What is fibre and where does it come from?
Fibre is a structural carbohydrate and a constituent of the cell walls of the plants that horses eat. The amount of fibre present depends on the type of plant, environmental conditions and, significantly, the age of the plant when it’s harvested. The more mature the plant, the more fibre it contains. The greatest source of fibre in most horses’ diets is fresh grass or conserved grass (such as hay or haylage), but fibre comes from lots of other sources too, including alfalfa, soya hulls and sugar beet. Cereals, most commonly used for their grains, which are high in starch, can also provide fibre in the form of the husk that surrounds the grain. Wheatfeed and oatfeed are byproducts of the cereals commonly included in feeds. Compared to other sources of fibre, they tend to provide more starch.