Feeding Behavior: What’s Natural for Your Horse?

How do you design a feeding program that mimics how horses’ feeding habits have evolved?
Share
Favorite
Close

No account yet? Register

ADVERTISEMENT

Your fat horse, skinny horse, high-energy horse, and laminitic horse all have different dietary needs; so how do you design a feeding program that mimics how horses’ feeding habits have evolved? According to Andrea D. Ellis, BSc, PhD, senior lecturer in equine science and leader of the MSc program in Equine Health and Welfare at Nottingham Trent University’s School of Animal, Rural and Environmental Sciences, in Nottinghamshire, England, everyone from equine nutritionists to horse owners can learn something from examining a horse’s natural feeding behavior and optimizing diets based on that knowledge. She presented on the topic at the 2011 Alltech International Animal Health and Nutrition Industry Symposium, held May 22-25 in Lexington, Ky.

In order to understand why horses act the way they do when food’s involved, Ellis said, "The origin of feeding behavior and how it relates to digestive physiology must be understood."

Ellis explained that a horse’s natural feeding behavior is triggered by "physiological changes and signals, such as hormones, nerve signals, and homeostatic mechanisms" that induce a hungry feeling in the animal. "These then lead to a strong motivation to carry out the required behavior, such as lowering the head, sniffing, tasting, chewing, swallowing, and foraging," she added.

Researchers have observed that free-ranging horses (i.e., those feeding in a "natural" manner) generally have 10 to 15 "distinct feeding bouts" in a 24-hour span, and tend to spend 10 to 14 hours per day foraging. Ellis noted that "nonfeeding" bouts typically last for an hour or two and rarely exceed three hours

Create a free account with TheHorse.com to view this content.

TheHorse.com is home to thousands of free articles about horse health care. In order to access some of our exclusive free content, you must be signed into TheHorse.com.

Start your free account today!

Already have an account?
and continue reading.

Share

Written by:

Erica Larson, former news editor for The Horse, holds a degree in journalism with an external specialty in equine science from Michigan State University in East Lansing. A Massachusetts native, she grew up in the saddle and has dabbled in a variety of disciplines including foxhunting, saddle seat, and mounted games. Currently, Erica competes in eventing with her OTTB, Dorado.

Related Articles

Stay on top of the most recent Horse Health news with

FREE weekly newsletters from TheHorse.com

Sponsored Content

Weekly Poll

sponsored by:

Where do you primarily feed your horse?
326 votes · 326 answers

Readers’ Most Popular

Sign In

Don’t have an account? Register for a FREE account here.

Need to update your account?

You need to be logged in to fill out this form

Create a free account with TheHorse.com!