Horses should have a diet based around forage, and while some will need more than others, this essential part of the diet is critical and should never be overlooked.
Forage includes sources such as hay, grazing, high fibre cubes, chaffs, and even super fibres such as soya hulls and beet products. Without fibre, which is the main nutritional element in any form of forage, the horse’s digestive system will not function optimally. Fibre meets the horse’s need for bulk and is broken down in the hindgut via fermentation. Billions of microorganisms in the hindgut, including protozoa, fungi, and bacteria, perform this fermentation to convert carbohydrate-based contents, essentially plant-based fibre (structural carbohydrates), into volatile fatty acids (VFA), which provide energy to the horse. For this reason, among others, it is critical to keep those microorganisms happy and functioning properly.
NOTE: To avoid digestive disturbances, it is important to gradually introduce or modify the horse’s diet so that the microorganism population has time to adapt to be as efficient as possible. This applies even to changes to grazing and hay.
Meal size and spacing
Another aspect to consider in ensuring good digestive health is meal size and spacing. While horses generally receive meals twice a day because it is convenient, research has shown that consuming multiple meals is ideal for maximum feed efficiency and utilisation. This is especially true for senior and underweight horses. In terms of meal size, no more than 2kg should be given per meal. Going back to basics and simplifying meals to include as much forage as possible is the best approach for maintaining a healthy hindgut.
Between meals
Aside from mealtimes, horses are grazers that rely on continual forage intake, with fresh grass and high-quality hay being the best places to start to ensure a healthy equine hindgut. In many cases altering the amount or type of roughage can be enough to change the horse’s condition.
Chewing
Another great benefit of forage, particularly to stabled horses, is the length of time and the number of chews it takes to eat both long-stemmed (hay) and short-stemmed forages (chaffs, cubes). This not only helps to mirror natural grazing behaviours and satisfy their physiological need to chew, but it can also help to reduce stereotypical behaviours, such as cribbing. Saliva, which is a natural gastric acid buffer, is only produced when horses chew. So, the longer they are kept chewing, the more buffering capacity they generate. This is especially important in horses struggling with gastric ulcers.
Why hay cubes?
The quality of grazing in South Africa can fluctuate wildly, and at certain times of the year, grazing within paddocks may be reduced and/or it may be hard to find good quality hay. Therefore, incorporating a consistent, highly digestible forage alternative (also known as forage extenders) such as hay cubes or chaff to support the horse’s amount and quality of forage may be worthwhile.
Hay cubes are an ideal alternative for many horses as they can be used in situations where large amounts of long-stemmed hay is not ideal. For example:
- They can be used for horses with respiratory issues as they limit the horse’s exposure to inhalation of dust and spores.
- They are ideal for horses struggling with inflammatory disorders of the bowel, as long-stemmed hay can irritate the gut.
- They are great for older horses or those struggling with dental issues. These horses benefit from hay cubes as they often struggle to chew and fully digest long-stemmed hay and chaffs.
- They can be useful for hard-working horses who occasionally lose their appetite during competition, leading to reduced forage intake. This reduced intake of forage may expose horses to digestive upsets and lead to underperformance and loss of condition. Hay cubes can be ideal under these circumstances as they can provide additional fibre support for all-round digestive health.
- They are easy to store and transport, making them a great option for performance horses.
Why chaff?
Chaffs are particularly useful for adding bulk and thus chew time to a horse’s diet. Chaffs can be particularly useful in several circumstances, including:
- For feeding horses that rush to eat their concentrate feed, as it means more chews per bite which ultimately slows them down.
- They are also helpful for good doers as the bulk from chaff provides something for the bucket, which satisfies the horse’s chewing need without adding large amounts of calories.
- For the high-performance horse, chaff can be a useful way of adding a little extra fibre to each meal. Reducing the concentrate amount per meal and adding a small amount of chaff allows the non-structural carbohydrate (starch and sugar) portion to be reduced per meal, which helps avoid an overload of starch into the hindgut. Too much starch in the hindgut alters the pH, and the microorganisms can die off. This, in turn, can cause colic and hindgut acidosis. It has also been demonstrated that fibre within the diet encourages better utilisation of any concentrate feed that may be fed as the gut is helped to remain stable and healthy.
Take home message
Forage-first is the right way to feed so before rushing to change the concentrate in your horse’s bowl, consider whether he is getting enough and the right kind of forage to sustain his needs and his lifestyle.