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

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

Walk into any feed store and you'll be met with shelves stacked with bags labelled "complete feed" and "compound feed." They might look similar, but these two types of feed serve very different purposes — and choosing the wrong one could mean your horse is either missing out on essential nutrients or getting far more than they need.

Understanding the difference between complete and compound feeds is one of the most practical nutrition decisions you can make as a horse owner. In this guide, we'll break down exactly what each type is, how they differ, and — most importantly — which one is the right fit for your horse.

What Is a Compound Feed?

A compound feed is the most common type of commercially produced horse feed. It's a blend of various raw materials — such as cereals, protein sources, vitamins, and minerals — that has been formulated to be fed alongside forage (hay, haylage, or pasture).

Key Characteristics of Compound Feeds

• Designed to supplement forage, not replace it
• Comes in various forms: cubes (nuts/pellets), mixes (coarse mixes/sweet feeds), or pelleted feeds
• Contains a concentrated source of energy, protein, vitamins, and minerals
• Must be fed at the manufacturer's recommended rate to deliver the correct nutrient levels
• Available in a huge range of formulations for different horse types, workloads, and life stages

Think of a compound feed as a nutritional top-up. Your horse's forage provides the bulk of their diet — typically 60% to 100% of their daily dry matter intake — and the compound feed fills in the nutritional gaps.

Common Types of Compound Feeds

• Cool mixes or cubes – lower energy, suitable for good doers or horses in light work
• Conditioning feeds – higher calorie, designed for horses needing weight gain
• Competition or performance feeds – higher energy and protein for horses in moderate to hard work
• Stud feeds – formulated for breeding stock, pregnant, or lactating mares
• Veteran feeds – designed for older horses with specific digestive or metabolic needs

What Is a Complete Feed?

A complete feed is designed to provide all of the nutrition your horse needs in a single product, including the fibre component that would normally come from forage. In other words, a complete feed is intended to replace hay or haylage entirely — or at least significantly reduce the amount needed.

Key Characteristics of Complete Feeds

• Contains a high fibre content, often from ingredients like beet pulp, soy hulls, alfalfa meal, or oat hulls
• Formulated to be the sole source of nutrition (when fed at the recommended rate)
• Generally fed in larger quantities than compound feeds because they must supply fibre as well as nutrients
• Often designed for horses that cannot eat traditional long-stem forage
• Available as pellets, cubes, or sometimes as a mash

When Would a Horse Need a Complete Feed?

Complete feeds fill a critical niche. They're particularly valuable for:

• Horses with severe dental problems who can no longer chew hay or haylage effectively
• Older horses who struggle to maintain weight on forage alone
• Horses with respiratory conditions (like recurrent airway obstruction) who cannot tolerate dust from hay
• Horses recovering from colic surgery or other gastrointestinal conditions that require easily digestible fibre sources
• Situations where forage quality is extremely poor or unavailable

It's worth noting that even when feeding a complete feed, many nutritionists still recommend offering some form of long-stem forage (or a forage replacer like chopped fibre) whenever possible. Chewing forage is important for gut motility, saliva production, and mental well-being.

Complete vs Compound Feeds: The Key Differences

Let's put the differences side by side so they're crystal clear.

Fibre: The Crucial Distinction

The single biggest difference comes down to fibre. A compound feed might contain 8–15% crude fibre, because it assumes your horse is eating plenty of hay or grass. A complete feed, on the other hand, typically contains 15–25% or more crude fibre from ingredients that mimic the nutritional role of forage.

This matters because horses need a minimum of around 1.5% of their body weight in dry matter from fibre sources each day to keep their digestive system functioning properly. For a 500 kg horse, that's at least 7.5 kg of dry matter from fibre-rich sources. A compound feed simply cannot deliver that — nor is it designed to.

How to Decide Which Is Right for Your Horse

For the vast majority of horses, a compound feed alongside good quality forage is the right choice. It's the standard approach and, when done correctly, provides excellent nutrition with the natural benefits of long-stem fibre.

However, there are situations where a complete feed becomes essential or highly beneficial.

Choose a Compound Feed If:

• Your horse has good teeth and can chew hay, haylage, or grass without difficulty
• You have access to reasonable quality forage
• Your horse maintains weight well on a forage-based diet
• You want flexibility to adjust energy and nutrient intake by changing the amount of hard feed
• Your horse is in any level of work from rest through to elite competition

Choose a Complete Feed If:

• Your horse has missing or worn teeth and cannot process long-stem forage
• Your veterinarian or equine dentist has recommended soft, easily chewed feeds
• Your horse has a respiratory condition aggravated by hay dust (and steaming or soaking hasn't resolved it)
• Your horse is elderly and losing weight despite access to good forage
• Forage is temporarily unavailable or of very poor nutritional quality

The Hybrid Approach

Many horse owners use a combination: a partial amount of complete feed topped up with whatever forage the horse can manage. For example, an older horse with moderate dental issues might eat some soaked hay alongside a complete feed. This hybrid method can work very well, but you need to be careful about overall nutrient balance.

This is where analysing your horse's diet becomes incredibly valuable. By entering what your horse actually eats — including forage type and quantity, hard feed, and any supplements — you can see whether they're getting the right balance of energy, protein, vitamins, and minerals, or whether adjustments are needed.

Common Mistakes to Avoid

1. Feeding a Compound Feed Without Enough Forage

This is surprisingly common. Some owners feed generous scoops of a compound mix but skimp on hay, thinking the hard feed is "the main meal." In reality, forage should always be the foundation. Without adequate fibre, you increase the risk of gastric ulcers, colic, stereotypic behaviours, and hindgut disturbance.

2. Underfeeding a Complete Feed

Complete feeds are designed to be fed at relatively high rates — sometimes 8–10 kg per day for a 500 kg horse. If you feed just a few scoops as though it were a compound feed, your horse won't receive enough fibre, energy, or nutrients. Always check the manufacturer's feeding guidelines.

3. Overfeeding a Compound Feed to Compensate for Poor Forage

If your forage quality is poor, the solution isn't necessarily to double the amount of compound feed. Excess starch and sugar from cereals can cause metabolic and digestive issues. Instead, consider adding a forage replacer (like beet pulp or chopped fibre) or switching to a higher-fibre compound feed.

4. Ignoring the Feeding Rate

Both compound and complete feeds are formulated to deliver the correct levels of vitamins and minerals at the recommended feeding rate. If you feed less than the recommended amount — which many owners do, especially with good doers — your horse may miss out on essential micronutrients. In these cases, adding a balancer or vitamin and mineral supplement is a smart move.

What About Feed Balancers?

Feed balancers deserve a mention here because they sit in a slightly different category. A balancer is a concentrated pelleted feed designed to provide vitamins, minerals, and quality protein without significant calories. They are typically fed at just 100–500 g per day.

Balancers are ideal for:

• Good doers who don't need the calories from a compound feed
• Horses on forage-only diets
• Horses fed below the recommended rate of a compound feed

A balancer is not a complete feed and not really a compound feed in the traditional sense — it's a concentrated nutrient package.

Practical Feeding Tips

Regardless of whether you choose a complete or compound feed, keep these principles in mind:

• Weigh your feed. Use a scales, not a scoop. Different feeds have vastly different densities.
• Introduce new feeds gradually over 7–14 days to avoid digestive upset.
• Always provide access to fresh water and, if possible, a salt lick.
• Reassess your horse's diet seasonally. Forage quality changes throughout the year, and your horse's nutritional needs change with workload, age, and weather.
• Read the bag. It sounds obvious, but the label tells you the feeding rate, nutritional analysis, and ingredient list. Use this information.

Summary: Making the Right Choice

The choice between complete and compound feeds doesn't have to be complicated. For most horses with healthy teeth and access to decent forage, a well-chosen compound feed is the right call. For horses who can't manage forage — whether due to dental issues, age, or respiratory problems — a complete feed can be genuinely life-changing.

The most important thing is to understand what your feed is designed to do and to use it accordingly. A compound feed without forage is a recipe for problems. A complete feed given in tiny amounts won't fulfil its purpose.

Take the time to evaluate your horse's individual needs, check the feeding guidelines on the bag, and if you're ever unsure whether the diet adds up, consider getting a proper nutritional analysis. Your horse's health — and your peace of mind — will be all the better for it.