Horses are fibre digesting herbivores therefore fibre is an integral part of your horse’s diet. Fibre is the bit of a plant that holds it all together. The energy availability and protein level will be dependent on the species and maturity of the plants that are grazed or cut.
Fibre supports your horse’s gut microbes and these gut microbes support your horse in the fermentation of the fibre in the gut. This fermentation frees fatty acids which produce slow release energy. These little guys are extremely important in the health of your horse. The more variety of fibre your horses gut microbes have the healthier your horse will be.
Fibre also plays an important role in preventing gastric ulceration and problems relating to the gut such as laminitis, colic and tying up. So looking after your horse’s gut needs to be a horse owner’s number 1 priority. When the gut is functioning optimally then your horse’s coat, behavior, feet will all function optimally too.
Alongside hay and haylage we now have a wide variety of chaffs and grasses available to us as horse owners. Whichever you choose to feed it is always worth remembering the more diversity of grasses you can feed the more your horse’s gut microbes will benefit. Therefore try and avoid single species chops and chaff (especially rye grass) and aim for diversity in your horses diet.
Fibre should be offered all year round and whether your horse is stabled or lives out.