Choosing a Horse Feed: Textured Feeds vs. Pellets
How do you decide what to feed your horse? Sure, you know you need to supply plenty of forage, clean water, and access to salt. But when it comes to a horse’s diet, that’s almost never enough. A horse feed or balancer provides the vitamins, minerals, protein, and fat needed for optimal nutrition. Need help breaking down the differences between textured feeds and pellets? We can help.
Textured Feeds
Not surprisingly, textured feeds for horses are extremely palatable. They can contain plenty of purposeful ingredients like vegetable oil, soy hulls, beet pulp and vitamins. They’re usually formulated with protein levels between 12-16%, while their fat and fiber levels vary. This makes it easier to find a textured feed that suits an individual horse’s needs.
Textured feeds are a solid choice for many athletic horses and hard keepers. They can also be a good choice for senior horses, who may need a palatable feed to encourage eating.
At Hallway Feeds, we offer a variety of textured feeds for horses, including:
• Distinguished, which is carefully formulated for the needs of senior horses
• Poize, for horses in light to medium work
• Fibrenergy, which we’ve crafted with the needs of competition horses in mind and also the number one choice for veterinary hospitals to recommend for post-surgery
• Protenza, a great choice for competition horses who need less protein
• Race 13, which is the nutritional powerhouse many of the world’s leading trainers choose for performance horses
• MuesliMax, which is formulated with a variety of energy sources to give high-performance horses an edge as they power through training and competitions
• Prep 14, an energy-dense textured feed that’s often used to prepare horses for the sale ring; its caloric density also makes it a good choice for convalescing or post-surgical horses
• Special 13, which is popular on breeding farms because it can benefit lactating broodmares, as well as weanlings and foals
• RG 14, which uses super-fibers to replace cereal grains to promote healthy skeletal development in young horses
Pelleted Feeds
Pelleted feeds contain many of the same ingredients as textured feeds, although they can contain less molasses. Like textured feeds, you can find equine pellets that suit specific needs, with varying levels of fat, fiber, and even protein. However, pellets blend the ingredients into “nuggets”; this makes equine pellets perfect for horses who tend to pick through their feed, eating the parts they like, and leaving behind the parts they don’t like.
Our pelleted feeds include:
• Edge 14, a reduced-starch feed to promote the proper skeletal development in young horses
• Staminoats and Super Staminoats, which are formulated for both growing horses and mature horses (perfect for breeding farms)
• Equibility, which we’ve custom-crafted to support the nutritional needs of active, mature horses
• Tradition 12, our nutrient-dense equine pellet that can benefit older broodmares, stallions and sport horses
• Quantify, crafted with additional fat to help horses who need to increase condition
• OO16, which provides an option for horses on a corn-free diet
• Stamm 30, our concentrated source of proteins, vitamins, and minerals, can be used to add nutrients to a horse’s diet
• Kentucky Mare Cubes, another concentrated source of nutrients, is formulated to support the nutritional needs of gestating and lactating mares, as well as weanlings and foals, without adding calories
Feed for Needs
When choosing a horse feed, nutrition is the most important factor; it’s more important to choose a formula that provides the right blend of fat, fiber, energy, protein, vitamins, and minerals. Not sure what your horse needs? We’re always happy to advise you and help set up a healthy nutritional program.