Why Hay is so Important in a Horse’s Diet

Hay is crucial to the diet of a healthy horse. Modern horses can survive and even thrive without grain, but hay is necessary. Horses have incredibly long digestive tracts in order to process vegetation like hay. Hay goes through the digestive system at just the right pace – not too slow to cause constipation and not too fast to cause diarrhea.

Horses have teeth that grow continuously. They need food to grind in order to help keep their teeth even. Chewing hay helps maintain horse dental health, but all horses still should have their teeth checked for sharp edges and breaks at least once a year.

Colic Prevention

Many vets have described a horse as having “a digestive system designed by a committee. The slightest change in diet can set off a potentially lethal bout of colic. Since horses cannot vomit, everything that goes in the mouth has only one way to come out. Feeding hay helps give the horse’s digestive system a familiar foodstuff that can be easily acquired in many places.

Horses are often on the go, whether they are showing, racing or being sold again and again. With each new place a horse goes to, there are new food conditions to get used to. The grass may have a different chemical composition than he is used to. Also, he may have to spend time in a grassless corral or travel about in winter. All of these new changes in diet can bring on colic, diarrhea or other digestive problems. But if he travels a lot but gets to eat the same hay, he will at least get nourishment.

Eating Hay

Have you ever seen a horse graze from a bale or rack of hay? Their upper lips move like the tip of an elephant’s trunk. The lips are so sensitive that they can select individual stalks of hay or blades of grass that taste best to them. Horses like to shake clumps of hay about in order to mouth individual stalks and get to the best tasting bits of hay. Some hay will inevitably get trampled on, blown away or get pooped on.

This may seem wasteful, but this keeps the horse occupied and happy. The horse gets to choose. The ritual of eating hay can help calm a horse and give a sense of stability in an otherwise tumultuous life.

In Conclusion

Hay not only satisfies nutritional needs, but gives the horse something to do. Horses evolved to wander for miles every day, foraging for vegetation. But domestic horses are often fed concentrated food that is quickly eaten. They also cannot wander for miles without getting into some sort of trouble. But a stabled or corralled horse can chew on a rack of hay all afternoon. Check with your veterinarian to see just how much hay your horse is allowed to eat every day.

Additional References

• · Mather, Helen. Light Horsekeeping. Dutton Books; 1970.
• · Worth, Melyni, PhD. The Horse Nutrition Handbook. Storey Publishing; 2010.
• · University of Missouri Extension. “Feeding Horses.” Wayne Loch, April 2003.

 

Reference:

• www.thehorse.com/ViewArticle.aspx?ID=15801
• www.equisearch.com/horses_care/nutrition/hay/eqhay3238/
• voices.yahoo.com/how-inspect-hay-horse-474910.html?cat=32