Feeding fruit and vegetables to horses
Horses generally like certain fruit and vegetables as treats as much as they like polos and sweets. Feeding fruit or vegetables in place of sweets helps restrict sugar intake and is healthier for the horse. It should be remembered however that fruits can contain high amounts of sugars too so if you are restricting sugar intake for conditions such as laminitis it is important to bear this in mind.
Fruit and vegetables can be added to feeds to encourage a fussy eater to eat or to provide more variation if their feed is plain. The most popular fruits and veg to feed to horses are apples and carrots however there are others that they will like and are safe to feed including: swedes, turnips, broccoli, parsnips, beetroot, celery and cabbage leaves.
To relieve boredom of the stabled horse a large swede can be hung from string, they will play with this and eat it through the day.
Foods that are said to be poisonous to horses include: pumpkins and potato peelings.
In some countries oranges and grapefruits are commonly fed and bananas are a great source of potassium and can be fed with the peel still on if the horse will eat it.
Whatever fruit or vegetable you choose for the horse to eat you should remember that they should be fairly fresh and free from mould or decay. You should never feed fruit that has rotted in the fruit bowl as mould and such like can be dangerous to horses.
When serving fruit of vegetable to horses always cut them into strips lengthways. Vegetables that are sliced across such as carrots present a risk of choke as they can easily get lodged in the horse’s throat.
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