Horses are herbivores meaning they only eat plantation and vegetables. They don’t eat any kind of meat. A horse diet in the wild is similar in some ways of a captive horse. Horses should be provided with grass within their diet and hay they are key foods to give them their maximum diet needs. It is recommended that horses receive at least 1.5%–2% of their body weight in forage or forage substitutes such as hay cubes or other high-fibre source daily.
Water -Water requirements depend largely on environmental conditions and amount of work or physical activity being performed. The minimal intake of water a day for a 100kg horse body weight should be 5 litres, assuming the horse is consuming at least 1.5% of its body weight in feed dry matter. However a 500-kg horse will usually drink 21–29 L of water per day when fed a mixed hay/grain ration
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Generally, these grasses are combined with several weeds when grown, which pull nutrients from the grass plant.
Legumes/Alfalfa- legumes tend to be rich in nutrients and provide more energy than grass hays. Alfalfa is one of most commonly fed legumes and is widely available in many parts of the country. Provides protein which is beneficial for body growth and maintenance. Protein helps the development in the body such as the makeup muscle, hair and hoof. Alfalfa hay has to be fed with some care because of its high calcium level in relation to phosphorus.
Chaff- Chaff is finely cut hay and straw and is used to bulk out a horses feed to prevent the horse from bolting down its food too