Reading Labels on Horse Feed
Reading horse feed labels can be confusing for the every day equestrian, especially when some brands use broad or vague wording or marketing spin.
A useful place to start is the ingredient list, which is required to be written in order of inclusion. This means the first ingredient is the one used in the highest amount and the ingredients listed toward the end are used in smaller quantities. They are listed in descending order.
When the first few ingredients are things like mill mix/mill run, cereal byproducts, or vegetable protein meals, it usually indicates the feed is built on inexpensive, variable fillers rather than consistent ingredients.
This matters because vague terms give you no real understanding of what your horse is actually eating and can make it impossible to avoid trigger ingredients if your horse has ulcers, metabolic issues, allergies or gut sensitivities.
When determining an appropriate diet for your horse, it is also important to look at the nutrient analysis. Transparent feed companies will always provide a full nutrient analysis - not just the figures that look good. Providing the NSC (sugar & starch) levels is really important, so owners can make informed decisions.
Highlighting the sugar and starch levels on a low starch feed is important (and frequently done by a lot of companies), but it is equally important to publish the sugar and starch levels on high starch feeds also. This is unfortunately not as common, despite being crucial to allow owners to make genuine comparisons between feeds and choose the most appropriate for their horse’s situation/health.
Another important part of reading feed labels is knowing whether the feed is made using a fixed formula/recipe. Without a fixed ingredient policy, manufacturers can swap ingredients depending on what is cheapest or most available at the time.
Two bags with the same name can have noticeably different recipes, even though the label looks the same. This is a common but often overlooked cause of behavioural changes, inconsistent condition and digestive flare ups in sensitive horses.
When a company uses generic terms and changes ingredients frequently, owners have no way of tracking what is actually going into their horse from batch to batch.
At Benchmark Feeds, we pride ourselves on transparency. We provide a full analysis and make it as easy as possible for owners to understand.
We publish every ingredient clearly and follow a fixed ingredient policy,* so the recipe stays the same every time. When you read our labels, the first ingredients listed are the true primary components of the feed and nothing is hidden behind generic or vague categories.
For people trying to make sense of feed labels, Benchmark’s transparency removes the guesswork and gives you confidence about what your horse is eating.