How Many Pounds of Sweet Feed Should You Feed a Horse a Day?

Horses do best when fed high forage diets.

There Are Benefits to Horse Sweet Feed.

Horses tend to really enjoy eating sweet feed mixes. Many people use horse sweet feeds to train their horse to come into their stall or bring them in off pastures. Some of the premium horse sweet feeds have good nutrition that horses will eagerly eat. Horse sweet feed mixes tend to be less expensive than pelleted feeds.

Some Mixes Provide Empty Calories.

Many horse sweet feed mixes are very heavy on carbohydrates and sugar. What this can equal is a lot of empty calories. Young, growing horses, breeding horses and show horses generally need higher protein levels and nutrition than what is available in many horse sweet feeds. The Horse website recommends only feeding less than 1 lb. of feed per 220 lbs. of body weight per horse. Horses fed high grain sweet feed diets can be more susceptible to colic and ulcers.

Bottom Line

While horses love the taste of sweet feeds, at the end of the day it is best to only feed the minimum amount, according to the horse's body weight. Moderation is the key, and all horses benefit greatly from eating a diet made up of mostly hay and grass with small amounts of sweet feed.

References

• The Horse: What's 'Sweet' in Sweet Feed?