5 equine nutrition mistakes to avoid!

⏰ Estimated reading time: 10 minutes

It’s never too late to improve!

✋ MISTAKE #1 : Underestimating the Importance of Fiber

Horses are herbivores. Forage is essential to their health:

• Mental health role: eating is a factor of occupation and relaxation.

• Bulk effect: by stimulating intestinal motility, fiber helps limit the risks of displacements or even torsions of the multiple intestinal loops, ensuring digestive health.

• Buffering power of forage: A key element in preventing gastric ulcers. The high intrinsic buffering power of forage, combined with the significant saliva production it induces, helps neutralize acid attacks.

• Energy supply: Forage represents an often-overlooked energy source in equine diets. Yet, 2 kg of good hay is approximately equivalent to 1 kg of barley in energy value.

• Horses host cellulolytic bacteria that digest fiber, with which they live in symbiosis. As the saying goes, "Feeding a horse means feeding its gut flora."

💬 Practical Advice

Forage should be the foundation of a horse’s diet. It is crucial to provide forage of high quality and in sufficient quantity (ideally, free access or at least 8 to 10 kg of hay per day for a 500 kg horse). ⚠ Horses should never experience fasting periods. Their stomach should never be empty, especially before exercise or a concentrate meal!

✋ MISTAKE #2: Neglecting Hydration

A 500 kg horse at rest drinks an average of 25 liters of water per day. This amount can double or even triple depending on factors such as physical activity, physiological stage (e.g., lactation), and climate conditions. Water is an essential nutrient for digestion and thermoregulation. Dehydration can lead to serious health consequences: colic, exertional rhabdomyolysis (tying-up), esophageal obstructions...

Horses must always have easy access to clean, high-quality water.

❄ Winter Warning! During winter, horses tend to drink less due to reduced thirst sensation, cold (or even frozen) water, and difficult access to water sources (e.g., muddy ground). This significantly increases the risks of colic, esophageal blockages, and tying-up.

💬 Here are some best practices:

• Encourage the use of buckets and water troughs—horses prefer drinking from a large volume of water.
• Horses prefer lukewarm water (~20°C) regardless of the season. Avoid cold water!
• Ensure good water availability, especially in winter: check for frozen pipes, ensure access to drinking stations, and verify that automatic waterers provide a minimum flow of 7-8 L/min.
• Provide high-quality hay and a pure salt block at all times. Hay and salt consumption directly influence water intake—and vice versa.
• During transport, make sure the horse drinks from a bucket every 2 to 4 hours. Once at the destination, checking water access should be a priority!
• After intense exercise or heavy sweating, electrolytes supplementation is recommended to replenish mineral stores and optimize rehydration.
• If the water comes from a well or natural source, a chemical/microbiological analysis should be done twice a year to ensure it is safe for consumption.

For more information 👉 25 litres… of water

✋ MISTAKE #3: Not Dividing the Daily Ration

A horse’s digestive system is adapted to consuming small amounts multiple times a day.

It is recommended to split the daily concentrate ration into balanced meals and to limit the amount per meal based on the horse and feed type.

This helps:

• Reduce stomach overload.
• Manage soluble carbohydrate intake(starch + sugars), and to prevent digestive and metabolic disorders (colic, gastric ulcers, tying-up, laminitis, etc.).

  ℹ Did you know?

  • Increasing concentrate meal frequency improves mineral and fat absorption.
  • More frequent meals reduce post-meal blood glucose and insulin spikes, normalizing leptin (satiety hormone) levels, bringing metabolism closer to that of pasture-kept horses.
  💬 Practical Advice
  
  
  • To limit stomach overload, do not exceed 400 g of feed per 100 kg body weight per meal.
  • To prevent digestive disorders in healthy adult horses do not exceed 100 g of starch per 100 kg body weight per meal..
    
    
  These limits should be lower for horses with carbohydrate-related disorders (gastric ulcers, myositis, laminitis, etc.).

  Avoid abrupt dietary transitions!
  
  Abrupt changes in rations can upset the balance of the horse's intestinal microbiota and consequently its digestion, increasing the risk of digestive problems such as colic.
  Each transition, whether to concentrate feed or forage, should therefore be made gradually (a minimum of 10 days for a change of feed, for example)..
  It is also possible to support the horse's intestinal flora with a supplement based on probiotics and post biotics, such as Reverdy FLORE.

  For more information 👉 What quantity of food to give? and What maximum quantity of starch per meal?

  ✋ MISTAKE #4: Feeding by Habit Rather Than Need

  Adding concentrate feed is not always necessary!

  Every horse is unique, and its daily ration should consider individual needs based on: its breed, age, body condition, activity, environment and housing conditions, climatic conditions, type of forage fed, as well as potential disorders or pathologies (digestive, locomotor, muscular, etc.)..

  ⚠ Overfeeding a horse out of habit by automatically giving large concentrate meals is a mistake! If a horse has constant access to high-quality forage, its appetite will naturally self-regulate.

  💬 Practical Advice:
  
  First and foremost, always ensure that your horse has permanent access to quality forage. The addition of concentrated feed should then be based on the horse's specific needs.
  
  f the horse's forage is sufficient to maintain its condition and provide it with enough energy, it can simply be supplemented with a MVS (mineral and vitamin supplement) such as Reverdy Minéral Oligovit or a cereal corrector such as Reverdy Cereal FREE.
  
  If forage alone does not enable the horse to maintain its condition and/or provide sufficient energy, the choice of concentrated feed and the quantity distributed must be based on specific needs. If the horse is lacking / losing condition when it is already receiving a concentrate ration (in addition to its forage ration) 👉 avoid increasing the quantity distributed without first assessing the current ration and the horse's overall state of health.

  ✋ MISTAKE #5: Overusing and Overdosing Supplements

  A nutritional supplement is a concentrated source of nutrients, plants, or other substances providing nutritional or physiological benefits. Supplements are used alongside a balanced diet to address specific needs, such as:

  • Seasonal changes (cold, extreme heat)

  • Physiological stages (pregnancy, growth, senior horses)

  • Activity levels (training, competition recovery)

  • Health conditions (weight loss, arthritis, tying-up, digestive issues, gastric ulcers, etc.).

  Supplement use should be thoughtful and tailored—"More is not always better."

  💬 Practical Advice
  
  
  • Supplements cannot replace a balanced diet.
  • New supplements should have a specific goal addressing a clear and defined issue.
  • As a general rule, it is advisable not to exceed 2 or 3 nutritional supplements at a time.

  And if we have the slightest doubt... ? 🤔

  Don't hesitate to ask for help to establish, rebalance or simply ensure that your horse's daily ration is adapted as closely as possible to its needs.

  Our team of nutrition advisers, supported by our vets are at your service 👉 get free, personalised advice on feeding your horse..