What Do Horses Eat?

It’s impossible to imagine human civilization without the horse. Modern horses were domesticated over 4,000 years ago in Eastern Europe. The horse has been used to fight wars, assist in hunting other animals, carry burdens, pull carriages, and simply for the pleasure of riding. The horse is a strict herbivore, but what types of vegetation do they eat? Is a wild horse’s diet different from that of a domesticated horse? Read on to find out.

The Horse’s Digestive System

The horse’s stomach is small for an animal of its size. The stomach also empties when it’s about two-thirds full, even if the food isn’t completely digested. Therefore, it’s ideal for a horse to graze throughout the day as opposed to being fed one or two big meals. The horse also lacks a gall bladder, so its system secretes bile all the time.

The horse’s digestive system can be surprisingly fragile. Because of the cardiac sphincter that closes off their esophagus and the angle at which the esophagus connects to their stomach, horses cannot vomit. So they are subject to a condition called “choke.” Choke isn’t like food going down the wrong pipe in humans, as the horse can still breathe, although it may have difficulty swallowing. In horses, the condition means food is obstructing the esophagus. Since the horse cannot rid itself of the obstruction, prompt veterinary attention is required.

A horse’s digestive system needs a way to break down the cellulose found in grass, but unlike a cow, it only has one stomach. The plant fiber that horses eat is broken down in their cecum, rather than in a multi-chambered stomach. The cecum, also called the water gut, is a part of the horse’s large intestine. It uses microbes to break down plant fiber. Once broken down, the food can be passed on to the rest of the large intestine. However, the horse’s colon reaches around 25 feet long, so it is subject to potentially fatal types of colic.

What Foods Do Horses Eat?

As horses have such a sensitive digestive system, a horse owner needs to oversee the horse’s diet to ensure they get the proper nutrition. Horses need between 2% to 2.5% of their ideal body weight in feed each day. They primarily eat pasture grass, hay, and other types of forage. The best hay is still green and dry, but not too dry. It should be made of grasses and legumes and have stems, leaves, and seed heads that haven’t quite opened up.

Foods that make up a horse’s diet include:

• Grasses such as bent grass, bluestem, brome, fescues, Timothy, and Kentucky bluegrass
• Green hay
• Clover
• Alfalfa
• Butterfly beans
• Vetches
• Trefoil
• Oats
• Corn
• Barley
• Wheat
• Bran
• Linseed, which should be boiled before offering to the horse
• Fruits such as apples
• Root vegetables such as carrots, turnips, and supplemental sugar beets

Horses must also have plenty of fresh, clean water and a salt lick.

What Do Domesticated Horses Eat vs. Wild Horses?

A well-cared-for pet horse may have a varied diet that includes oats, wheat, and bran, but its basic needs are pasture forage, plenty of water, and a salt lick. Some people feed their horse a commercial grain mix made up of oats, corn, barley, and hay. However, a working horse, a foal, or a pregnant or lactating mare might need supplemental vitamins and minerals. Some owners give their horses supplemental sugar beets. However, they must be soaked for at least half a day before feeding. Dry sugar beets can swell and cause a potentially fatal digestive problem.

A wild horse, such as the endangered Przewalski’s wild horse, is also a strict herbivore and spends much of its day foraging in its habitat in Mongolia. Aside from grass, it also eats beans, asters, trefoil, peas, vetches, and cat grass. During the colder months, it eats the bark, twigs, and fruit of trees and shrubs such as willows, apples, pears, pines, roses, and alders. If there’s snow on the ground, the horse will scrape it away to search for hidden grasses, such as brome.

Wild mustangs found in the western part of the United States eat grasses, including Indian ricegrass, wheatgrass, Bermuda grass, and other perennial grasses. They also eat flowers such as sunflowers, coneflowers, and thistles. Wild mustangs eat shrubs, weeds, and the branches of maples, willows, sage, and junipers. Some will even eat soil for the minerals. However, wild horses are adaptable, and their diet can change depending on the season and the resources available in the environment.