Are horses allowed to eat oatmeal?

Oatmeal is a commonly used food in livestock production because it contains many important nutrients.

But is this also true for horses?

In this article you will learn whether horses are allowed to eat oatmeal and what you must pay attention to when feeding them.

Can horses eat oatmeal?

Yes, horses can eat oatmeal, because it is extremely healthy for your four-legged friend and also easily digestible. Oatmeal tastes particularly good, so it is a feed that even fussy horses like to eat.

It is often rumored that horses that eat too much oats go crazy and become unpredictable.

At this point we can give the all-clear, because this is not the case, on the contrary!
Why is oatmeal good for horses?

Oatmeal is healthy for horses for the reason that it has many valuable nutrients and is also very digestible.

This means that your horse can eat oatmeal even if he suffers from acute indigestion or stomach problems. Even with dental problems oatmeal can do good.

The flakes encourage chewing, which produces more saliva and can even relieve stress. If your horse doesn’t chew the flakes well due to toothache, that’s not a problem.

Since the flakes are no longer surrounded by a casing compared to the oats in their original form, the oat flakes can still be digested well and your horse benefits from all the nutrients.

By the way, oats are available in different colors! For example, you can feed yellow, white, green or even black oats.

Especially the black oats are considered a real miracle cure for intestinal problems and there is almost no horse that does not tolerate these oats.

What are the alternatives for oatmeal?

If your horse suffers from intestinal or dental problems and you don’t want to feed oatmeal for a reason, that’s perfectly fine.

In this section we will show you what alternatives you can feed.

We have also provided you with a small list of tasty and healthy snacks that can also provide your horse with valuable nutrients and are easily digestible.

By the way, oatmeal belongs to roughage and can therefore be fed as a complete feed. Minerals can be added as needed, and hay should always be available to your horse.

These are the alternative feeds you can feed:

1. corn flakes

Corn flakes are very popular among horse lovers and provide your animal with valuable nutrients.

In addition, corn flakes taste very good to most horses. The feed is easily digestible and stimulates the activity of the small intestine, so that other feed can be better utilized.

In view of this, corn flakes are also excellent as a supplementary feed.

2. spelt

Spelt is an excellent digestible feed, but its consistency is harder than oats.

That is why feeding spelt is only suitable for horses that do not have dental problems. On the other hand, for horses with stomach or intestinal problems, as well as for allergy sufferers, the feeding of spelt is absolutely recommended.

Due to the fact that the horse has to chew well, the horse is also engaged longer.

Your horse will love these healthy snacks:

1. carrots

Pretty much every horse loves carrots!

With the help of carrots you can not only make yourself very popular with your four-legged friend, but also do him some good, because carrots contain many valuable vitamins and nutrients.

Question: Are horses allowed to eat the greens of carrots? Here is the answer!

Also, you don’t have to worry about feeding your horse too many carrots – a rule of thumb is that a horse can eat 1 kg of carrots per day per 100 kg of body weight.

This, in turn, means that a 400 kg horse would have to eat over 4 kg of carrots per day for this to have long-term negative consequences.

So if you feel the need to feed your favorite an extra carrot or two, you can do so without hesitation!

2. apples

This snack is especially useful for older horses, because apples contain lots of vitamin C.

Especially older animals are often no longer able to produce enough vitamin C on their own, which is why apples are a healthy alternative to giving vitamin supplements.

However, make sure that you cut the apples at least in half before feeding them to significantly reduce the risk of choking.

You don’t have to limit yourself to one apple per day either, as it’s easy to feed about 1 kg of apples per day.

3. bananas

There are always horses that find apples too sour or that cannot eat carrots or apples due to dental problems.

In these cases, bananas are ideal, because the soft fruit not only tastes delicious, but is also very healthy!

However, you should keep in mind that bananas have quite a high potassium content. Potassium should not be overdosed, so you should not feed your horse more than four or five bananas a day.

However, occasionally as a small snack, bananas are very healthy, as previously discussed!

4. dried rose hips

Rose hips are small and delicious!

They are also rich in vitamins and low in calories. Therefore, rose hips are not only suitable as a snack for in between meals, but can also be used for your workout.

You can feed up to a handful of rose hips without hesitation.

This is a very good alternative to artificial treats and your horse will be much more motivated during training.

Rose hips even have benefits for hoof growth, because when horses are fed rose hips over a regular period of time, their hooves grow back stronger and healthier!
What’s the best way to feed oatmeal?

Add oatmeal to your horse’s trough along with your chosen mineral feed.

Make sure that only your horse has access to this feed to ensure that he eats everything on his own and is provided with the necessary nutrients.