top of page
Frequently asked questions
General
Thrive Feed is supplied in a 40 lb (18.14 kg) bag. The feed is fully processed and dehydrated, resulting in very high digestibility and nutrient availability, with approximately 93 percent utilisation under normal feeding conditions. In practical terms, this means the usable nutritional value equals or exceeds that of a conventional 50 lb (22.67 kg) bag of standard horse feed.
There is also a practical handling advantage. The lighter bag is easier to lift, transport, and manage on a daily basis, particularly for owners feeding multiple horses or handling feed without assistance.
Thrive Feed is designed to be fed dry and should not be wetted down. Adding water interferes with the natural role of saliva, which is critical in the first stage of digestion. Saliva provides enzymes and buffering capacity, and it begins the softening and alkalising process before the feed reaches the stomach. Pre soaking the feed bypasses this step and compromises digestive efficiency.
When Thrive Feed is offered in a large, flat bottomed tub and spread out thinly, horses consume it in a grazing pattern similar to short pasture. Saliva rapidly softens the nuggets within seconds. Even horses with poor dentition or no teeth are able to access the nutrients effectively using this method, without the need to turn the feed into a mash.
Older horses with worn or absent teeth generally do very well on Thrive Feed. The feed is designed to soften rapidly on contact with saliva, forming an easy-to-swallow meal that does not require grinding or chewing. When fed correctly, senior horses are able to consume it comfortably and consistently.
Thrive Feed should be offered dry and spread thinly in a wide, flat-bottomed feed tub. This allows the horse to eat in a natural, grazing-style pattern while saliva quickly softens the feed during consumption. Even horses with significant dental compromise are typically able to access and utilise the feed effectively using this method.
Pre-soaking Thrive Feed into a mash is not recommended. Allowing the feed to soften naturally in the mouth supports normal digestive processes and more efficient feed utilisation. For this reason, Thrive Feed is best fed dry, with adequate time and space for the horse to eat at its own pace.
Thrive Feed performs differently because it works with the horse’s digestive physiology rather than against it. Most traditional horse feeds rely heavily on whole grains or grain by-products, ingredients that are naturally designed to resist digestion. This resistance is not a flaw, it is a biological feature. Grasses evolved to produce seeds that pass through grazing animals intact, enabling natural reseeding and ecosystem regeneration.
Modern feeding practices disrupted this balance by harvesting those seeds and feeding them back to horses in concentrated form. Many grains and grain by-products contain naturally occurring enzyme inhibitors that reduce the effectiveness of digestion in the small intestine. As a result, a significant proportion of grain-based feeds passes through the horse partially or completely undigested, while simultaneously interfering with the digestive processes required to extract usable energy and nutrients.
Thrive Feed was developed by processing these ingredients in a way that denatures enzyme inhibitors while preserving nutritional integrity. This allows normal enzymatic function to occur, enabling horses to efficiently utilise energy without the digestive disruption commonly associated with conventional grain feeding. The outcome is reliable, sustained nutritional support rather than metabolic stress.
This approach has been repeatedly validated in real-world settings, including rehabilitation environments where horses recovering from extreme nutritional deprivation were provided free-choice access to Thrive Feed and demonstrated safe, consistent improvement. The same principles apply across all classes of horses, from maintenance to high performance, because the feed is designed to support digestion first, not override it.
Thrive Feed is formulated using intentionally straightforward ingredients selected for purity, consistency, and digestive compatibility. Each component is chosen not only for its nutritional contribution, but for how it behaves within the horse’s digestive system once consumed. Ingredients are processed only to the extent required to support digestive efficiency, rather than being altered or masked to force performance outcomes.
A key distinction of Thrive Feed is that it does not contain active enzyme inhibitors commonly present in many grain-based feeds. These inhibitors can interfere with normal enzymatic digestion and contribute to digestive stress when fed in quantity. By addressing this at the ingredient and processing level, Thrive Feed supports natural digestive function rather than challenging it.
Non-structural carbohydrates are often discussed in relation to metabolic sensitivity in horses. Thrive Feed contains appropriate, usable levels of these carbohydrates, structured in a way that supports consistent energy utilisation rather than digestive disruption. In practice, horses maintained on Thrive Feed demonstrate stable condition, calm energy, and reliable feed response across a wide range of uses.
Thrive Feed is built on principles that prioritise digestive biology over convention. When nutrition aligns with how the horse is designed to digest and utilise feed, long-held assumptions about what must be restricted or avoided often no longer apply. This philosophy is being reflected in consistent outcomes across a broad population of horses in real-world settings.
How do I change over to Thrive Feed?
Transitioning to Thrive Feed is straightforward and does not require a prolonged or complicated changeover process. Because Thrive Feed is designed to support normal enzymatic digestion rather than interfere with it, most horses adapt quickly and comfortably.
For horses currently receiving conventional grain-based feeds, withhold your current raw grain- based ration for 24 hours, and only feed hay and water. Begin at the normal amount appropriate for the size of your horse usually around 4 pounds per day..
Observing normal appetite, manure consistency, and general demeanour during the changeover is always recommended, as with any dietary adjustment.
Fresh water and appropriate forage should remain available at all times. Thrive Feed is designed to complement a forage-based diet, not replace it. Once transitioned, feeding rates can be adjusted based on body condition, workload, and individual response.
The irregular shapes of Thrive Feed are intentional and functional. Thrive Feed is not manufactured as uniform pellets because horses are not designed to consume uniform, compressed feed particles. Instead, the varied shapes, sizes, and lengths of Thrive Feed more closely resemble the short-stem forage materials horses naturally eat.
These irregular particles encourage a more natural prehension and chewing pattern. As horses pick up the feed, the varied shapes slow intake slightly and promote correct positioning of the feed in the mouth. This supports thorough saliva contact before the feed is swallowed, which is an important part of normal digestion.
Uniform pellets tend to behave as a single mass in the mouth, often bypassing proper saliva saturation. Thrive Feed’s varied structure helps avoid this by allowing individual particles to move and separate naturally, supporting smoother transit to the back of the mouth where saliva mixing occurs.
The result is not only easier consumption for horses of all ages, but more consistent digestion and utilisation of the feed. The physical structure of Thrive Feed is therefore a deliberate extension of its nutritional philosophy, designed to work with the horse’s natural feeding mechanics rather than override them.
Horses evolved to eat a low fat, high fibre diet based on continuous grazing of grasses and forage. In that natural setting, dietary fat intake is very low, and the mare’s hormonal system developed to function optimally under those conditions.
When fat levels in the diet are increased well beyond what a horse would naturally consume, it can influence normal metabolic signalling. Fat is not just a source of calories, it also affects how the body communicates information about energy availability and body condition. In mares, this signalling plays a role in maintaining normal reproductive rhythm and behavioural stability.
Higher fat intake is associated with changes in how the body manages energy and body fat stores. Adipose tissue is metabolically active and contributes to hormonal messaging within the body. When these signals become exaggerated or inconsistent, normal hormonal balance may be affected, which in some mares can present as irregular cycles, altered behaviour, or reduced consistency in performance and temperament.
From a practical feeding perspective, a mare does not require a high fat diet to maintain condition, energy, or muscle when the diet is built around appropriate fibre, quality protein, and balanced micronutrients. Feeding in a way that reflects the horse’s natural design supports more stable metabolic and hormonal function over time.
This is why Thrive Feed is formulated around fermentable fibre rather than added fats, supporting steady energy release and nutritional balance without relying on dietary fat loading.
Foals usually start nibbling at their mothers food at about a week to ten day’s old. Thrive Feed is so appropriate that foals will start to eat my feed and at the end of a month or so will be happily and safely eating around a pound a day with their mothers. No negative effects have been observed with this practice, only beautiful horses growing up healthily.
Thrivefeed is designed for all life stages and breeds. The ability to feed free choice ad lib allows optimum growth with a digestive system not compromised with oils, fat, or raw starch. Senior horses thrive on the highly digestible nuggets so kind to the whole digestive system. Really, when you think about it, horses naturally eat grass, they never eat anything but forage grasses, bark, leaves, and weeds, their whole life, it’s only humans that dictate the hundreds of different types of feed for each type of horse. I marketing terms it’s called “Needs Satisfaction”, the perceived needs of owners trying to do the best for their horses.
No! Do not add any oil/fat to my feed. Adding oil and fat to a horses diet is like doing a load of greasy dishes without any detergent. The greasy sink is just like the coating on the horses gut wall. Horses have never been and will never be fat and oil eaters. For over 2.6 million years they have eaten forage, and that is how their intelligent design is supposed to work. Thrive Feed works so well because it emulates nutrient dense grass.
No. Thrive Feed does not suppress energy or reduce a horse’s willingness to work. What it does is support consistent, usable energy rather than rapid spikes followed by drop-off. Horses fed Thrive Feed typically demonstrate steady output, improved stamina, and reliable focus rather than sharp peaks of excitable energy.
For disciplines that rely on sustained effort, such as endurance, eventing, working equitation, ranch work, and multi-day competition, Thrive Feed is particularly well suited because it supports long-term energy utilisation without digestive disruption. Horses are able to maintain condition and output without becoming flat, dull, or unpredictable.
Some high-intensity disciplines place additional emphasis on explosive power and rapid acceleration. For those horses, Thrive Feed still provides an excellent nutritional foundation, while more specialised formulations are being developed to address the specific demands of short-duration, high-intensity performance. OMG Performance has been designed for that purpose and will be available as part of the Thrive Feed range in the future.
The key distinction is that Thrive Feed supports how energy is used, not how loudly it presents. Performance is not reduced, it is stabilised. Many riders find that once digestion and energy utilisation are optimised, their horses perform more consistently across training and competition rather than relying on artificial intensity.
The timeframe in which changes are noticed can vary between horses and depends on factors such as prior diet, workload, age, and individual sensitivity. Some owners report observing differences relatively quickly, while others notice more gradual changes over time.
Because Thrive Feed is designed to support normal digestion and nutrient utilisation, any changes that occur are typically related to how the horse responds to consistent, digestible nutrition rather than an immediate or artificial effect. Improvements in feed response, energy consistency, and overall demeanour are often observed once the horse has fully transitioned and the digestive system has adapted to the new feed.
As with any dietary change, it is recommended to allow a short adjustment period and to observe normal indicators such as appetite, manure consistency, body condition, and work output over several days to weeks. Thrive Feed is intended to support long-term nutritional stability rather than produce rapid or forced changes.
The daily ration of Thrive Feed may be divided into multiple feeds if desired. Feeding frequency can be adjusted to suit individual management routines, workload, and horse behaviour without compromising the feed’s effectiveness.
If a horse must be left unattended for extended periods, Thrive Feed may be placed in a dry manger or feed tub protected from the weather, allowing the horse to self-regulate intake. (not all horses have the emotional ability to self regulate) This approach reflects the feed’s design to support natural feeding patterns rather than fixed meal times.
A constant supply of clean, fresh water must always be available. As with any feeding program, regular observation of appetite, body condition, and overall response is recommended to ensure the feeding approach remains appropriate for the individual horse.
bottom of page