Hard feeds, balancers and supplements explained

Walk into any feed merchant and you'll find hundreds of bags, buckets and tubs, all promising something. This guide explains what the main kinds of feed are for, so you can choose from what's in the bag rather than from the marketing. It assumes your horse's diet is already built on forage: see forage first.

Does your horse need a hard feed?

Often, no. The BHS says most leisure and grassroots horses can keep their energy levels and a healthy weight on a high-forage diet. It says concentrates are often only needed by horses in medium to hard work, horses that need to gain weight, and horses that struggle to keep their condition.

Feeding more than a horse needs isn't harmless. The BHS warns that too much high-energy feed can lead to behaviour problems, gastric ulcers and obesity. The government's code of practice says any concentrate feed should be no more than is needed for the horse's work, or for any weight it needs to gain. And World Horse Welfare points out that an overweight horse that's short of energy is unlikely to benefit from a higher-calorie feed: what it needs is to lose weight and gain fitness.

When a horse's work increases, World Horse Welfare's advice is to start by swapping low-calorie forage for higher-calorie forage, and only then to replace some of the forage with concentrate feed if it's needed.

The main types of feed

Starch: how much is too much?

Starch is the main source of energy in cereals. World Horse Welfare's guidance, written by registered nutritionist Clare MacLeod, says horses digest starch well if it's fed in limited amounts, and recommends no more than 1g of starch per kg of bodyweight in each meal: 500g for a 500kg horse. Starch that isn't digested in the small intestine passes into the hindgut, where it upsets the fibre-digesting microbes.

The same guidance says:

• Oats are about 40% starch. Older-style compound mixes were often 28–30%, and low-starch compounds with under 10% are now available.
• If you feed cereals other than oats, cooked cereals are easier to digest.
• Some horses need a low-starch diet, including those that are obese or have laminitis, EMS, insulin dysregulation, gastric ulcers, or a muscle disorder such as polysaccharide storage myopathy (PSSM).
• For other horses, especially very hard-working ones, a moderate amount of starch can be very useful.

Sugar and calories

Low sugar doesn't mean low calorie. World Horse Welfare's nutritionist says calorie balance matters most for keeping a horse at a healthy weight: some of the lowest-sugar feeds, such as linseed and vegetable oil, are among the highest in calories. Where a horse's sugar intake is high (over 10% of the dry matter), it should ideally be reduced along with the calories, because a high sugar intake raises the risk of high insulin levels, and with it laminitis.

Most of the sugar in a horse's diet comes from grass and hay, the nutritionist adds, not from bucket feeds.

Oil

Oil is a way to add calories without adding starch. Retraining of Racehorses (RoR) suggests increasing the oil in the diet to help an ex-racehorse gain weight, and calls micronised linseed one of the best sources. The RVC says oil can be added to a horse's diet once laminitis has resolved, if it needs extra energy. Introduce it gradually, like any other change.

Sugar beet

Sugar beet has been fed to horses for many years, and World Horse Welfare's nutritionist describes unmolassed beet as rich in digestible fibre and very low in sugar, at around 5%. Because it's soaked in about four parts water, a small scoop of soaked beet adds very few calories, which makes it a useful way to carry vitamins and minerals for an overweight horse. It's also an easily chewed fibre source for older horses with dental problems.

Always soak sugar beet for as long as the maker says: dry or part-soaked pellets can swell in the gullet and cause choke.

Feeding concentrates safely

• Small meals. The code of practice says a daily concentrate ration should be spread over at least two meals. RoR suggests limiting hard feed to around 2kg per meal, because of the horse's small stomach.
• Not just before or after hard work. The BHS says to avoid exercising your horse for an hour after a cereal-based meal.
• Change slowly. Any change to the diet should be gradual: the BHS suggests 10–14 days.

Reading a feed bag

By law, every feed bag must carry a statutory statement: a set of information that includes what's in the feed. The BHS says feed companies aren't allowed to claim that a feed treats or prevents a condition such as gastric ulcers or laminitis. Anything outside the statutory statement, such as the sugar or starch content, is up to the company.

Ingredients are listed in order, from the largest amount to the smallest. The BHS says that if oats or barley are at the top, the feed is likely to be high in starch and energy, and may have a "heating" effect on some horses, making them fizzy. If sugar beet pulp or straw pellets are at the top, it's a high-fibre feed that would suit a leisure horse.

Terms on the label

Marks to look for

The BHS describes three marks you may see:

• The BETA NOPS logo: the maker belongs to the British Equestrian Trade Association (BETA) and follows its manufacturing code to keep naturally occurring prohibited substances out of its feeds. This matters most if you compete.
• The BETA EGUS mark: the feed is suitable for horses prone to gastric ulcers.
• The Laminitis Trust approval mark: the feed is suitable for horses prone to laminitis, if fed in the right amounts.

Supplements

There are supplements for almost everything. The BHS says they can help with nutritional shortfalls, but advises getting guidance from a vet or nutritionist before you feed one.

What a supplement is allowed to claim

Feeds and supplements aren't veterinary medicines, and the Veterinary Medicines Directorate (VMD), which regulates medicines, says they may only be presented as maintaining health in healthy animals. They can't be advertised as treating or preventing disease, or as having medicinal effects. A product presented that way, or that contains a substance with a proven medicinal effect, needs authorisation as a veterinary medicine.

The VMD makes two exceptions for horses: feeds can be described as suitable for horses and ponies prone to laminitis, or prone to gastric ulcers. Calmers are covered too: the VMD says no medicinal claims can be made for them. Trading Standards and the Food Standards Agency regulate animal feeds.

In practice, if a supplement promises to cure or prevent a health problem, be sceptical, and talk to your vet.

Common supplements

• Vitamins and minerals. The BHS says it's hard to know what your horse is getting from forage unless it's been tested, and suggests a balancer or vitamin and mineral supplement every day for horses on a forage-based diet. The BHS also suggests one alongside soaked hay or straw, which are low in nutrients.
• Electrolytes. When horses sweat they lose salts, mainly sodium, potassium and chloride. The BHS says a salt lick may be enough for a horse in light work, but that daily electrolytes may help a horse in medium work or harder, and before strenuous exercise, competitions or long journeys. Choose a correctly balanced product, don't make it too concentrated, follow the maker's instructions, and always offer plain water as well.
• Hoof supplements. An article on RoR's site says hoof quality depends on balanced nutrition, including the amino acids methionine and lysine, and zinc and copper. It says studies have shown about 15mg of biotin a day has positive effects on the hoof wall, but that none of these work unless the overall balance of minerals is right. A hoof takes about nine months to grow out completely, so be patient. See hoof care.
• Gut supplements. RoR describes prebiotics as food for the gut's helpful microbes, and probiotics, such as live yeast cultures, as helping to keep the gut environment healthy.
• Joint supplements and calmers. These are feed products, not medicines. The VMD gives a joint supplement that provides "building blocks" for a horse's joints as an example of a permitted health-maintenance claim. It can't claim to treat arthritis.

Competing? Watch out for prohibited substances

British Equestrian reminds riders that any horse can be tested at any competition, at any time of year, and a trace of a prohibited substance in feed can lead to a positive test. A naturally occurring prohibited substance (NOPS) is one found naturally in a feed ingredient, or that gets into feed by cross-contamination.

It does happen. In 2014, BETA reported via British Showjumping that raw material from one supplier had been contaminated with seeds from the morphine poppy. Two feed companies were affected and one recalled a product. The trace amounts of morphine were no risk to horse or human welfare, but could have caused a positive test.

British Equestrian's advice for keeping feed clean includes:

• Buy from reputable makers. Choose feed that's been tested for NOPS, and check the maker is listed on the BETA website. Look for the BETA NOPS mark on supplements.
• Be wary of supplements. British Equestrian says some supplements contain substances that aren't on the label, and some have been linked to contamination.
• Keep records. Keep samples of your hay, feed and supplements, with their batch numbers, so contamination can be investigated.
• Store carefully. Keep feed bins clean, because some moulds produce prohibited substances, and keep medicines locked away from feed.
• Use separate buckets and stirrers for any feed that contains medicine.
• Check the field for plants that could cause a positive test, such as poppies, crocuses, nightshade and lupins.
• No human food or drink. Don't let your horse drink your tea or coffee: caffeine and related substances could cause a positive test.

Racing has its own rules. The British Horseracing Authority says to assume that any medicine or supplement, including herbal products, that has or claims to have an effect on a horse is prohibited, unless its equine health and welfare department advises otherwise. Check your own sport's rules too.

Feed myths

World Horse Welfare's "nutribaloney" guidance, by registered nutritionist Clare MacLeod, tackles four common feeding myths:

Its advice: question extreme or unusual claims, be sceptical of anything that sounds too good to be true, and check with qualified professionals and reputable sources.

Storage and hygiene

World Horse Welfare suggests storing feed in vermin-proof bins, or on pallets off the floor if it stays in the bag. Rinse buckets after each use, clean them thoroughly as often as you can, and never feed mouldy feed or forage.