This post goes along with a recent post called “Natural Isn’t Always Best:”

http://hoofforum.com/square/?p=211

Don’t get me wrong, I truly believe in most aspects of Natural Horsemanship.  I often ride bitless, keep my horses barefoot (except for terrain where they need boots) and try to let them live as naturally as possible.

However, I feel there are some ideas in Natural Horsemanship that are widely accepted but wrong for horses.  One of these ideas is that horses should be fed free choice grass hay.  I have heard and read multiple times that “horses cannot overeat grass hay” and “horses must have access to hay 24/7.”

The reason I disagree with this concept is because of an unavoidable principle relating to caloric intake.  If the calories taken in are greater than the calories used up, a horse will become obese.  The principle is the same in horses, humans, and other creatures.  We can’t eat more than we burn off or we will get fat.

Here’s why free choice grass hay often leads to obese, unhealthy horses:

In the wild, horses graze nearly around the clock.  Grass, even high quality grass does not generally have more than about 250 calories per pound.  Horses will eat about 1 to 1 1/2 pounds each hour for a total caloric intake over 24 hours of around 6,000 to 9,000 calories.  Grass has a high percentage of water compared to hay.

Grass hay, even low protein, yellow-colored hay has around 800 calories per pound.  When fed free-choice to horses, there is a potential for them to eat 19,200 to 28,800 calories in a 24 hour period.  Add to this fact that when horses graze in the wild, they must take a step or two for each bite of food.  That movement means more calories are burned off.  Many of our horses stand and eat their hay from a bale or slow feeder, which decreases the calories that are burned off while eating.

For reference, your typical horse (average size, weight and metabolism) requires 15,000 calories for maintenance.  This can increase up to 25,000 calories or more when the horse is put into an exercise program, and some horses in very heavy work and lactating mares may need over 30,000 calories per day.

Sometimes people get confused over how sugar and fat relates to calories.  They might believe a low NSC (low sugar and starch) hay is naturally low in calories, or that giving a high fat supplement means they are giving their horse a lot of extra calories.  Fat is more calorie dense compared to protein and carbohydrates.  However, take for example a fat supplement called Cool Calories which is a dry fat many people use to add weight to horses.  You might believe because this is high in fat that you are adding many calories to your horse’s diet.  In reality, a one ounce serving of this supplement only provides 270 calories to your horse’s diet.  This is not going to make a huge difference in the diet of a horse that might require 15,000 calories per day just to maintain weight when not being exercised.  Also, your average low NSC hay has the same amount of calories per pound as other, high sugar hays.

Let’s take your average Mustang, Shetland Pony, or other small breed that was able to survive on sparse scrubby vegetation while living out in a feral state.  When you understand that these horses were able to live on less than 10,000 calories per day, then it doesn’t make sense that they should be fed free choice grass hay that would provide double their calorie requirements or more.

We know that horses’ digestive systems are designed to have food in them 24/7.  That’s why horses are supposed to graze all day and night, and I agree that this is an important component to keeping horses healthy.  Yet it does not then follow that horses should have hay to eat 24/7.  Instead, horses should have access to some type of low calorie grazing such as in a turnout field, and higher calorie feeds such as hay should only be provided to keep the horse’s caloric needs met.  Obesity is linked to Insulin Resistance and other serious health problems in horses and should be avoided.  Yet so many people with obese horses feel they are doing the right thing because their horses have access to hay 24 hours a day.

Say “no” to free choice hay

Conversely, I’ve heard many people say that ALL horses can live on a diet of grass and hay and that no horse should ever be given grain.  I agree that no horses should need actual high sugar and starch grain products such as corn, oats and barley.  These feeds were given to horses before we understood how the horse digests food in the hind gut and needed a way to provide extra calories to horses in hard work.  Nowadays we understand that horses must have forages that they can digest in the hind gut, and that other feeds will lead to ulcers, colic and laminitis.

That being said, there are many, many horses that cannot have their caloric needs met with grass and hay alone.  Providing those 20,000 plus calories that many large and active horses need assumes that you can get the horse to eat hay for that many hours daily.  Horses with genetic diseases, jaw or tooth problems, malabsorption problems, ulcers, or that simply don’t have the drive to eat hay for that many hours a day must have their calories provided by other means.  Thankfully, although expensive, there are a variety of complete feeds available that consist of beet pulp, alfalfa, rice bran and other products that have been made into concentrated forms and can provide nearly 2,000 calories per pound of feed.

A candidate for complete feed plus free choice hay

 When the guaranteed analysis is assessed carefully, it is possible with certain complete feeds to give horses a diet that is low in NSC (sugars and starch), healthy for the hindgut and can provide the calories a horse needs if they have difficulty chewing, digesting or consuming large amounts of hay.  Many horses will also consume oils such as canola or coconut oil which are very concentrated in calories.  Two cups of oil provides 4,000 calories, which is very helpful when you must provide a very concentrated diet.  It also does not affect the hind gut digestion in a negative way.

So again, natural isn’t always best for all horses.  And I would contend that 24/7 hay is far from natural for most horses.  Horses should always, always be treated as individuals and conscientious owners will address each individual on a case by case basis.