What is a Balanced Equine Diet?:
By: Russell Mueller, Equine Nutrition Consultant
Before getting into specifics about equine diets and addressing particular conditions, I feel it’s important to share how we need to look at the diets of our horses.
What is a balanced diet? My definition of a balanced diet is one that meets…
1) all the nutrient needs of the horse
2) with the most hay and lowest amount of concentrate possible
3) at a cost effective price
4) that fits in the owner’s management style
There are several factors here, but the overriding principle is to base the diet around forage and to have feed supply the essential nutrients the forage is not. Doing so in a cost effective manner means constructing the diet at the lowest cost, while still meeting the nutrient needs of the horse.
You can always feed a deficient diet for less money than a balanced one, but then it doesn’t meet the first requirement. It’s odd, but I believe the fourth factor is key. Sometimes, nutrition consultants forget to match the way an owner feeds with a feed that fits with their personality. In that case, an owner might get frustrated and stop doing what is best for their horse.
The power of the forage portion cannot be overlooked. I get calls all the time from people who say, “I’m feeding X protein feed. Is that enough for my horse?” Well, I can’t answer that question until I know what the forage source is.
Because a horse’s diet is typically 80% hay, forage has a large impact on the nutrients provided. This is what we call the Total Diet. We must factor in all nutrient sources.
And just because one product has a higher percentage of a nutrient doesn’t mean it has the largest impact on the diet. In fact, if we feed 20 lbs of a 8% protein hay, that hay is providing 726 grams of protein. If we also feed 6 lbs of a 14% feed, the feed is providing 381 grams of protein. The combined total is 1,107 grams in a day. Be aware that in this situation, the forage is actually supplying a higher level of the nutrient than the feed, because of the volume of hay being fed.
With that in mind, no forage is 100% complete, in terms of meeting all of a horse’s nutrient needs. That’s where the feed or concentrate comes in–to supply the nutrition that’s not being supplied by the hay. That may be just a vitamin/mineral supplement with excellent quality hay; protein, vitamins, and minerals with average hay; or all nutrients with poor quality hay. Making sure your feed is matched with your hay is the best way to build a cost effective diet for your horse.
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