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If we provide a forage-based diet of hays, pasture or soaked hay pellets (or a combination), we can support our horses' health in body and mind. Grains and sugars are not natural foods for the equine body. The horse was designed to eat small amounts of fiber continuously.
Grains, sweet feeds and composite feeds (often with high sugar and animal fat) were developed to provide more energy for working horses, competition and racing horses who were expending more energy than they could take in. Often based upon livestock feeds for "fattening" and muscle production, these foods brought a plethora of problems - from metabolic disturbance to hyperactivity.
Horses thrive on forage-based diets with additions of herbs, seeds and salts. For Dharmahorse, this means a selection of hays because there is no pasture in the high desert. Grass hays are simply dried and cured Bermuda, orchard grass, Timothy, Teff or native grasses. Fungus-free Fescue is safe. Fescue that has the fungus can cause photosensitivity! Johnson grass can have high levels of cyanide. Sudan can cause urinary cystitis.
Oat hay is a "grain hay"; it is the oat "straw" with the oats still attached. Barley and wheat straw/hay are less appropriate for equines.
Legumes are alfalfa (lucerne) or peanut hay (not a favorite) and are much higher in protein than grasses. The UC Davis "starved horse refeeding protocol" uses small amounts of alfalfa often to avoid carbohydrate overload which can be fatal.
Hay should be fed low, at a natural grazing height, in containers to avoid ingestion of sand and can be soaked with water when needed. Slow feed hay nets help keep hay in front of the horse all day/night which mimics the natural way they would eat. Long periods without forage are hard on a horse. Since they do not have gall bladders, their liver secretes bile continuously into the stomach for the digestion of fiber. Accommodating the equine digestive system's uniqueness assures good health.
Our Herbal Guide has information on the herbs we use for the horses with recipes and safety guidelines:
HERBAL GUIDE FOR STABLES
All proceeds from the Guide go directly to the Sanctuary for the horses.
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