Lindsay Burer, MS - Equine Nutrition Consultant

06/06/2026

Horses at maintenance have significantly lower nutrient requirements than horses in moderate work.

Let’s use digestible energy (DE), or calories, as an example:

- An average 1,000 lb horse in moderate work requires a minimum of 21.2 Mcal (21,200 kcal) per day to maintain body weight.

- An average 1,000 lb horse at maintenance requires a minimum of 15.1 Mcal (15,100 kcal) per day to maintain body weight.

That’s nearly a 30% reduction in calorie requirements when a horse goes from moderate work to maintenance.

To put that into human terms, it’s similar to going from a 2,000calorie per day diet to a 1,400 calorie per day diet.

What would happen if you only needed 1,400 calories per day to maintain your weight, but continued eating 2,000 calories every day for a month?

As workloads decrease, this is a great time to re-evaluate your horse’s nutrition program and make sure calories in are matching calories out.

06/05/2026

06/05/2026

Work views 🥰🥰

06/05/2026

When switching feeds, protein and fat percentages are the least important things on the tag!

Here’s what I look at, in order of importance:

Ingredient List
Guaranteed Analysis
Feeding Directions

Let’s break it down:

1. Ingredient List
Are the ingredients clearly listed (e.g., beet pulp, alfalfa meal), or are they grouped under vague terms like “processed grain by-products”?
Collective terms = ingredient changes based on commodity prices.

2. Guaranteed Analysis
Only nutrients listed under the guaranteed analysis on the product tag (not just the website) are regulated and must be present at those levels, they’re testable and enforceable by law.

The more items guaranteed, the more nutritional quality the company is backing.
Marketing may promote “digestive support,” but unless ingredients like probiotics are in the guaranteed analysis, there’s no guarantee they’re viable post-manufacture (this is called tag dressing).
Note: Don’t compare nutrient levels without first comparing feeding rates, context matters!

3. Feeding Directions
These tell you how much to feed to meet the vitamin and mineral needs.

Example:
If a feed recommends 6 lbs/day for a 1000 lb horse and you’re feeding only 3 lbs, you’re delivering half the nutrition. Choosing a feed with a lower recommended feeding rate can be more cost-effective and appropriate.

A feed with a 3 lb/day rate vs. 6 lb/day dramatically affects both nutrition and cost. Lower feeding rates should have higher nutrient concentrations to make up the difference.

Organic Minerals
Organic forms (e.g., zinc methionine complex) are far more bioavailable than inorganic forms (e.g., zinc oxide).

Are organics listed before inorganics? If not, it may just be tag dressing. This is a deep topic, but placement matters!

06/05/2026

Feeding directions tell you the minimum amount that needs to be fed to provide the horse with its daily minimum vitamin and mineral requirements. NOT how much needs to be fed to maintain body condition.

Feeding 3 pounds of a 6 pound a day feeding rate is only providing half of that horse’s minimum requirements.

Keep in mind that minimum requirements are based off of the NRC manual and just tell us the minimum amount that has been shown through research to avoid deficiency for “most” horses.

It’s important to read your labels and find a feed or balancer that will meet your horse’s needs without over supplying calories, or work with a professional to help guide you. For a free equine nutrition consultation and help choosing the right feed for your horse, reach out to our team here >>>https://bluebonnetfeeds.com/pages/consults

06/04/2026

Following me like I know what I’m doing 😅

06/03/2026

Your horse’s grain has one primary function:
To provide the essential nutrients required to support a healthy life.

But with so many different options...finding the right feed to meet all of our horse’s essential needs, that is also from a manufacturer utilizing quality ingredients, sources, & safety standards, can be tough.

Which is why it’s SO important to look at more than just protein, fat, fiber, starch and sugar levels when making a feed selection!

Here’s some other things we recommend considering:

👉 Are the products formulated by a qualified nutritionist?
👉 Is it a least cost or lock formula?
👉 Is the manufacturing facility horse safe, ionophore free?
Just to name a few.

While some feeds may have similar protein, fat, fiber, and sugar levels - it’s safe to say not all feeds are created equal.

Not sure what feed is best for your horse? Reach out at https://bluebonnetfeeds.com/pages/consults for a free nutrition evaluation.

06/03/2026

How cool is this 😍

For those who are wondering, the porcine plasma mentioned is Bluebonnet Lifeline+, with over 600 published peer reviewed research papers with amazing immune, anti-inflammatory, and reproductive benefits, replicated across species (including studies in horses).