Horse Feed
Horse feed comes in many types to meet a variety of nutritional needs. You can find everything from complete feed for horses to supplements you feed in addition to pasture.
Here are the main types of packaged horse food you can buy:
- Complete Feed: Contains all the nutrition and roughage a horse needs for a complete diet
- Ration Balancers: Protein, vitamin, and mineral food supplements that supplement forage without added sugar or starch
- Fortified Grains, also called Concentrates: Supplemental equine feed that provides additional carbohydrates for energy
- Pelleted Hay and Forage: Food for horses without access to forage—also good for those who can't properly chew
The best type of food for your horse will vary depending on the age, breed, lifestyle, and specific health needs of your horse. While the natural foundation of a healthy horse diet is pasture or hay, hard-working or performance horses, as well as nursing mares and seniors, often need additional nutrition. You can find horse feed formulas to suit a variety of needs in our Horse Shop at Chewy—shop feeds for easy keepers, medium to hard keepers, senior horses, breeding horses, and more. You can even set up Autoship to make sure you never run out of your horse's food when you need it.
Frequently Asked Questions about Horse Feed
What is the best horse feed?
The best horse feed will vary depending on the life stage, habits and performance demands of your horse. A complete feed may be best for horses who can't eat forage or for those who have specific nutritional needs. Ration balancers and concentrates are designed to supplement forage and can be best for working equines or performance horses in training. Forage and hay horse feeds help take the place of natural graze feeding on the pasture. They come in loose or convenient pelleted forms to make feeding convenient and easy.
How much horse feed should I feed a horse a day?
Feed a horse the amounts suggested on the horse feed package every day. The amounts you feed will vary depending on the types of food you are feeding, and most horse feed packages will include recommended feeding amounts. If you are feeding a complete ration as the sole source of nutrition, just feed the recommended amount. If you are feeding a ration balancer, feed suggested amounts in addition to the hay or forage recommended daily for your horse's size and activity level. Most horses eat, on average, fifteen to twenty pounds of hay per day. Amounts will vary depending on activity levels and whether you are supplementing with grain or another feed supplement.