Horse Feeding Programs: Understanding the Total Diet

Feeding a horse is about more than choosing a bag of grain or adding a supplement. Every part of the diet works together, including hay, pasture, concentrates, ration balancers, supplements, etc.

Horse owners often focus on the grain portion of the diet when creating or adjusting a balanced feeding program, but forage usually makes up the largest portion of a horse’s daily intake.

Because of this, the right feed choice depends on what the horse is already receiving from hay or pasture, along with their age, workload, body condition, metabolism, and health needs.

Understanding the total diet helps horse owners make better feeding decisions, avoid unnecessary supplementation, and build a balanced nutrition program that supports long-term health and performance.

What Does “Total Diet” or “Balanced Diet” Mean for Horses?

A balanced horse diet starts with understanding the full picture of what the horse consumes.

It is easy to focus on the most obvious parts of the diet, such as the grain concentrate, but the total diet includes everything a horse consumes each day.

This may include:

  • Hay
  • Pasture grass
  • Grain concentrate
  • Ration balancers
  • Supplements
  • Treats
  • Salt 
  • Electrolytes
  • Water

Evaluating the Total Diet

A feed, ration balancer, or supplement may look appropriate on its own, but whether it truly fits and balances the horse’s diet depends on the rest of the feeding program.

For example, a horse receiving high-quality forage may need a different feeding program than a horse eating lower-quality hay.

Evaluating total diet intake helps horse owners determine what nutrients the horse receives from all feed sources combined. Feed tags and forage analyses list nutrient concentrations, but the horse’s actual intake depends on how much of each feed is consumed each day.

A supplement label may list an impressive nutrient concentration, but if the feeding rate is only a few ounces per day, the total amount supplied may be much smaller than expected. Similarly, adding multiple supplements can sometimes create unnecessary nutritional overlap.

The goal is not to feed more products. The goal is to meet the horse’s needs without overfeeding, underfeeding, or creating nutrient imbalances.

Forage First: The Foundation of the Horse’s Diet

Forage should form the foundation of most equine diets. Hay and pasture usually make up the majority of what a horse eats each day and provide fiber, calories, protein, vitamins, and minerals.

Forage also supports normal digestive function and natural foraging behavior, which is why long gaps without hay or pasture can affect digestive comfort and overall well-being.

How Forage Quality Affects the Overall Diet

Forage quality can vary significantly based on numerous factors. Nutrient levels in hay and pasture can change based on:

  • Plant type: Grass hay, legume hay, mixed hay, and pasture can all provide different nutrient profiles.
  • Maturity: More mature forage is often stemmier and may be lower in digestible nutrients than younger, leafier forage.
  • Storage: Heat, moisture, age, and storage conditions can affect hay quality over time.
  • Season: Pasture nutrient levels can shift throughout the year based on growth stage, weather, drought, or frost.
  • Soil: Regional soil differences can influence the mineral content of forage.
  • Sugar and starch: Non-structural carbohydrate levels can vary in both hay and pasture, especially for horses with metabolic concerns.

How Hay Testing Helps Balance the Total Diet

Even hay from the same field can vary from cutting to cutting, year to year, or across different areas of the field. Because forage contributes so much to the total diet, the feed, ration balancer, or supplement that best balances the diet is the one that complements the forage the horse is actually eating.

For example, a horse on mostly grass hay may need a different feeding program than a horse consuming a diet that includes a large amount of alfalfa or other legumes.

This information is especially helpful for growing horses, broodmares, performance horses, metabolic horses, senior horses, hard keepers, and horses with unexplained weight changes. If body condition, topline, or performance changes suddenly, forage quality should be one of the first parts of the feeding program to review.

A hay analysis is one of the most useful tools for understanding what forage contributes to the total diet. Testing can provide information about:

  • Calories: Helps determine whether forage is supporting weight maintenance, gain, or loss.
  • Crude protein: Shows whether the diet may need additional protein or amino acid support.
  • Fiber: Helps evaluate digestibility and overall forage quality.
  • Sugar and starch: Important for horses with metabolic concerns or those needing controlled NSC intake.
  • Minerals: Helps identify imbalances or gaps that may need to be addressed in the full diet.

While hay testing will give you the most accurate results, if hay testing is not feasible, horse owners can evaluate forage by looking at:

  • Hay type 
  • Maturity 
  • Texture 
  • Smell 
  • Leafiness 
  • Dust 
  • Waste or how much the horse actually eats

Matching the Diet to the Individual Horse

There is no one-size-fits-all feeding program. Several factors can influence what a horse needs from their diet, including:

  • Age 
  • Breed 
  • Size 
  • Workload 
  • Body condition 
  • Metabolism 
  • Health history 
  • Reproductive status 
  • Forage type 
  • Management routine

An easy keeper may maintain weight well on forage and need only a ration balancer to supply essential amino acids, vitamins, and minerals without extra calories.

A hard keeper may need additional calories from digestible fiber and fat to help maintain body condition. A performance horse may need more energy, protein, vitamins, and minerals to support work and recovery.

Senior horses may need a more digestible feed or complete-feed option, especially if dental issues limit their ability to chew hay. Horses with metabolic concerns may need a feeding program lower in sugar and starch while still providing balanced nutrition.

The best feeding program is one that matches the individual horse’s needs while working with the forage and management already in place.

How Body Condition Can Help Evaluate the Total Diet

A horse’s body condition can provide important clues about whether the total diet is meeting their needs. Regular evaluation can help owners identify changes before they become more significant health or performance concerns.

Tribute’s Wellness System offers a more complete way to evaluate body condition by looking at rib cover, crest scoring, and topline scoring together.

Body condition scoring can help owners evaluate calorie balance, regional fat deposits, and muscle development. Together, these measures provide a more complete picture than weight alone, since a horse may be at a healthy weight but still lack topline or need a more balanced source of vitamins, minerals, and amino acids.

Body condition should be monitored regularly, especially when forage changes, workload shifts, or the horse enters a new life stage.

Choosing the Right Concentrate, Ration Balancer, or Supplement

Once forage and the horse’s individual needs are evaluated, owners can choose the type of feed that best fits the total diet.

  • Ration balancers: These are often used for horses that maintain weight on forage but still need essential amino acids, vitamins, and minerals.
  • Full-intake feeds: These are designed for horses that need additional calories and nutrients beyond what forage alone provides.
  • Complete feeds (hay replacement pellets): These can help replace part or all of the forage portion of the diet when horses cannot chew or consume enough hay.
  • Supplements: These may provide targeted support, but they should be chosen after evaluating the base diet. Before adding a supplement, consider what the horse already receives from forage, feed, ration balancers and other supplements. In some cases, adjusting the base diet first may be the better way to fill nutritional gaps.

When to Reevaluate Your Horse’s Total Diet

A horse’s feeding program should change when their needs change. Nutrition is not static, and the total diet should be reviewed regularly throughout the year.

Horse owners should reevaluate the diet when:

  • Hay source changes
  • Pasture access changes
  • Workload increases or decreases
  • The horse gains or loses weight
  • Topline changes
  • A senior horse struggles to maintain condition
  • A young horse enters a new growth stage
  • A mare becomes pregnant or lactating
  • A horse develops metabolic, digestive, or performance concerns
  • Supplements are added or removed

How Tribute Superior Equine Nutrition Helps Support the Total Diet of the Horse

Building a balanced feeding program starts with understanding the horse’s total diet, including forage, body condition, workload, age, health needs, and current feed program.

Tribute Superior Equine Nutrition offers fixed-formula feeds, ration balancers, and supplements designed to complement different forage programs, calorie needs, workloads, life stages, and health considerations.

Tribute’s feed options include:

  • Essential K®: A low-NSC ration balancer for horses that maintain weight on forage but still need essential amino acids, vitamins, and minerals without extra calories.
  • Alfa Essentials®: A ration balancer designed for horses consuming forage programs that are 50% or more alfalfa or other legumes.
  • Kalm ‘N EZ®: A low-sugar and starch feed that provides controlled energy through fat and fiber for horses that need additional calories without excess starch.
  • Seniority™ Pellet: A highly digestible feed for senior horses, hard keepers, or horses needing help maintaining body condition.
  • Synergize®: A high-fat, high-fiber feed for performance horses or hard keepers that need calorie-dense nutrition.

Because every horse’s needs are different, Tribute’s free personalized feeding plans can help owners evaluate the total diet and choose an overall feeding program based on forage, body condition, workload, age, health needs, and individual nutritional goals.

References:

Article By:
Chris Mortensen, Ph.D.
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