What is a forage based diet? A diet that consists of mostly forage! Not to be confused with a "Forage Only" diet. A forage based diet typically looks like free choice hay and either a vitamin & mineral supplement or a ration balancer and salt. See below for more information.
Why feed a forage based diet? In the wild, horses would have had free access to a wide variety of vegetation and forage, eating little and often, whilst traveling many miles in one day. In one study, researchers followed a group of mustangs, and recorded them eating over 52 types of plants! Today’s equine is managed in a very different way to their ancestors, with limited grazing and space, however the digestive system is still designed to work in the same ‘little and often’ routine, with a high fiber diet being the optimum nutrition source to keep your horse healthy and satisfied. Our goal is to mimic how, and what, a horse would eat in the wild.
Forage is the most natural source of calories and protein for your horse. And it does the best job of keeping your horse’s gut and its bacteria and fungi (the microbiome) functioning as it should. We know, from mounting research, that keeping all the microbiome critters happy is a HUGE key to keeping our horses healthy. The intestinal tract of Equidae contains a diverse community of microorganisms that consists of fungi, parasites, protozoa, archaea, viruses and bacteria. This entirety of different microorganisms associated is known as the microbiome. Several diseases including cardiovascular disorders, inflammatory bowel disease, diabetes, rheumatoid arthritis, depression, and progression of cancer have, among others, been associated with distinct changes in human intestinal microbiomes in recent years. Compositional changes of the equine microbiome were similarly investigated with respect to its impact on certain diseases such as equine grass sickness, colitis, and laminitis. Moreover, the effects of distinct diets have been studied in elderly horses, and horses in training. We know that forage is essential to maintain proper function of the horses’ digestive system. In fact, the higher quality forage fed, (and proportionally the less grain fed), the lower the incidence of colic or digestive upset. A typical Forage-Based diet here would look like: free feed hay of choice in a slow feeder, some alfalfa twice a day (based on horses weight and energy needs), 3-6 pounds of hay pellets (soaked), with ground flaxseed or chia seed, a vitamin and mineral supplement, and salt.
*Be sure to check sugar+starch (NSC) values when choosing feeds for any equine with a metabolic disease. The general rule of thumb is to stay below 12% NSC, or for acute cases of laminitis, to stay below 10% NSC.
Step 1: Forages
Pasture, hay, haylage, chaff, and hay cubes or pellets, are all different types of forage. Forage is the most natural source of calories and protein for your horse. A good starting point is 1.5-2% of your horses weight in forage per day. For a 1000 pound horse that translates to 15-20 pounds of forage. Making sure the horse has the best-quality forage will go a long way to increasing the caloric intake. Abundant grass and legumes (like clover) in the pasture and high-quality alfalfa, grass, or mixed hay with a high leaf-to-stem ratio are excellent sources of forage. The nutrition and health benefits of forage include less colic, less dehydration, fewer ulcers and fewer behavior issues. There has also been some research showing that including "forage diversity" helps reduce the incidences of colic as well.
While hay can often supply adequate calories, keep in mind that depending on the origin, additional minerals and vitamins are usually necessary to balance out the deficiencies of the forage. These can be supplied in equine vitamin and mineral supplements. "Carriers" are what we use to mix in our supplements. Carriers should always be fed wet (as a mash). Most hay here is southern California is deficient in Selenium, Copper, Zinc and Sodium. The most accurate way to determine what your horse needs is to test your hay and balance according to the NRC for your horse.
These are one of the most important constituents of a horses diet, and yet one of the most overlooked! 99% of horses I meet are not getting the very basic recommendations for vitamins and minerals. The one you choose is based off your hay, area, age, size, and workload of your horse, but also on which Carrier you choose to use.
Small amounts of good fats should be added to any horse's diet who is not on pasture. Look for fat sources high in Omega 3's and low in Omega 6 or 9. For hard keeping horses, fat can be slowly increased, and is a phenomenal source of calories. And all oil is sugar and starch free.
All horses should have standard (non-iodized) white table salt. 1 oz per day for a 1000 pound horse, 2 oz if in medium work. You can substitute an electrolyte if in heavy work.
Following these guidelines will put you a huge step above the average horse owner for providing the correct nutrition for your horse. I also offer nutrition consultations and hay testing, to help you determine the proper diet and amounts for your equine friends.