THRIVE FEED BLOGS

One of the greatest adjustments the domestic horse makes is something most people never think about. The horse’s relationship with hunger. In the wild, a horse is almost never truly “waiting for food.” Grazing is constant. Intake is slow. The stomach is rarely empty. The horse’s system is designed for continuity, not interruption. The horse lives by what I call the Hunger Clock. It is not just about calories. It is about biology, expectation, and rhythm. A horse is built to e

Feeding the Winter Furnace Across North America When winter arrives, most people think first about blankets. Experienced horsemen think first about forage. Because the most powerful winter heater a horse possesses is not fabric. It is fermentation. A horse stays warm from the inside out, and the foundation of that warmth is fiber. The Horse’s Real Heater Is the Hindgut Horses are grazing animals designed to process forage continuously. Their digestive tract functions as a slo

In horsemanship, we respect progressive training. We do not ask a young horse for advanced work on day one. We build gradually, with patience, structure, and biological respect. Nutrition deserves the same respect. One of the most common sources of unnecessary disruption in horses is abrupt dietary change. Horses thrive on consistency, and their digestive systems are designed for steady input, not sudden shocks. This is not a marketing concept. It is how the horse is built. T

In the horse world, people often separate the mind from the body. Behavior is treated as training, and digestion is treated as feeding. But the horse does not live in compartments. A horse’s demeanor is frequently an outward expression of its internal comfort. Before a horse can focus, it must first feel physiologically settled. The Digestive System Is Central to Regulation The horse’s digestive tract is one of the most sensitive systems in the entire animal. It is designed f

In the modern horse world, people are understandably cautious about any product that sounds like it promises behavior change. They should be. The responsible truth is this, good nutrition supports the body’s normal systems, and when those systems are supported, the horse may be better positioned to focus and learn. That is not sedation. That is not treatment. That is simply biology working as intended. Horses thrive on diets that respect their evolutionary design, steady fora

One of the most overlooked truths in horse care is that fibre is not simply food. Fibre is not filler. Fibre is not “roughage.” Fibre is warmth. In the horse, fibre is part of thermoregulation, the horse’s ability to stay warm from the inside out. The Horse Has an Internal Heater Horses are hindgut fermenters. The caecum and large colon are not just digestive chambers, they are fermentation engines. Microbial fermentation breaks down fibrous plant material, extracting usable

One of the most extraordinary things about horses is that they are not warmed primarily from the outside. They are warmed from within. A horse carries an internal furnace, the hindgut. The caecum and large colon are not simply digestive chambers. They are fermentation engines. And in many ways, they act as a natural heater built into the horse’s design. The Hindgut Is a Fermentation System Horses are hindgut fermenters. They do not digest fibre the way humans do. Instead, gra

Horse owners spend a lot of time looking at their horses. Coats. Feet. Body condition. Behaviour. But one of the most honest health signals is often ignored until something goes wrong. Manure. If you want to understand a horse quickly, become a quiet observer of the manure pile. Because manure tells the truth in five seconds. Manure Is the Digestive Report Card A horse is a hindgut fermenter. The entire system depends on fibre fermentation. What comes out the back end is not

One of the simplest behaviours a horse performs is also one of the most powerful: Chewing. Most people think chewing is just how horses eat. But chewing is far more than a mechanical act. Chewing is regulation. Chewing is digestion. Chewing is wellbeing. In many ways, horses need to chew to heal. Chewing Is What the Horse Was Designed to Do The horse evolved as a grazing animal. Its natural state is slow, steady chewing across the day. That constant chewing is not incidental.

If you ask horse owners what nutrients matter most, you will hear about protein, vitamins, minerals, and energy. But one of the most important nutrients in a horse’s life is often overlooked completely. Salt. After fibre, salt may be one of the most essential and underappreciated nutritional foundations for the modern horse. Salt Drives Thirst, and Thirst Drives Health Water is life. But horses do not always drink enough unless the thirst mechanism is properly supported. Salt

A very common thing people say about horses is: “He’s lazy.” “She just doesn’t want to work.” “He’s stubborn.” But in my experience, the truly lazy horse is rare. Most horses are not lazy. Most horses are coping. The myth of the lazy horse has caused more misunderstanding than almost any other label. Horses Are Designed to Move The horse is not an animal built for idleness. Horses evolved to walk, graze, travel, and respond. Movement is part of their biology. So when a horse

Horse owners often hear a simple phrase: “Just put them on grass, it’s natural.” And at first glance, that sounds right. Horses evolved on forage. They are grazing animals. Grass should be the most natural thing in the world. But here is the modern truth: Pasture is not always natural anymore. The Grass Has Changed The horse has not changed. But the grasses we now grow and manage have changed dramatically. Modern pastures are often bred for: Rapid growth High sugar content Hi

One of the clearest signs that something is wrong in a feeding system is not found in the feed itself. It is found in the horse’s behaviour at feeding time. A horse that is calm around food is a horse that feels secure. A horse that becomes frantic is a horse living under pressure. Feeding time should never be a frenzy. Horses Were Not Designed to Rush Their Food In nature, horses graze. They do not bolt meals. They do not fight over buckets. They do not live with sudden feed

One of the most important facts in equine nutrition is also one of the most overlooked: The horse’s stomach was not built for meals. It was built for grazing. This single truth explains an enormous amount about modern digestive and behavioural problems in domestic horses. The Horse Was Designed to Eat Almost Continuously In nature, a horse does not eat breakfast and dinner. A horse eats steadily. Small amounts. All day. The horse’s digestive system evolved around that constan

One of the most common modern mistakes in horse care is the belief that more is always better. More feed. More energy. More scoop. More supplements. More calories. But horses are not machines. And their digestive systems do not reward excess. Often, more feeding creates more problems. Horses Were Built for Steady Intake, Not Large Meals The horse evolved as a grazing animal. It was designed to eat slowly across the day, not consume large concentrated meals in minutes. The dig

Walk into any tack shop or scroll through the horse world online and you will find an endless promise: This supplement will fix it. Calm him. Build topline. Improve hooves. Boost immunity. Support joints. Enhance digestion. The modern horse industry has become a supplement culture. And yet horses have never been more complicated, more sensitive, and more metabolically burdened. That should tell us something. Supplements Are Not Foundations A supplement can be useful in the ri

Modern horse nutrition often revolves around one obsession: Calories. Owners worry about calories for weight. Calories for performance. Calories for senior horses. Calories for condition. But the horse was never built around calories first. The horse was built around fibre. The Horse Is a Fibre Animal A horse is not designed to be fuelled like a machine. It is designed to live on forage. Its digestive system evolved for: Continuous fibre intake Slow fermentation Stable microb

One of the most overlooked aspects of horse health is not nutritional at all. It is social. Horses were never meant to eat alone. The Horse Is a Herd Animal Before It Is Anything Else A horse is not an individual creature by nature. It is a herd animal. Its nervous system evolved in the presence of others. Safety is collective. Calm is shared. In the wild, a horse grazes with the herd, moves with the herd, rests with the herd, and watches the world through many sets of eyes.

One of the first things people notice when they open a bag of Thrive Feed is that it does not look like a typical horse feed. The pieces are not uniform. They are not tidy little pellets. They are not identical cylinders made to look “factory perfect.” Instead, Thrive Feed consists of irregular, uniquely formed nuggets, and that is not an accident. It is a deliberate part of what makes Thrive Feed different. Pellets Were Designed for Manufacturing, Not for Horses The modern f

In the modern horse industry, nutrition is often discussed as though the horse were a machine that needs constant adjustment. We hear phrases like “balanced diets,” “life-stage formulas,” and “performance rations,” as if the horse’s body is something that must be continually managed, engineered, and upgraded. But horses do not thrive because humans create perfectly calculated feeding systems. Horses thrive when their nutrition respects what they are. The horse is not an inven