Horse owners often want to reward their animals by providing them with occasional treats. Yet, it can be a little overwhelming to explore potential treat options and determine which items are safe for a horse to eat.
Usually, horse owners tend to choose natural products like fruits and vegetables if they want to introduce their animals to something a little different. But can horses eat grapes?
Maybe you’re considering giving your horse a grape or two. If so, keep reading to learn about whether horses can eat grapes.
Can Horses Eat Grapes?
Horses can eat a variety of fruits, and grapes are one of the items on that list. Horses typically enjoy eating grapes for the same reasons humans do, their natural sweetness. Even grapes with seeds in them are safe for horses, so owners don’t need to worry about deseeding grapes before giving them to a horse or buying only seedless grapes.
Introducing Your Horse to Grapes
Grapes are safe for horses to eat, but like many other sweet items, they’re meant to be given as a treat. The sugar content in grapes can cause weight gain or insulin spikes if they’re fed to horses in excess.
Furthermore, horses can become incredibly particular about the foods they want to eat, and if they’re given grapes too often, they may refuse to eat the healthy foods they need in order to stay healthy.
To introduce your horse to grapes as a treat, offer him or her a couple of grapes at a time. If the animal appears to enjoy the fruit, feel free to give them a bit more.
Usually, feeding your horse grapes once or twice a week is okay, but try to keep servings between 10 and 20 grapes. This amount is enough for a treat, but not enough to cause any adverse reactions.
Health Benefits of Grapes
On top of being sweet and enjoyable to a horse’s palate, grapes are also nutritious. They include vitamins B, C, E, and K. As for minerals, grapes contain iron, zinc, magnesium, potassium, phosphorus, sodium, calcium, and manganese.
Grapes are also mostly water, with more than 80% of their contents providing hydration. While they won’t provide much for an animal as large as a horse, it’s good to know that grapes will give your horse an extra sip of water.
There’s also a good deal of fibre in grapes, which can aid a horse’s digestive system. Of course, a handful of grapes won’t give a horse all the fibre he or she needs, but this treat can help improve the animal’s overall gut health by a small fraction.
Feeding Grapes to Horses – Conclusion
Grapes can serve as a fantastic snack for a horse. They enjoy the natural sweet and tart flavours of grapes and because these fruits contain vitamins and minerals, they’re both healthy and delicious.
If you want to give your horse a handful of grapes on occasion, go for it. Keep an eye out for any signs of allergic reactions and if none appear, you can continue to feed your horse grapes once in a while.
