The rain has finally arrived.
But that doesn’t mean your drought feeding plan should stop overnight.
After months of dry conditions, it can be tempting to open the gates and let your horse loose on the first flush of green pasture. However, this can create problems.
For some horses, a sudden change in diet can increase the risk of colic and laminitis. Instead, the end of a drought should be treated as a transition period — and how you manage that transition matters.
When rain finally arrives, pasture can change quickly, with green pick appearing almost immediately.
But the first green shoots aren’t necessarily a sign that pasture is ready to support unrestricted grazing.
Giving pasture time to recover is important for its longer-term productivity. Grazing too early can deplete the remaining root reserves of drought-stressed plants and, in severe cases, cause plants to die.
A horse that has spent weeks or months eating hay and other supplementary forage has a very different diet from a horse grazing actively growing pasture.
Suddenly increasing pasture intake can dramatically change the amount of energy, protein, sugar and water entering the diet. It can also change the amount of fibre being consumed and the rate at which feed passes through the digestive tract.
These changes make the transition back to pasture a high-risk period for colic and laminitis. A slow transition gives your horse — and, importantly, the microbes in the gut — time to adapt.
How quickly you can increase grazing time depends on the pasture, the individual horse and how much pasture is available.
A practical approach is to:
There is no single number of days that will work for every horse when transitioning back to unrestricted pasture access.
The aim is to gradually increase pasture intake while monitoring your horse’s health and body condition, rather than suddenly replacing the entire diet and risking problems such as colic or laminitis.
The end of a drought can bring a surprising change in body condition, and some horses will regain weight quickly once pasture becomes available.
This can be particularly important for easy keepers and horses that have previously struggled to maintain a healthy weight.
Don’t assume that because a horse lost weight during the drought, unrestricted access to fresh pasture is now appropriate.
Continue monitoring body condition and adjust the diet as needed. Some horses may still need supplementary forage or additional calories.
Rapidly growing pasture can be high in non-structural carbohydrates (NSC), although pasture sugar and starch can vary considerably with plant species, maturity and environmental conditions.
This deserves particular attention in horses that are:
A drought ending doesn’t remove these dietary risks.
If your horse requires a low-NSC diet, manage pasture access carefully and consider pasture or forage testing where appropriate.
It’s also important to avoid assuming that the first flush of green pasture is suitable for unrestricted grazing. Allowing pasture time to recover can help both the plants and the horse.
It can be tempting to stop feeding hay as soon as grass appears.
Instead, use hay to help control the rate at which pasture becomes your horse’s main forage source. This also gives pasture plants time to establish before they are subjected to heavy grazing pressure.
For many pasture species, allowing plants to reach an appropriate stage of growth before grazing supports pasture recovery and provides a better balance of nutrients and fibre for horses.
As pasture availability increases, gradually reduce supplementary hay according to how much pasture your horse is consuming.
Horses will generally favour pasture over hay when both are available, so you can use changes in hay intake as one guide to how much pasture they are consuming. However, always ensure adequate forage remains available, particularly during the transition period.
You may need to continue feeding hay for several months after the drought has finished to allow pasture time to recover.
Be aware of weeds that weren’t present in the pasture before the drought but may now appear in your paddock.
These may include toxic plants or simply colonising plants — the first plants to establish when the ground has been bare.
Examples include capeweed (Arctotheca calendula) and false dandelion (Hypochaeris radicata).
If these weeds are present in large enough quantities, horses may consume significant amounts of them, potentially causing health problems or contributing to mineral imbalances.
Your drought diet may have contained a combination of grass hay, straw, lucerne hay, other fibre feeds, commercial feed and supplements.
As pasture intake increases, the contribution from those feeds to the overall diet will change.
A diet that was appropriate when hay provided most of the forage may no longer be appropriate when pasture becomes a significant part of the diet.
For example, a horse may no longer need the same amount of energy-dense feed.
The vitamin and mineral supplement may also need to change because pasture is now supplying nutrients that weren’t previously coming from hay.
This is a good time to reassess the whole diet rather than simply removing feeds as pasture becomes available.
As horses move from dry lots or sacrifice paddocks back onto pasture, their water source and intake may change.
For example, your horse may have been drinking delivered town water while in a dry lot or sacrifice paddock and then have access to bore water when returned to pasture.
Make sure the new water source is clean, palatable and readily available. Monitor your horse’s water intake when there is a change in water source and, where possible, provide a familiar water source during the transition.
Horses should always have access to unlimited, clean, palatable water.
When the drought breaks, don’t switch from drought feeding to unlimited pasture overnight.
Rain may end the drought — but good pasture management and careful dietary transitions help make sure your horse comes through it healthy.
FeedXL members — now’s the perfect time to double-check your horse’s diet.
Log in and review your forage and fibre balance »
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Understanding the difference between “as fed” and “dry matter” helps explain why pasture, hay and haylage can’t be compared by weight alone. It’s also the reason nutritionists evaluate feeds on a dry matter basis when assessing whether a horse’s diet is meeting its nutrient requirements.
“As fed” simply means the feed exactly as your horse eats it, including both its nutrients and its water content.
If you weigh:
each weighs 1 kg as fed.
However, although they weigh the same, they do not provide the same amount of nutrition because they contain very different amounts of water.
Dry matter is the portion of a feed that remains after all of the water has been removed.
It contains the nutrients your horse relies on, including:
Water is essential for hydration and many normal body functions, but it doesn’t contribute energy, protein, vitamins or minerals. Removing the water from the calculation allows feeds with different moisture contents to be compared fairly.
Imagine comparing two buckets.
One is filled mostly with hay. The other is filled mostly with water.
Even if the buckets weigh exactly the same, they clearly don’t contain the same amount of nutrition.
The same principle applies to horse feeds. Water adds weight but very little nutrition. By comparing feeds on a dry matter basis, nutritionists can accurately compare pasture, hay, haylage and concentrates, regardless of how much moisture they contain.
The amount of water in forage varies considerably. This means two feeds that weigh exactly the same can provide very different amounts of nutrition.
| Feed | Typical Water Content | Typical Dry Matter |
|---|---|---|
| Fresh pasture | 75 to 85% | 15 to 25% |
| Haylage | 35 to 50% | 50 to 65% |
| Hay | 10 to 15% | 85 to 90% |
| Pelleted feed | 8 to 12% | 88 to 92% |
You’ll notice that forage analyses are almost always reported on a dry matter basis. This allows hays, haylage and pasture samples to be compared fairly, regardless of how much moisture they contain.
Imagine your horse eats 10 kg of fresh pasture that contains 20% dry matter.
That provides:
Now compare that with 10 kg of hay containing 90% dry matter.
That provides:
Although both meals weigh 10kg, the hay provides more than four times as much dry matter.
This doesn’t mean hay is “better” than pasture. It simply demonstrates why feeds with different moisture contents can’t be compared just by “as fed” weight.
Understanding dry matter helps answer many of the practical questions horse owners face every day, including:
Without considering moisture content, it’s easy to overestimate how much dry matter — and therefore nutrients — a horse is receiving, particularly when grazing lush pasture or feeding high-moisture forages.
You’ll often see recommendations that horses should consume at least 1.5% of their body weight as forage each day.
This recommendation refers to forage dry matter intake, not the fresh weight of the forage.
For example, a 500 kg horse should consume at least 7.5 kg of forage dry matter each day.
That could be approximately:
The amount of forage required changes because the moisture content changes.
Many horses consume around 2% of their body weight as forage dry matter each day, depending on age, workload, body condition and the overall diet.
FeedXL automatically accounts for the moisture content of feeds before calculating nutrient intake.
This means pasture, hay, haylage and other feeds are compared based on the nutrients they actually provide, rather than simply on how much they weigh.
FeedXL evaluates diets on a dry matter basis rather than simply comparing feeds by weight. This allows nutrient intake to be assessed more accurately and helps identify whether any adjustments may be needed.
“As fed” tells you how much feed your horse is eating.
“Dry matter” standardises nutrient levels so you can compare them. It also allows you to calculate forage or total intake and ensure you’re meeting your horse’s requirements.
Understanding the difference removes one of the biggest sources of confusion in horse nutrition.
It’s a simple concept, but one that underpins almost every accurate nutrition calculation. Once you understand dry matter, you’ll have a much clearer picture of what your horse is really eating, and can build a more balanced diet.
FeedXL members — now’s the perfect time to see how dry matter plays out in your own horse’s diet.
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Winter has arrived across the Southern Hemisphere, and for many horse owners the focus shifts to keeping weight on, managing rugs, and making sure hay supplies are adequate.
But beneath these visible seasonal changes, something else is happening.
As pasture growth slows and nutritional quality declines, some of the most important nutrients in your horse’s diet can quietly begin to fall short. The challenge is that deficiencies rarely announce themselves immediately. Instead, they develop gradually, often showing up as subtle changes in coat quality, hoof health, recovery, behaviour, or overall wellbeing.
At FeedXL, we regularly analyze horse diets from across Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa and see the same winter pattern emerge year after year.
Three nutrients deserve particular attention during winter:
Let’s look at why they matter and why winter can increase the risk of deficiency.
Vitamin E is one of the most commonly overlooked nutrients in winter horse diets.
The reason is simple: fresh green pasture is the horse’s primary source of vitamin E.
The greener and more actively growing the pasture, the more vitamin E it typically contains.
Unfortunately, winter often brings:
This creates the perfect conditions for vitamin E intake to decline.
Many owners assume hay provides the same nutrients as the pasture it was made from.
When it comes to vitamin E, that’s not the case.
Vitamin E begins degrading rapidly once forage is cut and dried. Research suggests hay can lose a substantial proportion of its vitamin E content within the first few weeks of storage. After several months, very little bioavailable vitamin E may remain.
As a result, horses relying heavily on hay can consume significantly less vitamin E than expected.
Vitamin E is a fat-soluble vitamin, meaning it can be stored in body tissues.
This allows horses to draw on reserves built up during spring and summer, which is why deficiency often develops gradually.
A horse may enter winter with adequate stores and appear perfectly healthy for months. By mid-winter, however, those reserves may be depleted without obvious warning signs.
Early signs can include:
Because these signs are often subtle, vitamin E deficiency frequently goes unnoticed until it has been present for some time.
If additional vitamin E is required, the form matters.
Natural vitamin E (d-alpha-tocopherol) has been shown to be more effective at raising blood vitamin E levels than synthetic vitamin E (dl-alpha-tocopherol).
When comparing supplements, it’s worth checking which form is being used.
Copper plays a critical role in many aspects of equine health.
It is involved in:
Yet copper deficiency remains relatively common in Southern Hemisphere horse diets, particularly when forage quality declines.
Copper deficiency often shows up as:
Many owners simply assume these changes are part of winter, when in reality nutrition may be playing a role.
Zinc and copper are closely linked.
Not only do they perform many complementary functions within the body, but they also compete for absorption in the digestive tract.
This means that looking at one without considering the other can create problems.
A horse may appear to be receiving adequate copper, but excessive zinc can reduce copper absorption. Likewise, deficiencies in both minerals often occur together.
Zinc supports:
Because zinc is heavily involved in rapidly growing tissues, deficiencies often show up first in the hooves, skin, and coat.
Common signs include:
During wet winter conditions, adequate zinc becomes even more important as horses face increased challenges from mud, moisture, and skin infections.
One of the biggest mistakes horse owners make is supplementing individual minerals without understanding the overall diet.
Copper and zinc work best when both intake levels and their ratio are appropriate.
Adding a supplement without knowing what’s already being provided by pasture, hay, feeds, and existing supplements can create imbalances rather than solving them.
That’s why assessing the entire diet is so important.
If your horse is:
Now is a good time to review their vitamin and mineral intake.
Winter diets can look adequate on the surface while still falling short in key nutrients.
Vitamin E, copper, and zinc all share something important.
Deficiencies often develop quietly. Most horses won’t wave a flag to tell you there’s a problem. Instead, they’ll show subtle signs that are easy to attribute to winter itself.
The good news is that once you can see what’s happening in the diet, these gaps become much easier to address.
A targeted supplement, fed at the right dose and based on your horse’s actual requirements, is far more effective than guessing.
Winter is the ideal time to update your horse’s diet in FeedXL.
Add your current hay, pasture conditions, feeds, and supplements, then review the vitamin and mineral analysis.
You may discover your horse’s diet is already meeting requirements. Or you may uncover nutritional gaps that are easy to address before they begin affecting health, performance and wellbeing.
FeedXL members — now’s the perfect time to double-check your horse’s diet.
Log in and review your forage and fibre balance »
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Summer brings longer days, harder ground, more riding, more sweating, and often less reliable pasture. Yet despite these seasonal changes, many horse owners continue feeding the same diet they fed months ago.
The result?
Nutritional gaps can quietly develop, affecting hydration, performance, recovery, and overall wellbeing long before obvious signs appear.
At FeedXL, we regularly analyze horse diets from across North America and see the same pattern emerge every summer. Three nutrients are commonly overlooked, yet they play a critical role in helping horses cope with heat, exercise, and changing pasture conditions.
Let’s take a closer look.
If we had to choose one nutrient that causes the most problems during summer, it would be salt.
Not electrolytes.
Not supplements.
Just plain salt.
Horses lose salt every time they sweat. During hot weather, these losses can be substantial, particularly for horses in work.
What many owners don’t realise is that salt plays a major role in stimulating thirst. When salt levels are low, a horse may not feel driven to drink enough water, even when plenty is available.
This can increase the risk of:
A horse in light work requires approximately 10 grams of salt per day at a minimum. This equates to roughly two teaspoons of table salt.
Horses in moderate or heavy work, particularly in hot weather, may require significantly more.
Pasture generally supplies very little salt. Most commercial feeds contribute only small amounts. Salt licks can help, but intake is often inconsistent and difficult to monitor.
For many horses, adding measured loose salt to the daily feed is the simplest and most reliable solution.
Review your horse’s diet and determine whether it is supplying adequate salt for their workload and climate.
Many owners are surprised to discover their horse is consuming far less than required.
When a horse sweats, they lose much more than fluid.
Horse sweat contains significant amounts of:
These minerals are essential for normal muscle function, nerve transmission, hydration, and recovery.
For horses working in hot conditions, replacing these losses is often necessary to maintain performance and wellbeing.
Electrolyte depletion can contribute to:
Many products marketed as electrolytes vary considerably in their formulation.
When assessing a supplement, look for:
Be cautious of products containing large amounts of sugar or glucose relative to electrolyte content.
Electrolytes should never be provided without ensuring access to fresh water.
Electrolytes and water work together. Supplementing electrolytes without adequate hydration can create additional problems rather than solving them.
Vitamin E often flies under the radar because deficiency develops slowly.
Unlike water-soluble vitamins, Vitamin E is stored within body tissues. As a result, signs of deficiency may take months to appear.
Summer creates a perfect storm for Vitamin E shortfalls.
Fresh green pasture is naturally rich in Vitamin E.
However:
At the same time, horses in work produce more oxidative stress within their muscles. Vitamin E acts as one of the body’s primary antioxidants, helping protect cells and support recovery after exercise.
In many cases, a horse’s requirement increases just as their intake decreases.
Early signs can include:
More severe deficiencies can eventually contribute to neurological problems, although these are generally associated with long-term inadequate intake.
If supplementation is required, it’s worth checking the label.
Natural Vitamin E (d-alpha-tocopherol) is considerably more bioavailable than synthetic Vitamin E (dl-alpha-tocopherol).
For horses with higher requirements, this difference can be important.
Salt, electrolytes, and Vitamin E have something important in common.
They’re all relatively simple to correct once you know whether a deficiency exists.
The challenge is that most nutritional gaps are invisible.
A horse that isn’t drinking enough, recovering poorly after work, feeling flat, or struggling through summer conditions may not need another supplement. They may simply need their diet assessed properly.
As pasture changes and workloads increase, now is the ideal time to review your horse’s diet.
FeedXL allows you to analyze your horse’s complete diet, compare nutrient intake against requirements, and identify gaps before they become problems.
A few minutes spent reviewing your horse’s nutrition today could make a significant difference to their health, performance, and wellbeing throughout the summer season.
FeedXL members — now’s the perfect time to double-check your horse’s diet.
Log in and review your forage and fibre balance »
Not using FeedXL yet?
Join today to start building scientifically balanced diets for your horse »
When horse owners say “my horse has too much energy,” they’re usually talking about behaviour—extra fizz, spookiness, or feeling like they’re about to explode. But in nutrition, energy means something very different.
In feeding terms, energy is about calories. Specifically, Digestible Energy (DE) – the amount of energy from feed that your horse can absorb and use after digestion.
And while feeding too much energy can sometimes cause behavioural issues, DE isn’t about fizz. It’s about fuel.
Every feed ingredient contains energy, measured in calories (or joules). But not all of that energy is usable by your horse.
Here’s how it breaks down:
In short:
Digestible Energy = Gross Energy – Fecal Energy Loss
This is the energy your horse actually absorbs and uses for everything from breathing and digestion to trotting down the trail or galloping a cross-country course.
DE is one of the most important parts of any horse’s diet. It determines how much feed they need based on:
If a horse gets too little DE, they’ll lose weight and lack energy for work. If they get too much, they may become overweight or develop diet-related issues like laminitis, insulin resistance, or unwanted behavioural changes.
Here’s a guide based on a healthy 500 kg (1100 lb) horse:
Workload |
DE/day (Mcal) |
| Maintenance (no work) | 15–16 Mcal |
| Light work (trail riding, low-level dressage) | 20–22 Mcal |
| Moderate (show jumping, reining, lower-level eventing) | 25–28 Mcal |
| Heavy (racing, endurance, upper-level eventing) | 30–35+ Mcal |
That means horses in work may need 1.5 to 2.5 times more DE than horses at rest.
But keep in mind: needs can vary based on metabolism, breed, environment, and feed quality.
To keep your horse healthy, fit, and able to perform, you need to provide:
As your horse’s workload increases, so do their calorie needs—and also their requirements for things like:
Even small imbalances can make a big difference.
Calculating DE (along with all those nutrients) doesn’t have to be a guessing game.
FeedXL does the heavy lifting for you.
Simply enter your horse’s details— age, weight, workload, diet, and any medical conditions—and FeedXL calculates and shows you exactly how much DE they need, and whether their current diet is on track.
It’s the fastest way to make sure your horse is fueled for whatever you ask of them—no overfeeding, no underfeeding, no confusion.
If you’ve got a particularly “fizzy” horse, be sure to check out our blog on Feeding for Calm Behaviour
https://feedxl.com/21-feeding-for-behaviour/
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Is Your Horse Getting What They Need?
With the change of season, now is the perfect time to check that your horse’s diet is covering all the essentials. With changes in pasture quality—both in volume and nutritional value—it’s more important than ever to ensure your horse is getting everything they need to stay healthy and thrive.
One of the most critical areas to focus on is vitamins and minerals. But how do you know what your horse actually needs? And why does it matter so much?
The Hidden Danger of Mineral Deficiency
Mineral deficiencies, especially long-term ones, are one of the most common yet overlooked issues in equine nutrition. These deficiencies often develop silently, with no immediate signs, until something goes seriously wrong.
Think of it like termites in a house—you often don’t notice they’re there until the structure is already compromised. The same goes for nutritional deficiencies. Just because you can’t see them doesn’t mean they’re not doing damage. And once the signs become obvious, the issue may already be severe.
If you’re not supplementing your horse with the right nutrients—either through fortified feeds or carefully chosen supplements—there’s a high chance they are lacking something essential. And that deficiency could eventually lead to serious health problems.
Common Symptoms of Deficiency
Vitamin and mineral deficiencies can show up in many ways. Here are some examples:
These symptoms may take months or even years to become visible, which is why prevention is so important. Unfortunately, we often jump to treat symptoms—like adding joint or calming supplements—without addressing the real cause: poor nutrition.
Nutrition Comes First
Good nutrition should always be the foundation of your horse’s care. There’s little point giving a joint supplement if the horse is chronically deficient in copper and zinc, two minerals essential for joint health. Nearly every horse will require some level of vitamin and mineral support. Without it, imbalances are almost inevitable—and so are the consequences.
So, what nutrients are essential, and what do they actually do?
Key Vitamins and Their Roles
Essential Minerals
Prevention is Easier Than the Cure
The good news? All of these issues are preventable.
Rather than spending months—and often thousands of dollars—trying to fix problems caused by deficiencies, you can prevent them altogether with the right approach to nutrition. It starts with knowing exactly what your horse needs and making sure those needs are met.
That’s where FeedXL comes in. It helps you accurately assess your horse’s diet and identify any nutrient gaps. You can see which vitamins and minerals are missing and get clear, data-based suggestions for which feeds or supplements (out of the thousands available) will best meet those needs.
It also prevents over-supplementing “just in case,” which is a common and expensive mistake. At best, it wastes money—at worst, it can lead to toxicities just as harmful as deficiencies.
Final Thoughts
Just because you can’t see a nutritional problem doesn’t mean it isn’t there. And the longer it goes unnoticed, the more damage it can do. Reviewing your horse’s diet now —could be one of the best things you do for their long-term health and performance.
Don’t wait for the warning signs. Give your horse the nutritional foundation they need to stay strong, happy, and healthy.
When it comes to your horse’s joint health, you may turn to supplements to provide essential nutrients that support mobility, flexibility, and overall joint function. But how do you know if your horse’s joint supplement is doing all that it can? FeedXL allows you to analyse the nutrient content of your horse’s diet, including joint supplements, to ensure they meet your horse’s specific needs.
Glucosamine is one of the most popular ingredients when it comes to joint health. Not only does it provide the building blocks for synthesis of glycosaminoglycans (including chondroitin sulfate and HA), which are key to healthy cartilage, it’s also thought to play a role in inhibiting the breakdown of cartilage. It can appear as both glucosamine hydrochloride (HCl) or glucosamine sulfate (SO4) on supplement labels, but there is no conclusive evidence on which form is more bioavailable.
Chondroitin sulfate may support a normal cartilage inflammatory response by playing a role in inhibiting the effects of various enzymes that degrade cartilage. Known as a “building block” of hyaluronic acid and proteoglycan, you’ll often see it in combination with glucosamine in joint supplements.
Hyaluronic Acid (HA) is an integral component of joint fluid and articular cartilage. HA provides lubrication for the joint and helps maintain the correct viscosity of the joint fluid.
Methylsulfonymethane (MSM) plays an important role in forming protein, immunoglobins, certain enzymes, and connective tissues such as tendons and ligaments. It’s often found in joint supplements because of its properties as an antioxidant as well as a way to support a normal inflammatory response.
Trace minerals, including copper and manganese, are incorporated into the building blocks responsible for healthy joint structure and function. Healthy copper levels help support normal connective tissues, cartilage, bones, and hooves. Manganese helps form chondroitin sulfate, which in turn supports healthy bones and joints.
Vitamin C, an antioxidant, plays an important role in collagen synthesis and is an important part of the production of healthy tendons, ligaments, and bones. While horses produce their own Vitamin C, factors such as age, stress, and underlying health conditions may cause a horse to need more than they can produce on their own. Click here to read more on Vitamin C.
Omega 3 fatty acids help mediate inflammation throughout the body. Horses need a balanced ratio of omega 3 to omega 6 fatty acids and due to modern horse keeping conditions such as reduced pasture intake and feeding fortified grains, many horses may be unbalanced in this area. To learn more about the role of omegas in your horse’s diet, be sure to read our blog: Omega 3s for Horses
If you’re a FeedXL member and using a joint supplement, get the most out of your membership by using our Premium plan. Add any joint supplement to your horse’s diet and get a breakdown of the amount of each joint nutrient provided by that supplement and see if that falls within the suggested supplementation range for best results.
Since there are no established recommended daily intakes (RDIs) for these nutrients, FeedXL provides you with a range for suggested intake based on various studies.
You can also use FeedXL to browse the list of joint supplements available on the market, add them to your diet, and check to see what nutrients they supply and at what levels.
Adding costs can also be a great way to find a joint supplement that not only provides your horse with what they need but also fits your budget.
Research on joint supplements, their ingredients, and their efficacy is an ongoing area of study. It’s important to remember that while certain key ingredients may play a role in healthy joint function, if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is. When it comes to supplements or companies making claims to “treat,” “cure,” or “heal” things, be sure to maintain a healthy amount of scientific skepticism. For more on the research on joint supplements, click here.
