Grey Horse Equine Nutrition

08/20/2026

Another great example of practical equine research coming out of CSU Equine Sciences!

A new study by undergraduate researcher Brynne Murphy and Dr. Devan Catalano asked a simple question that comes up frequently in horse management: Does it matter whether horses are offered salt as a block or loose in a pan?

Sixteen horses were offered both loose white salt and compressed white salt blocks over four 7-day periods. While horses tended to consume more loose salt (41 g/day) than block salt (32 g/day), salt form did not significantly affect intake. What mattered much more was the individual horse - daily consumption ranged from just 2 g to 135 g.

Perhaps the most important finding for horse owners: 9 of the 16 horses did not voluntarily consume enough salt to meet their sodium requirements, even after accounting for sodium provided by their regular diet. Water intake was similarly highly individual and was not affected by whether salt was offered loose or as a block.

The takeaway? Providing free-choice salt does not necessarily mean a horse is consuming enough. Knowing your individual horse, workload, and diet is important - and for horses that do not voluntarily consume adequate salt, adding the appropriate amount directly to the daily ration may be the more reliable approach.

We are especially proud that this work was conducted by an undergraduate student, highlighting the important role undergraduate research plays within CSU Equine Sciences. Giving students the opportunity to take an applied question from study design and data collection all the way through presentation and publication is an important part of training the next generation of equine scientists.

Congratulations to the authors on a great publication and a project with information horse owners can put into practice immediately!

08/14/2026

Yes!!! The comments I see on these nutrition pages make me crazy 🤦🏻‍♀️
If you love your horse, please work with someone trained in equine nutrition.

Horse Post of the Day: Congratulations, You've Summoned the Equine Opinion Olympics

Horse Facebook is a fascinating place. Ask a simple question and, within minutes, you'll have 187 comments, 43 contradictory "facts," 12 people insisting their cousin's neighbor's farrier said otherwise, and at least one person recommending a supplement that apparently cures everything from ulcers to climate change.

Let's play a game.

"Which feed would you feed and why?"

For...what horse?

An easy-keeping Icelandic? A 2-year-old Thoroughbred? A 30-year-old retiree with no teeth? A lactating mare? An endurance horse? A barrel horse? A horse with PSSM? EMS? PPID? Gastric ulcers? Allergies? A horse that burns calories by simply existing?

You left out one tiny detail—the horse.

Or how about this classic:

"What are your thoughts on this feed?"

My thoughts?

It's feed.

Whether it's a fantastic choice or an absolutely terrible one depends entirely on what else the horse is eating, how much is being fed, the quality of the forage, the horse's body condition, workload, health history, age, metabolic status, dental health, parasite burden, and about fifty other variables.

Feed isn't good or bad in a vacuum. Nutrition doesn't work like Yelp reviews.

And my personal favorite:

"I want to feed forage-only. What do you recommend?"

Translation:
"I'd like to intentionally remove the fortified portion of my horse's diet. Please help me figure out the best way to create nutritional deficiencies."

Could a forage-only diet work?

Possibly.

If your hay has actually been analyzed, if it supplies adequate protein and energy, if the vitamins and minerals meet requirements, and if you've balanced what's missing with targeted supplementation.

Notice how "just feed hay" somehow turned into actual nutritional planning?

Funny how that works.

Then we arrive at:

"What holistic supplements do you recommend?"

Define holistic.

Because to some people that means evidence-based herbal medicine.

To others it means powdered unicorn wishes mixed with ethically harvested moonbeams.

Those are...not the same thing.

And finally...

"What's everyone's opinion on getting a hard keeper to gain weight?"

Cue 300 comments.

"Rice bran!"
"Corn oil!"
"Alfalfa!"
"Beet pulp!"
"Triple the grain!"
"Add coconut oil!"
"Try Product X!"
"My aunt fed marshmallows and her horse looked amazing."

Meanwhile, nobody has asked whether the horse has ulcers, heavy parasite loads, poor dentition, chronic pain, inadequate forage intake, inappropriate feeding management, insufficient calories, or simply burns through energy like a Formula 1 race car.

That's because opinions are easy.

Diagnosis is hard.

Here's the uncomfortable truth:
Horse nutrition isn't decided by majority vote.

The most-liked comment isn't automatically the most accurate.

Two hundred people confidently repeating the same thing doesn't magically transform it into science.

The internet is full of well-meaning horse owners sharing what worked for their horse. That's valuable experience—but experience isn't universally transferable.

Every horse brings a different combination of genetics, age, workload, forage quality, health conditions, metabolism, management, and environment. Advice that was perfect for one horse may be completely inappropriate for another.

The better question isn't, "What would you feed?"

It's:
"Here's my horse's age, breed, body condition score, workload, forage analysis, current diet, health history, and goals. Based on that information, what options should I consider?"

Now you're giving people enough information to provide something more useful than random guesses.

Because when you ask strangers to solve a nutrition puzzle while withholding half the puzzle pieces, you're not collecting expertise.

You're collecting opinions.

And opinions are free.

Sometimes they're even worth exactly that.

08/07/2026

I love seeing my clients' horses thrive and getting updates on their progress—it's one of the most rewarding parts of what I do. 💜

As a breeder myself, supporting young horses through proper nutrition is especially close to my heart. Building a balanced feeding program that supports healthy growth and development helps give these young horses the strong foundation they need for the future. 🐴

08/06/2026

Broodmare and young horse nutrition is so important for growth and healthy development. I build a lot of balanced feeding programs for young horses.

In the first 6 months of (most) foals’ lives, they’ll reach about 50% of their expected mature body weight.

That’s an incredible amount of growth in a very short period of time, which means the nutrition they receive during these months is extra important.

A growing foal isn’t just getting bigger, they’re building bone, muscle, tendons, ligaments, organs, and a developing immune system. To do that well, they need the right balance of calories, high-quality protein, vitamins, and minerals.

While genetics determine a foal’s potential, nutrition helps determine whether they reach that potential. Too little nutrition can limit healthy growth, but overfeeding or an unbalanced diet can also increase the risk of developmental orthopedic issues.

The goal isn’t to make foals grow faster, it’s to help them grow steadily and correctly.

08/03/2026

I’m not sure if people confused a foraged based diet with a forage only diet.

Forage alone will not meet your horses requirements. People get so hung up on “fillers”, soy, wheat middings but the reality is if you use a feed that has those but is also providing your horse with its vitamin/mineral and amino acid requirements, it’s a healthier feeding program than just feeding only forage.

🐴 Horse Post of the Day: The Great "Forage-Only" Fantasy

Horse Person: "I feed a forage-only diet."

Me: "Cool. Which vitamin and mineral fairy is covering the nutritional gaps?"

Cue the awkward silence.

Let's talk about what "forage-only" actually means.

Because somewhere along the way, "forage-only" became the equine equivalent of saying "I eat salad."

Great.

What kind of salad?
With grilled chicken?
Or just lettuce and tomato?

Here's the reality...
If your horse is eating only hay and pasture, then yes, that's a forage-only diet.

Whether it's a complete diet is an entirely different question.

Hay provides calories.
Hay provides fiber.
Hay provides some protein.
Hay provides many minerals.....in wildly inconsistent amounts.

Hay also has an incredible talent for saying:
"Good luck finding enough copper, zinc, selenium, iodine, and vitamin E in here."

Mother Nature did not consult the NRC before growing your hay field.

Then comes my favorite conversation...
"I feed forage only."

"So... no supplements?"

"Oh, I feed a vitamin-mineral supplement."
"...and salt."
"...and vitamin E."
"...and magnesium."
"...and flax."
"...and electrolytes."
"...and probiotics."
"...and amino acids."
"...and a joint supplement."

So...

You don't feed forage only.

You feed forage plus enough supplements to qualify as a small chemistry set.

And that's perfectly okay!

Let's just call it what it is…Forage-First or Forage-Based.

Here's another uncomfortable truth...
A horse doesn't receive bonus points because its calories came exclusively from hay.

If that hay is:
• Low in digestible energy...
• Low in quality protein...
• Missing in essential amino acids…
• Missing essential trace minerals...
• Deficient in vitamin E...
• Or simply can't be consumed in sufficient quantities.....then adding an appropriate fortified feed isn't "cheating."

It's called good nutrition.

And no...
Needing a ration balancer or fortified feed doesn't mean your hay "failed."

Hay wasn't designed to be nutritionally identical from field to field, cutting to cutting, or even bale to bale.

Weather changes it.
Soil changes it.
Plant maturity changes it.
Species changes it.
Storage changes it.

That's biology—not poor management.

The real goal isn't...
"I feed forage only."

The real goal is:
• Meet nutrient requirements.
• Keep the hindgut healthy.
• Maintain body condition.
• Support performance.
• Balance vitamins and minerals.
• Feed the horse in front of you—not the latest social media trend.

Sometimes that can be accomplished with hay alone.

Most of the time, it can't.

And that's okay.

Because horses don't care whether nutrients came from hay, a ration balancer, or a fortified concentrate.

They care whether those nutrients showed up.

Bottom line...
Forage should absolutely be the foundation of nearly every horse's diet.

But "forage-first" and "forage-only" are not synonyms.
One is a sound nutritional philosophy.
The other is often a marketing slogan wearing a halo.

Your horse doesn't get healthier because you won the "I feed the fewest bags" competition.

It gets healthier because its nutrient requirements are met.

Nutrition isn't a purity contest.
It's a balancing act.

07/31/2026

Horse Post of the Day:
When "30 Years of Experience" Meets 30 Seconds of Nutrition Research...

Holistic Horse Vet of 30 years:
"High fat horse feed is toxic. Most of them contain 3 ingredients: 1) rice bran, 2) vegetable oils, & 3) flaxseed. 1) Rice bran - the calcium to phosphorus ratio is screwed up. So it will mess up your horse. 2) Vegetable oils - can go rancid and can cause inflammation. 3) flaxseed - is pseudoestrogenic and messes with a horse's hormones."

My eye is twitching so hard it's about to qualify for FEI competition.

Breaking News: Apparently we've reached the point where rice bran is toxic, vegetable oil is a ticking inflammatory time bomb, and flaxseed is secretly turning geldings into hormonal disasters.

Here's a wild idea...
Maybe... just maybe... we should stop confusing "I have opinions" with "I have evidence."

Let's dissect this nutritional train wreck.

Myth #1: "Rice bran has a bad calcium ratio, so it'll mess up your horse."

This one starts with a grain of truth and then faceplants.

Yes, rice bran is naturally high in phosphorus and low in calcium. If you fed large amounts of plain rice bran and absolutely nothing to balance the minerals, you could create a calcium deficiency over time.

Here's the part conveniently left out...

Modern stabilized rice bran products are almost always calcium-fortified specifically to correct this issue. Most commercial horse feeds containing rice bran are also professionally formulated so the entire diet maintains an appropriate calcium-to-phosphorus ratio of roughly 1.5–2:1.

Nutrition isn't about judging one ingredient in isolation.

It's about evaluating the complete diet.

If one ingredient automatically made a feed "toxic," we'd better start panicking over alfalfa's calcium content, oats' phosphorus concentration, and the fact that pasture grass changes nutrient composition every few days.

That's...not how nutrition works.
________________________________________
Myth #2: "Vegetable oils become rancid and cause inflammation."

Can vegetable oils oxidize?
Sure.

So can every fat source on Earth.

That's why reputable feed manufacturers:
• use stabilized oils
• include antioxidants such as mixed tocopherols (Vitamin E)
• formulate products with shelf-life testing

Could someone feed an old, rancid bag that's been sitting in a humid barn since the Obama administration?
Absolutely.

That doesn't make vegetable oil inherently toxic.

Even more importantly...

Research consistently shows that adding fat to the equine diet generally does NOT increase systemic inflammation. In fact, replacing starch with fat often improves metabolic responses, supports endurance performance, and reduces reliance on rapidly fermentable carbohydrates.

The villain isn't "fat."

It's poor storage, oxidation, and bad management.
________________________________________
Myth #3: "Flaxseed is pseudoestrogenic and messes with hormones."

Ah yes...

The internet's favorite buzzword: Phytoestrogens.

Flax does contain lignans, which are classified as phytoestrogens.

Here's the catch...

Phytoestrogens are likely a thousand times weaker than the horse's own estrogen.

Multiple studies across livestock species have shown that normal dietary flax supplementation does not produce clinically significant reproductive problems.

Meanwhile, flaxseed provides:
✅ Omega-3 fatty acids (ALA)
✅ Highly digestible fiber
✅ Excellent amino acid profile
✅ Natural antioxidants

If flax truly wrecked hormones, veterinarians would have stopped recommending it years ago.

Instead...

It's one of the most widely recommended fat supplements in equine nutrition.
________________________________________
The Bigger Problem...

One of the fastest ways to spread misinformation is to take a tiny piece of truth and stretch it until it snaps.

• Rice bran can have an imbalanced mineral profile...unless it's formulated correctly.
• Oils can oxidize...if stored improperly.
• Flax contains phytoestrogens...that have not been shown to cause hormonal disruption at normal feeding rates for most horses.

Context matters.

Dose matters.

The complete diet matters.

This is exactly why nutrition is an actual science—not a collection of scary-sounding ingredient lists.

So the next time someone with credentials steps outside their wheelhouse and declares an ingredient "toxic," ask the most dangerous question of all:
"Can you show me the research?"

Because confidence isn't evidence.

07/30/2026

You have to do some math to really see the big picture!

🐴 Horse Post of the Day: Protein Panic Olympics – Where Math Goes to Die!

Random Horse Person:
"What does everyone think about the very high protein content in ration balancers? I've heard horses that aren't worked can get too much protein and it causes organ damage. I know they're fed in smaller amounts than grain, but I'm still concerned."

Random Internet Expert:
"Too high and excess through gluconeogenesis turns into sugar anyway...no go in my book. Just feed simple."

Me:
It's called basic math, people.

Somehow, the internet has convinced itself that a 30% protein ration balancer is a protein bomb while completely ignoring the tiny detail that you feed it in grams or a up to a couple pounds, not bucketfulls.

Let's do some scary math.

• 1.5 pounds of a 30% ration balancer = 0.45 lb of protein.
• 5 pounds of a 10% feed = 0.5 lb of protein.

See – BASIC MATH!!!

The percentage on the tag tells you the concentration, not how much protein your horse actually consumes. That's why nutritionists calculate grams or pounds of nutrient intake, not just stare at percentages until they feel qualified to comment on Facebook.

And while we're at it...

The Primary source of protein in the equine diet is not that 1 to 2 lb of ration balancer, but the forage portion of the diet.

And No, excess dietary protein doesn't magically march straight to the liver and kidneys waving a tiny "Destroy Me" flag. Healthy horses are remarkably good at handling protein. If amino acids are supplied beyond what the horse needs for tissue synthesis, the nitrogen is removed and excreted primarily as urea, while the remaining carbon skeleton may be used for energy, converted to glucose if needed, or stored. That isn't some nutritional catastrophe—it's just normal metabolism.

Will feeding wildly excessive protein waste money? Sure.

Can it increase urine output and ammonia in the stall? Absolutely.

Is a properly fed ration balancer secretly frying your horse's organs? No.

The irony is that the same people terrified of a pound or two of ration balancer often think nothing of feeding several pounds of alfalfa every day...which frequently contributes more total protein than the balancer they're afraid of.

So before declaring a feed "too high in protein," ask one simple question:
How much is actually being fed?

Because nutrition isn't based on percentages.

It's based on intake.

Math wins again. Facebook loses another round.

07/29/2026

07/25/2026

Interesting when you see it broken down like this.

Here’s a reminder that percentage alone doesn’t tell the whole story, how much is fed is ultimately what matters.

07/21/2026

🐴 Horse Post of the Day: "The Great Equine Liver Detox"

Random Horse Person Question:
“I want to detox my mare, I don’t want to use a feed, just some natural herbs that can do this. I particularly want to detox her liver. Anyone made a detox for their horses that they can recommend?”

Me: Ah yes... the weekly request to "detox" a horse.

Because apparently the liver—the organ whose entire full-time job is detoxification—has quietly unionized and is refusing to work until someone feeds it milk thistle, dandelion root, unicorn dust, and positive affirmations.

Here's the awkward science part...

Your horse already has an incredibly sophisticated detox system. It's called:
• A liver.
• Two kidneys.
• A gastrointestinal tract.
• Lungs.
• Skin.

Nature spent a few hundred million years perfecting that system. Facebook herbal recipes... not so much.

The question that should always be asked is:
Detox from what?
• Mold?
• A toxic plant?
• Heavy metals?
• A medication overdose?
• Liver disease confirmed by bloodwork?
• Or just... existing?

Because "detox" has become one of those magical marketing buzzwords that sounds impressive but rarely has a clear biological meaning.

And before someone says, "But herbs are natural!"
So is ragwort.
So is oleander.
So is arsenic.

"Natural" has never been synonymous with "safe" or "effective."

Can some herbs influence liver enzymes? Absolutely.

Can some herbs interact with medications or even stress the liver? Also yes.

Can most people on Facebook tell you which compounds, at what dose, for what diagnosis, based on what evidence?..I'll let you answer that one.

If your mare has documented liver problems, work with your veterinarian. There are situations where specific nutritional management and, in some cases, carefully selected supplements may be appropriate.

If she doesn't have liver disease?

The best detox program remains astonishingly boring:
✅ Clean water
✅ High-quality forage
✅ A balanced diet
✅ Avoid actual toxins (moldy feed, poisonous plants, contaminated water)
✅ Routine veterinary care

Not nearly as glamorous as a 14-herb "Liver Flush Supreme™" sold in a shiny bucket, but biology has never been particularly interested in marketing.
Your horse's liver doesn't need a cleanse.

It just needs you to stop buying things because someone on the internet said the liver is "full of toxins."

Sometimes the only thing that really needs detoxing... is our Facebook feed.