Food For Thought Horse Series- Forage is Fibre:

Why A Forage First Approach Matters For Horses.

Forage is Fibre:

One of the most important things to understand about horses is that their digestive system is built around fibre. Horses are hindgut fermenters. This means they rely on the microbes in their large intestine to break down plant fibre and turn it into usable energy. When a horse has a steady supply of appropriate forage, those microbes stay balanced, and the whole digestive system tends to function the way nature intended.

When feeding fibre, it is best served as naturally as possible.

Horses evolved to eat real grasses (not amplified cow pasture), and their digestive system works best when that fibre comes in its natural form. Ideally, this means fresh pasture or well-made mixed grass meadow hay.

Once fibre is heavily processed into products such as haylage, baleage, cubes, or pellets, it is no longer the same as the grasses that hindgut microbes evolved to ferment. These more highly processed forage options can cause issues for some horses.

When fibre intake drops, or when it is replaced with feeds the horse was never designed to eat, that fermentation system can quickly become disrupted. This can lead to a range of health problems, including ulcers, colic and laminitis.

That is why species-appropriate forage needs to sit at the foundation of the diet.

The take-home message about forage and fibre is simple. For a truly healthy horse, feed as nature intended. Grass and plenty of good-quality mixed grass hay help replicate the scrubland on which grazing horses evolved to live on.

If you would like to understand horse feeds in more detail and talk through which approach may be better suited to your horse, I offer Feed & Forage Guidance Consultations here: https://www.naturalhorse.co.nz/product-page/natural-horse-feed-forage-consultation