Is A Diet Of Only Corn Healthy For My Horse?
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My 24-year-old Walkaloosa gelding stays with a relative who feeds him only corn. I do bring him carrots every now and then. Is this a complete diet for a horse?
- Tori A.
Corn is the most energy-dense grain, Tori. It’s typically fed, along with roughages, to horses with high energy demands and is rarely fed as a sole energy source because it produces high amounts of energy quickly. Most horses, especially those with lower energy requirements, live more healthily on a roughage-based diet, such as grass and hay. If your gelding lives his life as a pet, a roughage-based diet is probably best suited for him. This ensures that he receives his complete balance of nutrients with decreased risk for obesity, colic and laminitis—all of which can be associated with overconsumption of grains without a balanced amount of roughage.