Complete vs Compound Feeds: Which Is Right for Your Horse?

Complete vs Compound Feeds: Understanding the Difference

Walk into any feed store and you'll be faced with dozens of bags, all promising to keep your horse healthy and performing at their best. But before you even start comparing brands, there's a more fundamental question to answer: does your horse need a complete feed or a compound feed?

These two types of feed are designed for very different situations, and choosing the wrong one can lead to nutritional gaps, weight problems, or wasted money. In this guide, we'll break down exactly what each type is, who they're best suited for, and how to decide which one belongs in your feed room.

What Is a Compound Feed?

A compound feed — sometimes called a concentrate, mix, or balancer pellet — is designed to be fed alongside forage (hay, haylage, or pasture). It does not replace roughage. Instead, it tops up the vitamins, minerals, protein, and energy that forage alone may not provide in sufficient quantities.

Compound feeds come in several forms:

• Cubes or pellets — uniform nuggets made from a blend of ingredients
• Coarse mixes (sweet feeds) — visible ingredients like flaked cereals, pellets, and sometimes molasses
• Balancers — concentrated, low-calorie pellets fed in small amounts (typically 500g–1kg per day)

How Compound Feeds Work

The idea behind a compound feed is simple. Your horse's diet is built on a foundation of forage — ideally making up at least 1.5–2% of their body weight per day in dry matter. The compound feed then fills in any nutritional shortfalls.

For example, UK and European pasture and hay are commonly low in copper, zinc, and selenium. A well-formulated compound feed, fed at the manufacturer's recommended rate, will correct these deficiencies while also providing appropriate calories and protein for the horse's workload or life stage.

Key Point About Compound Feeds

Compound feeds are formulated to deliver their full vitamin and mineral profile only when fed at the recommended rate. This is one of the most common mistakes horse owners make. If the bag says to feed 3kg per day for a horse in moderate work, but you're only feeding 1kg because your horse is a good doer, your horse is only receiving a third of the intended micronutrients. In that case, a feed balancer — which delivers full nutrition in a smaller serving — would be a far better choice.

What Is a Complete Feed?

A complete feed is designed to provide everything your horse needs in a single product, including the fibre component that would normally come from hay or pasture. Complete feeds contain a high proportion of digestible fibre sources such as beet pulp, soya hulls, alfalfa meal, or chopped fibre, alongside vitamins, minerals, protein, and energy.

In essence, a complete feed is meant to replace forage entirely, or at least significantly reduce the horse's reliance on it.

When Would a Horse Need a Complete Feed?

Complete feeds are typically used in specific circumstances rather than as a default choice. Common scenarios include:

• Horses with severe dental problems who can no longer chew hay or long-stem forage effectively
• Older horses with poor teeth, reduced digestive efficiency, or difficulty maintaining weight
• Horses with respiratory conditions (such as equine asthma) who cannot tolerate hay dust, even when soaked or steamed
• Situations where forage quality is extremely poor or temporarily unavailable
• Horses recovering from surgery or illness who need easily digestible nutrition

How Complete Feeds Are Fed

Because a complete feed must replace forage, the daily feeding volume is much larger than a compound feed. A 500kg horse might need 7–10kg or more of a complete feed per day, split across multiple meals. This is a critical consideration for management, cost, and the horse's digestive health.

Even when using a complete feed, most nutritionists recommend offering some form of long-stem forage if the horse can manage it — even a small amount of soaked hay or chopped fibre. This supports gut motility, satisfies the horse's psychological need to chew, and helps buffer stomach acid.

Complete vs Compound Feeds: A Side-by-Side Comparison

Pros and Cons of Each Approach

Compound Feed: Advantages

• Flexibility — you can adjust the amount based on workload, condition, and forage quality
• Cost-effective — smaller daily quantities mean a bag lasts longer
• Wide variety — options available for every type of horse, from resting ponies to elite sport horses
• Encourages forage intake — the diet stays forage-first, which is ideal for gut health

Compound Feed: Disadvantages

• Under-feeding is common — owners often feed below the recommended rate, leading to micronutrient deficiencies
• Relies on good forage — if your hay or pasture is poor quality, a compound feed alone may not fully compensate
• Can be confusing — with so many products on the market, choosing the right one takes some knowledge

Complete Feed: Advantages

• Solves specific problems — invaluable for horses who genuinely cannot eat forage
• Nutritionally self-contained — no need to worry about balancing forage and concentrate separately
• Often highly digestible — formulated for easy absorption, beneficial for older or compromised horses

Complete Feed: Disadvantages

• Expensive — the large daily quantities add up quickly
• Less natural chewing time — even with fibre included, complete feeds are consumed faster than long-stem hay, which can contribute to boredom and gastric issues
• Risk of rapid intake — large meals of concentrate-type feed can increase the risk of digestive upset if not managed carefully
• Not necessary for most horses — the majority of horses thrive on forage plus an appropriate compound feed or balancer

How to Decide Which Is Right for Your Horse

For the vast majority of horse owners, the answer is straightforward: a compound feed (or balancer) alongside good-quality forage is the most appropriate, cost-effective, and health-promoting approach.

Consider a complete feed only if your horse falls into one of the specific categories mentioned earlier — primarily dental issues, respiratory disease, or an inability to maintain weight despite adequate forage and concentrate.

Here's a simple decision framework:

Step 1: Assess Your Horse's Ability to Eat Forage

Can your horse chew and digest hay, haylage, or pasture effectively? If yes, a compound feed or balancer is almost certainly the right choice. If no, explore complete feed options with your vet or nutritionist.

Step 2: Evaluate Your Forage Quality

Having your forage analysed gives you hard data on its energy, protein, sugar, and mineral content. This tells you exactly what your compound feed or balancer needs to top up. Without this information, you're essentially guessing.

Step 3: Match the Feed to the Horse's Workload and Condition

A resting horse on good pasture may only need a balancer. A horse in hard work may need a conditioning compound feed at the full recommended rate. An elderly horse with worn teeth might need a complete feed soaked into a mash.

Step 4: Analyse the Full Diet

The best way to ensure your horse's diet is truly balanced — whether you're using a complete or compound feed — is to look at the whole picture. Consider analysing your horse's diet to identify any gaps in vitamins, minerals, protein, or energy. This takes the guesswork out of feeding and gives you confidence that your horse is getting exactly what they need.

Common Mistakes to Avoid

Feeding a Compound Feed Without Enough Forage

No compound feed can compensate for inadequate forage. Horses need a minimum of 1.5% of their body weight in forage dry matter per day for healthy gut function. Ideally, this figure should be closer to 2%.

Using a Complete Feed When It's Not Necessary

Complete feeds are a specialised tool, not a convenience product. If your horse can eat forage, they should. Forage supports gut motility, provides natural chewing satisfaction, and buffers stomach acid — benefits that even the best complete feed cannot fully replicate.

Under-Feeding a Compound Feed and Assuming It's "Enough"

As mentioned above, feeding half the recommended rate means your horse gets half the intended vitamins and minerals. If you need to restrict calories, switch to a balancer rather than simply halving a conditioning feed.

Mixing Multiple Feeds Without Checking the Overall Balance

Adding a scoop of this and a handful of that is a recipe for imbalances. Some minerals (like iron) are easily over-supplied, while others (like copper and zinc) are commonly deficient. A structured approach to diet planning prevents these issues.

Special Considerations for Veteran Horses

Older horses are the group most likely to transition from compound to complete feeds, and it's worth planning for this. As horses age, their teeth wear down and their digestive efficiency declines. A horse that managed perfectly well on hay and a competition mix at 15 may struggle to maintain condition on the same diet at 25.

Signs your older horse may benefit from a complete feed include:

• Dropping partially chewed hay (quidding)
• Losing weight despite adequate feed
• Long strands of undigested fibre in droppings
• Recurring choke episodes

If you notice these signs, have your vet perform a thorough dental examination. In many cases, a gradual transition from hay to soaked complete feed — or a combination of chopped fibre and a senior compound feed — can make a dramatic difference to condition and comfort.

The Bottom Line

Choosing between complete and compound feeds isn't about which product is "better" — it's about which one matches your horse's specific needs.

For most horses, a forage-based diet supplemented with an appropriate compound feed or balancer is the gold standard. It supports natural digestive function, provides complete nutrition when fed correctly, and is cost-effective.

For horses with dental problems, respiratory issues, or other challenges that prevent them from eating adequate forage, a complete feed can be genuinely life-changing — allowing them to maintain weight and health when traditional feeding methods fall short.

Whichever route you choose, the key is to feed at the manufacturer's recommended rate, provide forage wherever possible, and regularly review your horse's condition and diet to ensure everything stays on track. When in doubt, a professional nutritional review is always a worthwhile investment in your horse's long-term health.