We asked our Head Nutritionist, Kate Hore. RNutr(Animal). R.Anim.Technol (Cert).
It is an understandable question from owners confused on feeding, or looking to simplify their horse or pony’s bucket – don’t horses just eat grass? If they have plenty of field access, and are maintaining condition well, do they really need anything else? To answer the question we need to look both at what the grass can provide, and what your horse or pony needs to get out of it.
The Natural Diet
It is easy to think that horses and ponies evolved to survive on grass, but that is only part of the story, and the modern agricultural grassland that makes up most pasture is a long way from their evolutionary diet. Equids evolved, over millions of years, on wide open plains, principally of Russia and central Europe. Their diet would consist of grasses, but also shrubs, herbs, leaves and tree bark – indeed anything they could get access to. Modern horse retains that heritage and will still spend a considerable amount of time browsing rather than grazing, given the opportunity.
Most pasture is typically very low in biodiversity, and may consist of just one or two grass species and maybe a legume (i.e. clover), giving horses an overly simplistic diet compared to the breadth of what they require for health and vitality. Imagine if we survived on spinach and broccoli alone – they’re both good for us, but hardly a balanced diet alone!
This pony is lucky enough to have access to biodiverse grazing on the Cumbrian fells, and is enjoying tucking into some of the gorse on offer – prickles and all!
Salt
One nutrient that all grazing will lack is salt. Grazing animals evolve with a knowledge of local clays and mineral deposits, and know how to self-select salt for maintenance, but very rarely get the opportunity to in modern turnout. Ensure they have access to a NAF Himalayan Salt lick in both the field and stable, so they can top themselves up with this essential mineral. When working hard, in warm weather and when travelling make sure you upgrade to NAF Electrosalts, as a salt lick alone doesn’t cover all of the essential electrolytes lost in sweat.
Soil Deficiencies
Certain soil deficiencies are recognised in the UK and across mainland Europe. Selenium deficiency is particularly common and, as we see increased rainfall through climate change, is spreading into more areas. We see similar issues with pockets of zinc, copper or magnesium deficiency, particularly through leaching from flood events and high rain fall. It is advised to get your grazing analysed regularly. Don’t rely on one reading as that is just a snapshot in time, and do try to test samples from different parts of your grazing, as a hilly field may be quite different to one on the flat. If you’re on a livery yard, maybe get together with other owners to spread the cost.
If you know, or suspect, that your grazing is not supplying all it needs to it can be tempting to top up just with the specific nutrients identified. Whilst this can be useful in the case of known, acute, deficiencies (particularly selenium), generally we advise using a broad spectrum multi-vitamin which will cover all bases. Concentrating too much on individual nutrients can cause more harm than good, by upsetting critical ratios within the diet.
Too much of a good thing
What grazing does provide, often to excess, is energy, and here we have to take care. Horses and ponies – particularly ponies – can easily intake more than their required amount of energy if allowed free access to pasture, and we may need to put in controls like strip grazing or grazing muzzles to avoid excess weight gain. We can’t blame them. They’re not being greedy. It is simply an evolutionary response to the typical grassland they evolved on. Out in all weathers, and surviving on relatively tough, fibrous grasses – again very different to what they now graze, and modern management regimes.
Weight control, grazing strategies, and the need to regularly stable some horses, imposes a stress on the digestive system that can mean they require additional supplementary support for health, vitality and gut support.
NAF Optimum Balancer provides a broad spectrum of micronutrients to balance the equine diet, together with herbal elements to replace some natural biodiversity, and much needed gut support for diet utilization.
Meeting the Needs of the Modern Horse
Finally we need to consider what we are asking of our horses. Is it reasonable to expect their basis diet of grassland alone to meet those needs? A pasture diet, balanced for micronutrients, can meet the needs of maintenance and light work in horses and ponies. Once the exercise duration and intensity increases then we will find that the base diet is no longer sufficient. After all, their evolutionary diet was sufficient for animals predominantly walking and grazing all day – not hacking out, schooling or competing.
In conclusion, whilst pasture and forages make the ideal natural choice for the basis of the diet, they do need additional targeted feeding to provide all the requirements for health and vitality.
For all horses and ponies on a grazing diet.
Additionally for equine athletes
