Horse Nutrition Fundamentals: Building a Feed Plan That Works

A horse's digestive system is built for near-continuous forage intake. Every feed plan at the ranch starts with 1.5 to 2 percent of body weight in quality hay or pasture per day before a single scoop of concentrate is considered.

Concentrates exist to fill gaps, not to lead the program. Hard keepers, broodmares in late gestation, and horses in heavy work need added calories; most pleasure horses do not.

Test your hay. A $40 forage analysis tells you protein, digestible energy, and mineral levels, which is the only way to know what your ration is actually missing.

Introduce every change over seven to ten days, keep fresh water and loose salt available at all times, and weigh feed rather than measuring by volume.