will horses eat rice grains and are there any grains that are bad for them?

Question

ie barley millet etc etc....or will they gobble them up just as quickly as they would -oats?

i ask because i live in an area with lots of asians, and some of them insist on giving them chapatis and ive sometimes seen rice grains in a pile on the floor!

Answer 1

Read this about rice. No, it isn't bad for horses.

http://www.ag.unr.edu/AB/Extension/Cattleman/Cattleman2000/13.htm

http://www.horsepoint.com.au/portal/alias__horsepointau/tabID__3435/ArticleID__2784060/DesktopDefault.aspx


http://www.ces.ncsu.edu/disaster/drought/horse_drought_factsheet.pdf

Answer 2

Hi. I posted an answer in the question above this - 'Feeding corn' and I'll kind of repeat some of my answer here if that's OK!

Firstly I have NO IDEA about rice and horses! Knowing my herd, they would probably eat it, but I don't know if it's dangerous for them or not. I would think that it should be soaked to 'swell' it first if they can eat it.

We feed Kukorica (I think it's Maize in UK / Corn in USA) in Hungary dry, also the stalks! But the stalks are usually kept as bedding, the horses just like them! Cows and sheep usually eat the stalks! Some people seem to feed HUGE amounts of Maize, but we only keep it for anything that comes into our yard a bit skinny! It is very fattening, in my experience.

Re: corn like wheat or barley grain, we feed that too! It's called Abrak here. It's just simple cereal (usually wheat)

In the UK, I would never have fed straight wheat, but here we soak it in a huge bucket for several hours to swell it, so it doesn't swell in the horse's stomach, and the horses love it! We also mix in a 'concentrate' pelleted feed to add minerals. As long as we don't over-feed abrak, there's no problem. Feeding cereal grains dry could cause colic problems if the horse had too much. They each have about 1.5 - 2 scoops of Abrak (soaked grain) per day plus they are out at grass and have hay all day and night.

That's what the horses are fed here in Hungary - straight corn (maize?), cereal grains like wheat (soaked!!) and oats! It's very different to everything I was ever taught about feeding in the UK!

Answer 3

I am not an expert, but I have heard that wheat grain is very bad for horses. I'm not sure about rice grain, but pollard (which is made from rice) is also said to be bad for them. There are divided opinions on this, though, and many complete horse feeds contain rice products. Maybe you could get a book on feeding horses and see what it has to say, or ask your vet? I wouldn't just take any chances though as horses' stomachs are very sensitive and colic can kill them.

Answer 4

Horses will NOT eat Rice grains, or rather I should say you shouldnt feed them rice grains. To be honest you shouldnt really feed any grain to a horse as its not good for them, will give them colic and may kill them.
All food given to horses is normally a bi-product...like oats that have been ground down or barley made into a mash.
Even sugar beet if fed directly and un-soakd can possibly kill them.
Horses, contrary to popular believe, have very sensitive digestive systems and shouldnt be fed any old food.
I wouldnt think feeding any horse a chapati or rice grains was doing it any favors!
They prefer, hay, grass and usually simple pony nuts and soaked sugar beet with a bit of chaff mixed in.
And must always have constant clean supply of water!!!

Answer 5

Yes horses will eat rice grains even though its not good for them...so don't let people feed them to your horse. Horses for he most part know whats o.k to eat and whats not. Like posonious plants, they will usually stay away from them. but because all cereal grains look similar, the will still eat them.

Answer 6

they are nieve animales they will eat anything you give them, like dogs