Feeding: Keeping Your Horse Healthy

Anyone who is interested in horses will know that they are magnificent creatures that need a lot of looking after. There are a lot of guides out there on how to get to know your new horse, how to muck them out and how you can learn to ride professionally. Learning to get to know your horse is important, but what’s more important is getting to know how to keep your horse healthy.

It takes a lot of research and reading to understand horse nutrition. It’s not just about knowing where the hay comes from. If you run a farm that is packed with beautiful equines, then you may well have your own hay and machinery that uses a spherical roller bearing to gather hay and transport it. If that’s the case, you’ll already know how to handle hay in large amounts, but that doesn’t mean you necessarily know much about horse nutrition. Check out these golden feeding rules when it comes to your horse.



Fresh water is so important. Just like humans, horses require a constant supply of fresh water. Horses get through around 18 litres of water a day, which is a huge amount of water. You need to ensure that the water trough you use stays clean and be aware of how much your individual horses drink. In hot weather particularly, farmers who look after horses for racing and breeding need to make sure that more water than ever is available. Horses are in better health when they are looked after correctly.

As we mentioned earlier, hay is one of the biggest thinssg that horses eat. The machinery it takes to gather and drop hay will be a huge asset to your farm. You need to feed your horses based on weight and not volume. Horses don’t just eat hay, either. There are different feeds that you can use depending on the breed and size of your horse. You should also ensure that you dish your feed according to weight as, just like other animals, different horses have different requirements.

Did you know that horses are creatures of habit? They like to have their feed given at the same times every day as they do better with a good, strong routine than with a fickle owner who feeds them whenever they see fit. As they are large animals, they can also get ill if you try to work them hard too soon after feeding. Give them time to digest their food before you start riding or working them in the field – they need the break!

If you have a farm of work horses, you need to make sure you increase their food quantity according to how much work they have done. When you’re allowing horses to graze, ensure you still offer a good quantity of hay alongside their grazing, as the quality of grass won’t be the same all year round.

Your horse’s health matters, and if you are running a farm you want your animals to stay healthy for as long as possible. A well-looked after animal works better than a tired, unhealthy one!

*This post may contain affiliate links.