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Horse Health- Why Do we Feed Grain?

The opinions and views of this blog is for information and entertainment only and should not be used as a substitute for seeking advice from your veterinarian about your horse and your situation. Specific advice may only be given after a valid veterinary - client - patient relationship is made.Grain is a supplement. 

If a horse could eat all the grass and hay he wanted to in a day, he would generally meet the caloric requirements needed to maintain his weight.  But if you raced, plowed, Pony Expressed, or pulled the stage coach, then he would need more calories.  Grain – also known as sugar – supplies these extra calories.

But wait – how much should your horse weigh?  Google “horse body condition score” and print out the results.  This score goes from 1 (on death’s door step) to 9 (so fat he would float like a fishing bob in a pond).  5 is ideal.  Take a moment and think of all the diseases your horse could suffer from if he were a 7 or 8……. Arthritis, navicular syndrome, metabolic disease, Cushings, lethargy, over active (bucking), and the list goes on.  Guess where we vets make the money?

Now take a moment to think of all the conditions associated with a 5 or 4……… that’s right.  The local experts telling you how guilty you should be for neglecting your horse.  What kind of mother are you?  Let me ask you this.  Why do we spend billions trying to make ourselves thin, then take our remaining money and try to fatten our horses???

Here are 3 things to remember:

1)Horses are continuous eaters and NOT meal takers.  The proof is that they have no gall bladder.  Meal takers such as humans, dogs, cats, cows, pigs, deer – almost all mammals – need to store their bile in a sack (gall bladder) for digestive use after consuming a meal.  If you take all food away from a horse for a day, his gums will turn yellow with bile (jaundice).
2)Horses are supposed to become thin during the winter months when food is scarce, then fatten up with the spring grass growth.  I do not condone starving your horse in the winter, but keeping your horse fat during the winter will only lead to obesity in the summer.
3)Each horse is an individual.  Some exist on air (read pony or mini) while many Thoroughbreds are hard keepers and require lots of grain in addition to hay and grass. 

I have owned a hard keeper and he was always thin.  The rest of my horses are plump eating only grass and Triple Crown Safe Starch Grass Forage (an excellent guaranteed low sugar hay).  NO GRAIN

So unless you are really working your horse, please limit the grain you feed.  Use your eye and compare your horse to the ones pictured in the body condition score.

Equine Dentistry Without Drama™ Articles by Geoff Tucker, DVM is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License.
Based on a work at www.theequinepractice.com.
Blog by Geoff Tucker, DVM is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.