Frequently asked questions

Horses are hindgut fermenters. About 65% of their digestive capacity is the hindgut (the cecum and colon), where microbes break down plant fiber from forage. Their digestive system is built to run on forage.

Most horses need 1.5% to 3% of body weight in forage pellets per day. A mature horse needs 1.5 to 2 lb per 100 lb of body weight; a growing horse or a pregnant or lactating mare needs 2 to 3 lb. Check with your veterinarian or nutritionist for your horse, and always provide plenty of fresh water. Each product page has a feeding calculator.

Yes. Our pellets are a balanced meal with guaranteed nutrients at every feeding. Replace your existing hay pound for pound, gradually, over 7 to 10 days. Always provide fresh, clean water.

Some horses are prone to choke no matter what they eat. If yours is, wet the pellets before feeding and use a wide, shallow feeder, or put a large smooth rock in the trough so the horse can’t gulp big mouthfuls.

Use a slow feeder, or a wide shallow bucket with a couple of large smooth rocks in it, and feed smaller meals more often. A half pound to a pound of long-stemmed hay a day can also keep your horse busy.

Many mills add bentonite, clay or molasses to hold large pellets and cubes together. Bentonite and clay are essentially dirt, and we don’t think your horse should eat it. We make only 5/16-inch pellets and slowly steam the ground hay, so the pellets hold together on their own.

Our forage is grown in the western U.S., in Utah, Nevada, Idaho and Colorado, where fertile soil, low humidity, low rainfall and good irrigation make ideal growing conditions. We buy from many local farmers, so we can always choose the best hay instead of selling whatever one farm happened to grow that year.

Alfalfa is a legume hay; timothy, orchard and Bermuda are grass hays. Legumes like alfalfa are higher in protein and calcium and lower in phosphorus than grasses. Timothy and orchard are cool-season grasses and Bermuda is a warm-season grass; cool-season grasses usually run slightly higher in protein. Quality varies a lot with where and when the hay is grown and cut.

No. Each product has a different density, so weigh each one and mark your bucket separately for it.