Horses are herbivores that feed on vegetation. This means their food may include pasture plants, tender grass, hay, grains, concentrate mixes, and treats such as carrots. If you have any of these vegetation available, you can feed it to your horse. However, more grass and hay should be fed to your horse. They contain the best-balanced diet that your horse would need. This is not to say that grains and concentrate mixes are not also beneficial. They are also beneficial for your horse but do not contain as much balanced diet as compared to fresh grass and hay. Your horse should enjoy eating these meals.
What do horses eat in the wild?
In the wild, horses feed on different types of food. They roam about looking for fresh grass to graze. Horses in the wild can spend about 15 hours a day looking for good vegetation to feed on. In the winter, a wild horse would use its paw to lightly dig up the ground until it can vegetation it would feed on.
They are always located in areas where there is availability of water. To find them, look out for where there is availability of grass and water in the wild, then you can find a horse stuck out in the wild. When they are in the wild, they do not stay away from their food and water, they generally roam to and fro within that same region. They do that it would mean their lives when they leave these regions, so they remain there.
What do horses eat for breakfast?
For breakfast, horses can have fresh grass. However, if fresh grass is not available, you could feed your horse with hay. Hay is grass that has been cut off and left to dry. So, hay is equally as nutritious to a diet as fresh grass. When feeding your horse, you want to make sure that the grass or hay that you feed it is free from unnecessary dirt. When the diet contains dirt, it could be detrimental to the health of your horse. If fresh grass or hay is not available for your horse to feed on, you can equally feed your horse grains for breakfast. Grains are a nice meal choice for a horse. A horse enjoys eating grains. So, you can feed grains to your horse to get the best out of it in the morning.
What can horses eat and not eat
So far in this article, we have seen the various diet options that a horse can eat. We’ve learned that diets such as fresh grass, hay, grains, concentrate mixes, and treats are great meal choices for your horse. Let’s check out some food choices that cannot be eaten by a horse:
1. Meat
Horses are herbivores. This means that they only feed on plants and plant-based food. So, meat might not be the right choice for a meal for your horse. Some horses may not reject eating meat, but this doesn’t mean that it should be a meal option for them. Meat is not suitable for your horse because your horse’s digestive system is built to break down plants and not meat so feeding it with meat may not be the right choice for your horse.
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2. Fruits
Fruits can be helpful to your dog as treats. However, regular consumption of fruits may not be suitable for your horse. This can cause health complications for your horse and may lead to severe breakdown.
3. Dairy
Dairy products such as milk are not helpful to your horse. Horses are generally lactose intolerant. So, feeding your horse with milk is not the best option for it.
FAQ
What type of food do horses eat?
Horses are herbivores. They eat mainly plants and plant-based food. So, feed your horse with grass or hay. If fresh grasses are not available, you can feed your grass with hay. Your horse would love you if you feed it. You can feed it a large amount of grass or hay because horses (mature horses) have quite a large appetite.
What is a horse’s favorite food?
A horse’s favorite food is grass. Horses cannot help but feed on fresh grass. However, hays, treats, concentrate mixes and grains are also foods that appeal to the horse. Your horse should feed on a variety of diets. So feed your horse with food that has been listed above.
Do horses eat any meat?
Some horses may tolerate meat. However, it should not be offered as food to your horse regularly. This is because the horse digestive system is built to only accept and break down vegetation. So, feeding your horse with a regular supply of meat might do more harm than good to your horse.
Can horses eat bread?
Bread is also delicious for horses. You can feed your horse with bread. However, remember that it should not be given regularly as a substitute for grass or hay. Bread should be fed to your horse occasionally and nothing more.
Can horses eat bananas?
You can feed your horse with a banana. Since banana is also kind of a vegetation, your horse would enjoy eating them. You can also feed your horse with a banana with the skin included. It still makes for a great diet option for your horse.
Conclusion
Horses are precious animals. So, taking notes of what to feed your horse should be the first thing you should consider before getting a horse. Gladly, this article has provided the much-needed information that you would need.
