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Welcome to the Equisoins blog, where we share our passion and expertise in horse health and nutrition. Explore our articles to learn more about providing the best care for your equine companions.

The feeding maze

Explaining what to look for on your bag of horse food and what to avoid.

The myths behind the packaging

Decoding Horse Food: Common Questions Answered

At Equisoins, we understand that choosing the right food and supplements for your horse can be overwhelming. This blog will tackle some frequently asked questions, such as: Why is non-GMO important? What does no added molasses really mean? Are there "bad" oils? Is lucerne good or bad? Why shouldn't my horse eat grain? What does nutritionally improved fibre mean? What is wheat feed? Why is iron bad? And finally, Why should I feed a mineral balancer to my horse?

Non GMO

GMO cereals refer to genetically modified cereals which have had their DNA modified using genetic engineering methods, incorporating pesticides and herbicides into the structure like the "RoundUP Ready" soybean complete with it's own glyphosate.  Soya oil is widely used in animal feed and is thought healthy as it is high in Antioxyants, but unless it is stated as organic it is probably the GMO version, personally, I have no wish to feed glyphosate to my horses.

 

No Added Molasses

Back in the olden days we tipped molasses onto the bran mash to make it lovely and treacley!  Of course horses, like people, are not meant to eat that quantity of sweetness, but they, like us, love that sugar hit.  Feed companies have cottoned on to the fact that many owners are aware too much sugar is bad for their horses, so they put on the bag, "Molasses Free" but when you put your hand in the mix it still feels sticky, they have made a glucose based syrup which is useful to bind any dust in the feed and masks inferior quality ingredients.  Always look on the bag (maybe on the little sewn on label) to see the amount of sugar in the feed.  For horses that have EMS (Equine Metabolic Syndrome) the combined sugar and starch (NSC) should be below 10%

 

Are there "Bad" oils?