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Every horse deserves a balanced diet. On the exterior, we may look like a lot of other supplement companies, but let us assure you, we are not.
Like Mad Barn for science-backed nutrition, expert support, and free tools and education to help your horse feel and perform their best. Our primary purpose is not to convince you to buy products, it’s to advance the practice of equine nutrition by:
- Funding research to better understand how nutrition impacts the health of your horse.
- Developing technology and feeding solutions to make it easier to feed your horse what he or she needs.
- Providing education and support to horse owners and the broader equine community. Nutrition is the cornerstone to equine health, well-being and optimal performance. Our nutritionists are always available to answer your questions or help you formulate a balanced feeding program for free. We fund all of our activities through product sales. So if you feed your horse Mad Barn, thank you for helping us achieve our mission.
09/30/2026
🐴💙 Your horse’s daily feeding routine plays an important role in protecting their stomach from gastric ulcers.
Gastric ulcers are lesions in the stomach lining that develop when acid exposure overwhelms the tissue’s protection or the stomach’s natural defenses are disrupted. The upper, squamous region is particularly vulnerable because it lacks the protective mucus barrier found in the lower, glandular region.
🌾 Horses produce stomach acid continuously, even when they are not eating. Chewing forage stimulates saliva, which helps buffer this acidity, while the forage itself forms a fibrous mat that limits acid contact with the upper stomach lining. This is especially useful during exercise, when movement and abdominal pressure can push acidic contents upward.
Maintaining that protection requires attention to both how much forage your horse receives and how long it lasts. A horse may receive enough hay for the day but finish each portion hours before the next feeding. Horses should not go more than four hours without forage, so check for gaps overnight and during travel, when normal routines are easily disrupted.
🥣 The rest of the diet should complement this forage foundation. If additional calories are needed, digestible fiber and fat can help reduce reliance on large, starch-rich meals. Horses recovering from ulcers also have higher protein needs to support tissue repair. Reviewing the complete diet helps identify what additional support is necessary.
Feeding practices work alongside turnout, consistent routines, and stress management to support gastric health. If you suspect ulcers, involve your veterinarian for diagnosis and treatment while reviewing the factors that may contribute to your horse’s risk.
👉 Swipe through for practical feeding strategies, and save this post to review your horse’s routine.
📖 Read the full guide:
🇺🇸 https://madbarn.com/feeding-an-ulcer-prone-horse/
🇨🇦 https://madbarn.ca/feeding-an-ulcer-prone-horse/
🐴💪 A weak topline doesn’t automatically mean your horse needs more protein.
Building and maintaining muscle requires adequate dietary protein, but simply increasing the total amount of protein in the diet won’t necessarily improve topline development. What matters is whether your horse receives the right amino acids in adequate amounts, alongside enough energy, vitamins, and minerals to support muscle protein synthesis.
Protein is made up of amino acids, and certain essential amino acids must come from the diet because the horse cannot produce them in sufficient quantities. If one essential amino acid is undersupplied, adding more of a protein source that is similarly deficient may do little to correct the imbalance.
Nutrition is only part of the picture. Muscle develops in response to appropriate exercise. A horse consuming a well-balanced diet still needs progressive work that engages the back, abdominal muscles, and hindquarters to develop a stronger topline.
Body condition, age, training, dental health, underlying health concerns, and saddle fit can also influence how a horse carries and develops muscle. Before adding another protein supplement, evaluate the complete diet and management program to determine what may actually be limiting progress.
💙 Not sure whether your horse needs more protein or a better-balanced source of amino acids? Submit their diet for a free evaluation with one of Mad Barn’s qualified equine nutritionists at MadBarn.com.
09/30/2026
🐴 How far can a horse travel in a day? It depends on the horse, the type of travel, and the conditions along the way. A horse turned out on pasture, ridden on the trail, competing in endurance, or traveling in a trailer will cover distance very differently.
🥾 For many healthy pleasure horses, 10–20 miles in a day may be reasonable. Experienced, well-conditioned trail horses may cover 20–30 miles, while endurance horses can complete 50- or even 100-mile events with extensive conditioning and veterinary oversight.
🌦️ Terrain and weather can quickly change the difficulty of a ride. Twenty miles over relatively flat trails in comfortable weather will place different demands on a horse than the same distance through deep sand, steep terrain, or extreme heat. Fitness, gait, footing, tack, hoof health, hydration, and the rider also affect how a horse handles the work.
💧 Horses need to be conditioned gradually for longer distances. Access to forage and water, appropriate electrolyte use, rest, and monitoring during recovery are also important when planning longer rides.
📚 Learn more about how far horses can travel and what affects their endurance:
🇨🇦 CA: https://madbarn.ca/how-far-can-a-horse-travel-in-a-day/
🇺🇸 US: https://madbarn.com/how-far-can-a-horse-travel-in-a-day/
09/29/2026
🐴🦷 Not all dental problems are visible during a quick look inside your horse’s mouth.
Tooth root abscesses, also called apical infections, develop at the base of the tooth when bacteria enter the tooth or surrounding tissues. They most commonly affect the cheek teeth, and because a large portion of a horse’s tooth lies below the gumline, the problem may not be obvious during a routine visual inspection.
Early signs can be subtle. Slower eating, dropping partially chewed feed (quidding), difficulty maintaining body condition, or one-sided nasal discharge may be among the first indications. As the infection progresses, horses may develop facial or jaw swelling, bad breath, head sensitivity, resistance to the bit, or changes in willingness to work.
The location of the affected tooth can also influence the signs you see. The roots of the upper cheek teeth sit close to the sinus cavities, so infection can spread into the sinuses and cause unilateral nasal discharge. Abscesses involving the lower cheek teeth are more likely to produce swelling along the jaw.
Because the infection occurs below the gumline and within the bone, diagnosis often requires radiographs or CT imaging in addition to a thorough veterinary dental examination. In most cases, extraction of the affected tooth is the most effective way to eliminate the source of infection, and most horses recover well with appropriate treatment and follow-up care.
Regular dental examinations and paying attention to subtle changes in how your horse eats can help identify dental problems before they become more advanced. If you notice persistent one-sided nasal discharge, quidding, facial swelling, unexplained weight loss, or signs of dental pain, contact your veterinarian.
📖 Learn more about tooth root abscesses in horses:
🇺🇸 https://madbarn.com/tooth-root-abscesses-in-horses/
🇨🇦 https://madbarn.ca/tooth-root-abscesses-in-horses/
🥣🐴 When it comes to feeding your horse, a scoop is a measure of volume, not weight.
Feeds can vary significantly in density, particle size, and ingredients, which means the same scoop can hold very different amounts depending on what you’re feeding. A scoop of a light, textured feed may weigh considerably less than the same scoop filled with a dense pellet.
This matters because feeding directions and nutrient intake are based on weight. If a feed is formulated to be fed at 2 kg (4.4 lb) per day, feeding “two scoops” only works if you know exactly how much your scoop of that particular feed weighs.
⚖️ Weigh your feed instead of relying on the scoop. Fill your usual scoop as you normally would, weigh the contents with a kitchen or hanging scale, and mark the appropriate serving level. Repeat this process whenever you change feeds, because the weight per scoop may change considerably.
A scoop is a convenient way to serve feed, but a feed scale tells you how much you’re actually feeding.
💙 Not sure how much your horse should be receiving? Submit their complete diet for a free evaluation with one of Mad Barn’s qualified equine nutritionists at MadBarn.com.
09/29/2026
🧠 Did You Know? Your horse’s behavior may reveal pain before their movement does.
🔎 Behavior changes are worth paying attention to. Bucking or bolting, girthiness, ear pinning, teeth grinding, appetite changes, or withdrawing from herd mates may be associated with pain or discomfort, particularly when the behavior is new for that horse.
🐴 Changes in movement can have several possible causes. Pain may affect the way a horse moves, but conformation, previous injuries, and neurological problems can also alter gait. Identifying the cause is important when evaluating a change in soundness.
💪 Regular care can help you catch changes early and support long-term soundness. Veterinary and farrier care, appropriate exercise, balanced nutrition, and good management all contribute to keeping horses healthy and comfortable.
📚 Learn more about soundness in horses:
🇨🇦 CA: https://madbarn.ca/soundness-in-horses/
🇺🇸 US: https://madbarn.com/soundness-in-horses/
⚡🐴 Where does your horse’s energy come from?
In equine nutrition, digestible energy (DE) describes the amount of energy in a feed that remains available to the horse after accounting for energy lost in the manure. It is commonly expressed as megacalories (Mcal) and is one of the primary ways we compare the energy provided by different feeds.
A horse’s energy requirements vary considerably depending on body weight, workload, growth, pregnancy, lactation, and body condition goals. Meeting those requirements doesn’t necessarily mean reaching for more grain. Horses can obtain energy from several components of the diet.
🌾 Forage should provide the foundation of energy intake. Digestible fiber is fermented by microbes in the hindgut, producing volatile fatty acids that the horse can use for energy. More digestible, higher-quality forage can provide a significant portion, or even all, of the calories required by many horses.
🌱 Highly digestible fiber sources, such as beet pulp and soybean hulls, can provide additional energy while maintaining a fiber-focused diet.
🌾 Starch and sugars from cereal grains and other feeds are primarily digested and absorbed as glucose in the small intestine. They can provide concentrated energy, but large amounts of starch should not be relied on simply to increase calorie intake.
🥄 Fat is the most calorie-dense energy source commonly added to equine diets, providing considerably more energy per unit of weight than carbohydrates. Oils and stabilized high-fat ingredients can be useful for horses with elevated calorie requirements or those needing to gain or maintain weight.
Start with forage, determine how much energy your horse actually requires, and then choose additional energy sources based on their workload, body condition, and individual needs.
💙 Need help determining whether your horse’s diet is supplying the right amount of energy? Submit their diet for a free evaluation with one of Mad Barn’s qualified equine nutritionists at MadBarn.com.
09/28/2026
Consider this your friendly horse-person wellness check. 🧐🐴
Be honest… how’d you do? 😂
💡 Tip of the Day: A good posting trot starts with moving in rhythm with your horse.
🪑 A quiet seat comes from following the motion. Sitting trot isn't about bracing or forcing yourself to stay in the saddle. Soft hips, a stable core, and good timing help you absorb your horse's movement instead of bouncing against it.
🐎 Know when to sit and when to post. Rising trot is often the better choice during warm-up, with young or green horses, or until your horse is working freely through their back. Save sitting trot for when both you and your horse are ready.
🤸 Train yourself off the horse, too. Improving hip mobility and core stability through stretching, Pilates, or exercise ball work can make a noticeable difference in your position and help create a more comfortable ride for both horse and rider.
📚 To learn more about sitting the trot, follow the link below:
🇨🇦 CA: https://madbarn.ca/how-to-sit-the-trot/
🇺🇸 US: https://madbarn.com/how-to-sit-the-trot/
09/27/2026
🏇 Banks are a common cross-country question, requiring horses and riders to negotiate a sudden change in elevation while maintaining balance and forward momentum.
Riders may encounter banks as a standalone obstacle, as part of a combination, or incorporated into more technical questions with fences before or after the change in terrain. Riding down a bank requires a different position than riding up a bank because the horse’s balance, momentum, and use of their body change depending on the direction of travel.
Good position down a bank begins with the same fundamentals used throughout cross-country: a secure lower leg, centered balance, soft joints, and an independent upper body and hand. As the horse lowers their body over the edge, they use their head and neck to help maintain balance. The rider needs enough stability to follow this movement without getting ahead, falling behind, or relying on the reins for support.
The drop also creates a downward shift in momentum. Staying supple through the hips, knees, and ankles allows the rider to follow the horse through the descent and absorb the landing while remaining balanced for whatever comes next.
The appropriate position will vary with the height and slope of the bank, terrain, pace, and individual horse. Riding up a bank requires a different position to follow the horse’s upward effort, and if there is a jump at the top of a down bank, the rider must first accommodate the jumping effort before adjusting their position to follow the horse down the drop.
👉 Swipe through for a closer look at rider position when riding down a bank.
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