Published on April 3, 2024

This podcast discusses a comment by a listener who likes what I’m saying but doesn’t like to feed herself or her horses anything genetically modified or treated with chemicals. All of us will agree with her. But is it possible in today’s world?

Is avoiding these two criteria (GMOs and chemicals) important relative to other factors, such as chronic protein deficiency? What can we control with the care of horses, and what is beyond our control? Most horse foods are altered and treated worldwide, keeping production costs low, yields high, and making horse food affordable. However, removing processed food with multiple ingredients from your horses’ diet decreases exposure to GMOs and chemicals and removes their inflammatory effects.

We need to work with what is given to us to make choices about feeding horses. Realize what is in our control and exclude things beyond it. Evolution perfected horses, but not for today’s world. If you can find and afford organically grown food or turn them out on chemically free and ancient seeded pasture, then do so. But if you cannot, remove what you can from your horses’ diet to reduce inflammation and add high-quality protein. The benefits of feeding to follow their evolution outweigh the effects of feeding imperfect food.

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