When you’re looking for a new treat for your horse, the question “can horses eat peas?” might have crossed your mind at some point. Peas are a staple crop here in the USA, which means that they’re fresh, cheap and readily available.
But before you give your horse a new treat, you have to make sure that it’s safe first. So if you want to know if peas are recommended for horses to eat, you can find out everything you need to know in our helpful guide below.
Can Horses Eat Peas?
The good news is that horses can safely eat peas. There are generally three types of peas that you can find in supermarkets or farmers markets. These are snow peas, English peas and sugar snap peas. And all of these peas are safe for horses to eat.
However, sweet peas aren’t safe for horses to eat. This is an ornamental pea that can be found in lots of gardens across the USA. But you mustn’t feed these to horses because they’re toxic and can cause sweet pea poisoning in horses.
Are Peas Healthy for Horses?
Peas may be small but they really pack a punch when it comes to nutrition. These humble little legumes are nutrient-dense and high in protein and they can be very beneficial for your horse's diet.
Peas are a fantastic source of protein. And as well as this they contain an essential amino acid, lysine which is vital for a horses growth and development.
They’re also high in digestible fiber which will help to keep your horses gut healthy. And they’re a great source of antioxidants too.
Peas are a nutrient-dense, high energy food making them good for growth and overall performance. Peas are high in vitamins A, C and K which are all good for your equine friend’s immune system. And they contain essential minerals such as iron, copper, zinc and manganese.
In fact, peas are so nutritious, that they’re used a lot in horse feed in Europe, a trend which is catching on here in the USA. They’re used in the same way as a grain. And they have an equivalent nutrition content to barley.
Warnings About Feeding Horses Peas
Peas are super concentrated, so just like all other concentrated foods, they should be fed in moderation. This is due to the fact that horses are grazing animals and their digestive system is designed to deal with forage such as grass and hay. So if they eat a lot of concentrated foods in the one go, this can affect their digestive system.
Ideally, you should only give your horse a handful of peas at one time. Also you should only feed your horse peas two or three times a week.
It’s also important to introduce peas into your horse's diet slowly. This gives your horse’s digestive system time to adapt to the peas. And it also gives you time to monitor your horse to see if its allergic to peas or not.
So start by giving your equine friend only a tiny bit of peas first and monitor it closely for the next 24 hours. If your horse seems fine then you can gradually give it slightly more each day. But if your horse has any digestive discomfort such as bloating and diarrhea, you shouldn’t feed it any more peas.
And finally, you should never feed your horse sweet peas, these are toxic to horses and can cause sweet pea poisoning. If you think that your horse has eaten sweet peas then you should call your vet for advice immediately.
Tips on How to Prepare Peas For Horses
Before you feed your horse peas, you must give them a good rinse with water first. This will remove any harmful bacteria or pesticides. If you find any rotten peas then throw these away. It’s not safe to feed horses rotten or moldy food.
Sugar snap peas and snow peas have edible pods so you don’t have to shell them before feeding them to your horse. However, the pods of English peas are quite tough so you should take the peas out from the pods before feeding them to your horse.
Peas don’t pose much of a choking hazard to horses. But if you have a horse who rushes his food, you might want to chop the pods in half before feeding them.
Conclusion
So, can horses eat peas? I think it’s safe to say that they can. As well as being a safe treat for horses, they’re highly nutritious too. They’re full of protein and contain lots of essential vitamins and minerals. This means that overall, peas are one of the healthiest treats for horses.
