Feeding for Every Horse’s Life Stage
- May 12, 2025
- ⎯ Editors of EQUUS
Everyone wants their horses to be happy, healthy, and perform their best; what a horse eats plays a major role in this. However, every horse’s nutritional needs differ depending on their breed, age, workload, and various other factors. Thankfully, the experts at Sentinel Horse Feeds offer insight into what factors to consider when developing a feeding program.
Dr. Randy Raub, PhD, Director of Research and Nutrition and Kristyn Sturken, Equine Product Manager for Sentinel Horse Feeds, join forces to discuss. They highlight feeding strategies for every stage of life, from broodmares and foals to performance and senior horses.
Q: As horse owners and breeders create feeding programs for their pregnant mares, how can a mare’s diet impact the nutritional health of her foal?
KRISTYN: A mare’s diet has a direct impact on the health of her foals, since this is where they are getting all of their nutrition, both prior to foaling and from the mare’s milk after. Keeping the mare in optimum body condition during pregnancy and feeding her a complete and balanced diet is key. In particular, during the last trimester, make sure she is getting adequate protein, vitamin, and mineral nutrition; along with the energy she needs to maintain her weight. It is during this time when the unborn foal does a large amount of growing, and the minerals are key to proper development. Lactating mares have the highest nutritional requirements, particularly in the energy or calories needed to produce milk for the foal and maintain her body weight. Adequate protein and minerals are needed as well for growth. Pay attention to total requirements and keeping certain nutrients in proper ratios for healthy growth.
Q: As foaling season approaches, what key nutritional needs should breeders and owners prioritize for their foals?
RANDY: As we learned from the previous question the nutritional concerns of the foal begin while the foal is still developing in the mare, particularly during the last 1/3 of gestation which is the most rapid growth period of the developing foal. Once the foal is born, we still need to provide the mare with adequate nutrition since the foal’s primary nutrition will come from the mare’s milk during the first couple months of life.
As the foal grows, they will begin to consume some of the feed being fed to the mare. Thus, what you are feeding the mare during lactation should be a diet that is also good for a young growing foal and its transition into weaning age. Usually, that is a feed that targets about 12-14% protein with adequate levels of important amino acids such as: lysine, methionine and threonine.
Q: What are some common feeding mistakes during weaning and how can they affect a young horse’s development?
RANDY: One of the most important goals for young growing horses is to maintain a consistent and moderate rate of growth. Doing so helps reduce the incidence and severity of developmental orthopedic disease (DOD). Weaning is one of the most stressful events in a young, growing horse’s life and thus can result in a disruption to growth rate. To minimize this growth rate disruption at weaning the foal should be weaned onto the same feed as they have been having access to while still on the mare. This will help minimize a drop-off in feed intake and subsequent growth rate disruptions.
I also do not recommend weanlings be group fed. Invariably there will be dominant horses in the group that will consume the majority of the feed, while others do not get enough. This is counterintuitive to our goal for each weanling to maintain a moderate and consistent growth rate. Sometimes there is a desire to have a low growth rate in weanlings that may have a predisposition to DOD, such as some warmblood breeds. A mistake often made in an effort to slow growth rate is not providing any feed other than a moderate quality hay to these young growing horses. You can achieve a lower growth rate by reducing calories, but you should not reduce the protein, vitamins, or minerals fed to growing horses. These are the building blocks of quality growth and should not be sacrificed. Calories determine much of the rate of growth, so limit the calories without sacrificing protein, minerals and vitamins to reduce growth rate in horses that you have a concern about DOD.
Q: How should the balance between forage and concentrates change as a horse progresses through different life stages?
RANDY: The percent forage to concentrate may not change much at each life stage, depending on your goals and the quality of the forage being provided. Broodmares in the last 1/3 of gestation and first 1/3 of lactation usually require a greater percentage of the diet as a concentrate. This is because they have a very high demand for nutrients during these stages that forage alone may not adequately satisfy. This also applies to young growing horses from weanling through yearling or 2 year-old stage. Horses at work will also have changing forage to concentrate ratios depending on how hard they are working. This can range anywhere from 80-90% forage to 10-20% concentrate, to as much as 50/50 forage / concentrate.
Q: How does aging impact a horse’s ability to absorb key nutrients, and how can diet adjustments help?
KRISTYN: As a horse ages, their digestive system is not as efficient, meaning they may not get as much out of their feed as they did at a younger age. Resultingly, senior feeds are typically higher in protein than a maintenance adult or performance feed. Many senior horse feeds are 14% protein, to make sure the senior horse gets what they need. It may also be harder for that senior horse to maintain weight due to various issues, including the less efficient digestive system. There are usually options for senior feed with more moderate fat levels and higher fat levels to make sure they get the energy or calories they need to maintain their weight/body condition.
In addition to a less efficient digestive system, a horse’s dentition may deteriorate as they age, making it harder for them to chew and break down hay and/or grain which affects nutrient utilization and absorption.
Q: What feeds can benefit older horses or horses with dental issues? As horses age, they can develop poor dentition from wear over time.
KRISTYN: Teeth can become sharp and wear unevenly which may make it painful for the horse to eat. This can cause a loss of body condition since it will be harder for the horse to chew and breakdown the feed. It is important to have an older horse’s teeth checked more frequently to look for this. Senior horses can benefit from easy-to-chew feeds, such as an extruded feed, that breaks down easily. The extruded nuggets are typically light and airy and will start to break down as soon as they come in contact with a horse’s saliva. They are also great to soak, for those horses who really struggle to chew their feed. In addition to feed, if a horse’s teeth are in poor condition, it may be hard for a horse to chew hay. Look for hay alternatives, such as: hay extender pellets, chopped hay, and soft cubes. Also be sure to feed a grain high in fiber to ensure they are getting enough fiber to keep the digestive tract healthy and functioning properly.
To shop Sentinel Nutrition CLICK HERE.
Brought to you by:
