for ulcers. No?
Many people and vets (and so many articles on the internet) say this. The reason they do is because of ONE study that theorized extra calcium from giving alfalfa might be good. No proof given whatsoever. Alfalfa has too high protein. Horses should have grass hay, which is around 9% protein. Alfalfa has 18-22% protein. Alfalfa also has an imbalanced Calcium:Phosphorus ratio. Horses Ca:Phos normally is 1:1. In alfalfa hay, that ratio is 1: 27 (often higher!). This means that when you give alfalfa, you effectively create a calcium deficiency within the horse.
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