How Long Can Horses Go Without Food?

Everyone depends on food and water. Animals are meant to be fed every day. Food is distributed according to the size of the horse and how busy the horse was during the day. Many beginner horse owners tend to make many mistakes. One of those mistakes is not feeding their horse at the right time or simply giving them less food than they should. Often times they would forget to feed their horse.

So, we want to ask how long can horses go without food. Horses can spend a maximum of 8 hours without food.

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What happens if a horse doesn’t eat for a long time?

Horses are designed to be trickle eaters and not large meal eaters. This means that they could just nibble some grass, walk, drowse for half an hour, eat some leaves of a tree, drink some water, and then go to sleep.

So, what happens if you forget to feed your horse? Leaving your horse without food longer than 8 hours can cause gastric ulcers.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7iusu1f2_HQ

You can read this research paper if you want to find out more about gastric ulcers. Advances in Diagnostics and Treatments in Horses and Foals with Gastric and Duodenal Ulcers

Do horses need to be fed every day?

While many people like to stick with a strict daily schedule when it comes to feeding a horse, it’s more likely that strict feeding schedules can cause more harm than good.

But, do horses really need to be fed every day? You need to feed your horse every day.