Eating well is not always eating safely; horse managers who ignore that lesson when feeding their animals might be creating digestive problems for their horses.

"Many feeding management recommendations for horses are related to supplying energy safely," said Dave Freeman, PhD, PAS, Dipl. ACAN, Oklahoma State University Cooperative Extension equine specialist. "Most of the energy supplied in rations comes from carbohydrates. There are two types of carbohydrates, the 'starchy, sugary' carbs and the 'fibrous' carbs. The two types vary in how and to what extent they are digested."

Fiber

One source of energy that horses rely on is fiber. Hays and pastures supply energy in the form of fiber. Typically, horses should have access to pastures, hays or coarsely processed forage at minimum levels of 0.75% of bodyweight per day. These levels guard against feeding too much of the other type, the 'starchy, sugary' compounds