Will grass provide my horse with a balanced diet?

Is grass alone enough or top-up with a horse balancer?

Grass can provide horses that are at rest or in light work with sufficient calories, and even protein, to meet their daily requirements. However, even the very best grazing will not provide optimal levels of all the essential minerals.  For example, horses at pasture, with no supplementary feed, can be deficient in both zinc and copper.  This can result in problems such as poor hoof and coat condition.

Horses that maintain weight easily on grazing alone will not need large quantities of concentrates and so a low intake, nutrient-rich balancer (i.e. Connolly’s Red Mills PerformaCare or GroCare Balancer) is ideal.

Horses in moderate to hard work have increased nutrient requirements. However, there isn’t sufficient capacity in the digestive system, or hours in the day, to consume enough grass to meet these requirements. Therefore, as workload increases, so does the need for concentrate feed.

Feeding a suitable concentrate ration will ensure that horses in frequent work receive the additional calories, protein and micronutrients needed to support performance.