Safe feed ingredients for horses: Debunking common myths

What feeds should I avoid for gastric ulcers?

When feeding a horse or pony prone to Equine Gastric Ulcers Syndrome (EGUS) it’s important to assess their whole diet alongside management, routine and other potential ‘stress factors’. 

• Feed them as much long stem fibre as possible – based on their body condition. This encourages chewing and increases saliva production, your horse’s natural stomach acid buffer. 
• Straw does not to increase the risk of gastric ulcers, when fed as part of a suitable diet. It could be a useful low-calorie choice for extending eating time (and chewing) for good doers. 
• Molasses is sometimes mentioned as one to avoid for gastric ulcers although there is no scientifically proven evidence to suggest it’s of any concern and many feeds suitable for horses pone to gastric ulcers include molasses.
• Avoiding cereals, or cereal based compound feeds high in starch helps maintain a happier environment in the stomach as well as the rest of the digestive system. 

Ensure your horse has a nutritionally balanced diet to help them thrive and if they need more calories than forage and a balancer alone can provide opt for compound feeds high in fibre and oil but low in sugar and starch. 

Read more: Equine Gastric Ulcer Syndrome – SPILLERS need to know guide

Consider the total amounts fed!

When it comes to sugar or calories or protein – or any nutrient/ ingredient - always look at the total amount of the food eaten per day and per meal rather than solely relying on percentages written on the feed bag label. Percentages can give a useful guide, but they are only a part of the puzzle.

 When choosing feeds (as opposed to forage) for those prone to laminitis, it’s the amount of non-structural carbohydrate (NSC) or ‘starch and sugar’ provided per meal that’s most important. Restricting amounts to less than 250g of sugar and starch per meal for a 500kg horse (adjusted to the individuals weight) should be a suitable guide provided they are not severely insulin dysregulated

It’s all about the numbers – here’s the maths:

Remember, 10% of 100 = 10 and 20% of 50 also = 10!

It’s the total amount per day or per meal rather than the percentage of a nutrient in the feed which is most important. 

The table below illustrates how the total intake of sugar and protein is determined by the feeding rate, not just the percentage:

Occasionally owners worry that balancers are high in protein (typically 15-32%) compared to cubes or mixes (8-16%). However, because a balancer is fed in such small quantities (e.g. just 500g per day for a 500kg horse), the actual amount of sugar/protein your horse consumes is far less than they would get from a full ration of cubes. This is because the cubes are designed to be fed in a larger amount to horses and ponies who need more calories to support a healthy body condition. 

Balancers are designed to be fed in small amounts to good doers and are strategically formulated to supply the nutrients needed to balance forage and grazing, while providing negligible calories. 

Read more: Enhancing wellbeing through a balanced diet

Why quality of protein matters

Feeding 500g of SPILLERS Lite & Lean Balancer provides 90g of protein per day, far less than a hay net would, but the balancer guarantees a concentrated source of quality protein. By ‘quality protein’ we refer to the profile of amino acids included. Amino acids are the building blocks of protein, and some are essential meaning they must be supplied by the diet as the horse cannot make them itself. Hay can be very variable in both the amount of protein but also the quality of protein. When we analyse forage, we see low levels of protein fairly often.

Horses being fed a ‘lite’ balancer may also be on a carefully controlled overall diet, i.e. getting minimal grazing access, carefully weighed out hay and so receiving less in the way of quality protein compared to those with free access to forage/ grass. Balancers providing high levels of lysine, the essential amino acid which is most likely to be deficient in the diet, help to maintain muscle mass. Cutting calories shouldn’t mean cutting nutrients nor losing is important muscle mass. A lack of quality protein could also affect a horses energy levels as they simply don’t have enough ‘tools’ to train and recover correctly. 

Read more: Maintaining energy for good doers

Read more: Create that winning topline 

Take Home Message:

Remember quantities matter - most diabetic people can happily enjoy a square or two of chocolate but should avoid eating a whole bar. 

Did you know? Even water, vital for life, can be harmful if consumed to excess – that doesn’t make it bad! Similarly for most humans nuts are a great food containing beneficial nutrients, but for the few who are truly allergic, even tiny amounts can have serious consequences! 

At SPILLERS, our formulations are led by global equine nutrition experts who heading up our nutrition research and sifting through scientific literature to help us ensure your horse receives safe, balanced, and premium-quality nutrition. 

So, with all that in mind, it’s important to avoid scaremongering claims, apply logic and science, look at the whole picture and treat every horse as an individual.