Question
What are the benefits of feeding cracked corn to horses?
Answer
Cracked corn is a common feed for horses, and it is often an ingredient in textured and pelleted feeds. Corn provides energy to horses primarily in the form of starch. Processing it—in this case, cracking—makes the starch more available to horses. Energy fuels growth, performance, and maintenance of body weight.
Cracked corn can be fed by itself as a concentrated energy source, but it should come from a reliable source, as corn that’s been grown or harvested under suboptimal conditions can become moldy, and certain molds can be dangerous, even deadly, to horses. Your local feed store can probably help you locate a source of clean cracked corn.
When coupled with an appropriate quantity of good-quality forage (about 1.5% of body weight), corn can provide all of the energy a horse may need, but this simple diet won’t provide all of the vitamins and minerals required. Because of this, we recommend that you feed a well-fortified feed that is appropriate for the horse you’re feeding, whether it’s a broodmare, a pleasure-riding horse, or a high-performance horse. When you follow the feed manufacturer’s instructions, which are printed on the feed bag or tag, you can rest easy that your horse is receiving appropriate nutrition.
If you decide to feed cracked corn, ask your local feed store for a balancer pellet, which can be fed to provide essential nutrients not found in sufficient quantities in the forage (hay or pasture) and the corn. Balancer pellets are a low-intake product, meaning a normal horse (1,100 lb, 500 kg) would receive about 1 lb each day. Amounts vary based on manufacturer, though. A ration consisting of good-quality forage, cracked corn, and a balancer pellet can supply all of the nutrients needed for health and well-being.
In regard to how much cracked corn to feed, the general guideline would dictate no more than 3.5 lb (1.6 kg) for an average horse at each feeding, given the conventional safe level of starch recommended by nutritionists is 0.45-0.90 g of starch per lb (1-2 g of starch per kg) of body weight per meal on an as-fed basis. More than this overwhelms the gastrointestinal tract and can lead to digestive disturbances. As with any change in diet, adding cracked corn should be done slowly over one to two weeks.
Free-choice access to a clean water source and a salt block rounds out a well-balanced diet.
