Equine nutrition can be a complicated subject of amounts, percentages, ratios, guesses, and unknowns. However, the results of good nutrition are easily seen: a healthy, energetic animal in good condition with a glossy coat. As this article explains, the horse owner is able to achieve this result, not by memorizing long nutrition tables or feeding expensive supplements, but by developing a few skills and understanding basic principles of horse nutrition. Links are provided to other articles to further expound on the simple principles outlined below.

Water, trace mineral salt, and good quality forage are the foundations of good nutrition for the average mature horse. When fed ad-lib (all they want), can meet the maintenance needs of most horses. When adequate levels of forage are not enough to maintain good condition, concentrates and supplements are added and adjusted to maintain good body condition.

• To better understand the above paragraph let's look at some definitions:
  • Maintenance means a horse without:
    • preexisting health problems
    • not being worked regularly
    • not pregnant or nursing a foal.
  • Average is there because horses are like people, a few grow fat just breathing whereas a few grow thin on large quantities of feed.
  • Mature indicates the horse is finished growing.
• This recommendation assumes:
  • You have good control of intestinal worms, ...more.
  • You can accurately judge your horses condition, ...more.
  • You can roughly judge the quality of the forage available to your horse, ...more.
• If you are uncertain about these basic skills or would like to learn more follow the links.

Yes feeding horses to maintain a good body condition and health is really this simple and will basically work for all horses and equines. Let's expound a little bit on horse feeds so you can make the best selections for your horses. If you would like more information on a particular topic follow the links to specific articles but we recommend you digest this whole article first.