Is it bad for horses to eat corn/ corn husks?

14 Answers

• The corn and husks are not going to hurt the horses as long as they don't get too much of it. There is corn in most grains. But corn is a "hot" food, so too much of it can lead to laminitis/founder.

• Do Horses Eat Corn

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  RE:

  Is it bad for horses to eat corn/ corn husks?

  Okay so the other day I went out in the field to get a horse for a younger rider. The workers on the farm live on a house there, and they grow corn on the side. Some of the horses grab the corn and eat it. Then, they would eat the corn husks.

  Is it okay for them to eat it?

• Free access to corn this way is not good, and your horses may colic or develop laminitis. You have no way of regulating the amount they are getting, and the cobs and husks can also cause choke if they are wolfed down. You really need to add an electric wire or fence ƒᴀʀтher in to prevent this.

• Ive seen nothing come out of horses eating corn and stalks and ive seen a horse allergic to it and die, some horses can tolerate it and others cant horses are smart and know what tastes good to them and what they need to stay away from in most cases it is quit normal

• Perfectly safe. My friend works at a grocery store and she always brings produce/bread to the barn for the horses. Corn is one of their favorite treats! Some like the husks and some dont. My colt eats it right off the cob.

• I dosent sound to safe, you dont know if it has pestisides on it, that could be a danger to a horses health also they could choke on the husk. They also could get colic from eating too much. I would mention somthing to the owners.

• Yup. They may or may not choose to snack on them, but when trail riding I have a horse that likes to try and sneak them off of the edge of the corn field if I momentarily get distracted.

• It probably did them no harm, but you want to be very careful about feeding corn or corn products directly out of the field because of the danger of corn mold:

  http://news.uns.purdue.edu/UNS/html3month/021112.W...

  Processed feed is usually screened and can be assumed to be safe, but I wouldn't feed a horse corn or corn products coming directly out of a field.

  You might want to give your vet a call and talk to him. I wouldn't let the horse eat any more corn.

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  Response to additional detail: yes, many prepared horse feeds do contain corn. The corn that is used in those feeds is screened for mycotoxins and is safe.

  As other people have indicated, there is a laminitis hazard associated with feeding corn. If a horse eats a large amount of high-carbohydrate feed all at once, the sudden load of starchy carbohydrate in his gut can set up a cascade of events that leads to founder. (It's a very complicated process to explain-- people have written PhD disertations on it.)

  The trick to feeding any concentrate feed (that's grain-based feed) to horses is to start out in small amounts, feed only as much as absolutely necessary, feed small amounts several times a day, and feed on a regular schedule.

  The trick to feeding corn is to recognize that it is a denser, higher-carbohydrate grain than oats, which is the grain of choice. You always feed corn by weight, never by volume, and you have to recognize that a pound of corn has more carbohydrate than a pound of oats, because oats have a higher fiber content than corn. So you have to do some ration energy calculations to know the amount of corn to feed.

  Horses that are getting small quantities of grain, only a few pounds (2-5 pounds) are at much less risk of founder than horses receiving large quantities of concentrate feed, like racehorses, endurance horses, and some show horses. If you're feeding more than about 5 pounds of grain per day you have to start being very cautious about feeding it: spread it out over two or more feedings per day, and never change feeds suddenly.

  Corn of itself is not bad for horses. Feeding corn (or any grain) carelessly can be very bad, even fatal.