You want to treat your horse with delicacies but not sure, which foods are allowed? I also love to treat my horse and wanted to give them the best I could to make them happy pets. After consulting with experienced horse-owners, I learned the favorite dishes you can share with your horses. This is a great way to build your connection with your horse too. Get the attachment you need so the horse will not remain a beast of burden but a friend. Remember you will be spending up to 30 years together.
So what human foods can a horse eat? Focus on the fruits and vegetables. Horses like bananas. You can also include Apples and carrot slices in your horse’s food if you are really thinking it should be part of your diet. Sugar cubes are also traditional treats for horses but may not be very healthy. Focus on the vegetables and fruits as a treat to your horse.
How Much Is Too Much For A Horse
Do not go extreme with treats of bread and potatoes. While it may endure the pain and discomfort, which you might perceive as enjoying, sooner or later you will have to deal with the effects.
I know you love your horse and you are probably already connected but you should not let the affection lead to infection. Horses may not be as sensitive as other domestic animals but some foods are obviously extremes. It is important to consult a veterinary whenever you think the horse has had enough of pasture and it should have a treat.
Horse and pasture
Pasture is the main diet for a horse. They naturally enjoy variety of greens. While you should consult on a proper diet with all elements of nutrition, do not replace pasture with any artificial food. In fact, the primary nutrients for a horse come from pasture. It is the obvious reason why the wild horses are more healthy while you have to deal with veterinaries every time. Never feel you are giving the horse too much of the greens; actually, the more the better. Just make sure you are after variety.
The horse is the most powerful animal in your home. Its power and tough muscles doesn’t mean it will withstand anything. Assume it is a human being and be keen on what you place in the food basin. You are safer with pasture throughout than trying to be creative and coloring its food.
The only snack a horse can enjoy is a fruit. While different breeds have different tastes, fruits are universal. They help in enhancing the digestion process of a horse and keeping it safe from other infections. Just like pasture, fruits are rich in vitamins. While horses rarely get affected by environmental changes and bacterial infections, you would better protect them than spend more time and money on a cure.
As a horse owner, you should always have a veterinary nearby for regular consultations. Feeding is an important aspect of care and maintenance of a domestic horse. Now that it is not in the wild to fend for its own, you are responsible for everything that goes in its mouth.
Related Questions
What foods are dangerous for my horse?
There are many toxic plants your horse may wander and consume. Some of them are common on the byways and in the fields of the countryside. They include; Bracken Fern, Red maple trees, Water hemlock, Yew, Black walnut, Yellow star thistle, Hemlock, Johnsongrass/Sudan grass, Locoweed, Oleander, and Small flower buttercup. Most of the plants occur naturally in the countryside among the grass and cause colic almost instantly
Can I feed my horse on Junk food?
Your horse will exhibit the same results from feeding on junk food. Consistently feeding them on junk foods high in fat and sugars will cause them to add weight uncontrollably. You should therefore avoid such foods if you want your horse to live longest without complications. Although you love junk food, it does not mean the horses love it too.
How much food does a horse need?
An adult huge horse may consume over 10 kgs of hay in a day. This amounts range with size of the horse and activities they endure every day. The smallest breeds such as the Polish Arabians do not require as much food because they are mostly inactive and have less weight compared to the huge horses used for hard farm work. Generally, you need 1.5% of their body weight every day so that a 1,000 pound horse will require between 10 and 13 kgs of food to survive. Consult your vet to know exactly what you need to feed your horse
Conclusion
We have the urge to share our food with pets. They love our food too but it does not mean the food is necessarily significant to their health. The food may be tasty but it could bear serious repercussions to their health and wellness. Health practitioners recommend minimal involvement in junk food in a horses diet because it destabilizes their metabolism. Horses can thrive on eating fresh grass alone and they love it so avoid taking your treats too far. Apart from the few healthy green leafy vegetables, there is little you should attempt with your horses diet.
If you give them something new just make sure you keep an eye on them they do digest most things pretty quickly especially if they are very active. Horses love treats just make sure the majority of them are healthy. This is an easy way to get your horse to come to you and bond with you. There have been many studies with dogs for example. If you ring a bell every time you feed a dog over time even if you remove the food and ring the bell the dogs will continue to have the same reaction.
This is the same for all animals and humans you can train them to unconsicously connect something to a feat that they complete. So when they do something good if you give them a small healthy treat they enjoy try doing that every time and over time they will not disobey for that specifc taks. This makes training much easier.