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24/04/2025
Equine myth busters!
Do horses need to be fed at the same time every day for their health?
You will often hear people in the industry say ' horses need routine!'. This is said with some authority, and has been repeated enough to be taken as fact. So much so that it is included in some equine education courses.
It doesn't take much consideration to figure out that this is not true, even without the science, but the science is conclusive.
It is important to remember that humans didn't create horses. Horses were wild animals once. There are still feral herds around the world too.
In nature horses roam far and wide for their food. Roughly 90% of their food is roughage, but about 10% is browsed. This means horses would eat nutritious leaves, roots and fruit they found.
These wild horses never wore watches to tell them what time they needed to eat their browsing meals ( this would be the equivalent of their concentrated feed). They ate the higher protein feed whenever they found it. In natural environments high protein feed is a rare commodity, so they generally didn't eat much of it.
Modern science has shown that rigid routine can be harmful for horses. Stereotypical behaviours ( what used to be called stable vices, until science showed they were stereotypical behaviours caused by domestic practices) like weaving and wind sucking are often caused by stabling, but a rigid routine can also contribute as horses become anxious for their clockwork feeding.
So where does this myth come from?
Humans have historically tried treating everything in their care like they are treated. Horses are tucked into their stables because we live in houses, and horses were fed 3 large intermittent meals before we knew better, because we eat three times a day. Horses need food ALL day.
So the myth about hind gut bacteria being destroyed if a horse doesn't get food at the same time every day can be linked to making sure a horses gut isn't empty and stomach acids are destroying bacteria and the stomach lining. The truth is, if horses have access to hay constantly this won't occur.
So, make sure your horse has constant access to hay and you can adjust your schedule how you please.
