Can Horses Eat Peanut Butter?

You have probably heard a couple of times that not all human foods are good for the overall health of your horses. Are you wondering whether peanut butter is one of them? Well, this post provides the detailed answers you need.

But before we get to the details, we’d love to provide a quick answer. So, can horses eat peanut butter? Yes, equine love the heavenly taste of peanut butter. They’ll eat it in a blink of an eye and beg for more. That leads us to another question — is peanut butter safe for horses?

Is Peanut Butter Good For Horses?

While this food paste is packed with beneficial nutrients, you should give it to your horses occasionally as a treat. Excessive consumption of peanut butter can increase the intake of calories, salt, and saturated fat. Elevated amounts can lead to weight gain and other issues like laminitis in healthy equine.

When Horses Should Not Consume Peanut Butter

Peanut butter is not recommended for horses with certain health conditions. Even moderate amounts can easily make their conditions worse. In some cases, it can be fatal.

Therefore, it’s a good idea to be a little more cautious if your horse suffers from the following health issues:

· Obesity

If you’re trying to help your horses lose weight, adding peanut butter to their diet would be impractical. That’s because the paste contains high amounts of fat and calories.

Your tall four-legged friend will keep gaining more weight when the nutritional intake exceeds his physical output.

· Metabolic Syndrome

You should not feed peanut butter to horses resistant to insulin. Such horses cannot utilize glucose from their blood for energy because the liver, muscle, and fat cells don’t respond normally.

As a consequence, the pancreas gets triggered to produce more insulin to make up for any deficiencies. With time, this can lead to sky-high blood sugar levels. Since butter is high in sugar, feeding it to your horse can worsen its condition. Very high blood sugar levels can even cause death in horses.

· Nut Allergy

Like humans, some horses can develop allergy symptoms when they eat certain foods, and nut is not an exception.

If your horses start to show signs and symptoms of digestive problems or any other condition after eating peanut butter, exercise precaution. Stop giving them this treat until you get a diagnosis of food allergy.

How Often Should Horses Eat Peanut Butter?

Suppose you have a perfectly healthy horse and want to introduce peanut butter into her diet. It’s natural to wonder how much butter is moderate.

To help with that, here are two rules to guide you:

· Feed peanut butter to horses only once a week

· Do not exceed two tablespoons of peanut butter

It’s advisable to start with smaller amounts because horses tend to have a sensitive gut to human foods. Ideally, equine nutritionists recommend a quarter of a tablespoon and then adjusting to a tablespoon in a week. You can eventually increase the amount to two tablespoons over the following weeks.

Can I Share My Peanut Butter Sandwiches With Horses?

Unfortunately, no. Your horse’s gut may have a problem coping with bread. A horse that consumes bread or baked goods is at risk of experiencing a blockage in the gastrointestinal system, causing colic symptoms.

Is Peanut Butter Safe for Colts?

The digestive tract of colts is more sensitive than that of adult horses. As such, experts recommend putting it away from the young ones. Otherwise, they may experience side effects even with strictly moderate amounts.

What Are The Benefits Of Peanut Butter For Horses?

As mentioned earlier, peanut butter is loaded with nutrients. It contains proteins, magnesium, phosphorus, Vitamin B3 & B6, and Zinc.

Well, here’s how these nutrients help keep your horse healthy.

· Protein: Each serving contains 7 g of proteins. Proteins help with the immune system, metabolic function, and transportation of nutrients across cell membranes and bloodstream. It also acts as a buffer to control the pH.

· Magnesium: This is one of the essential micronutrients that make up a healthy diet. Magnesium plays a critical role in hundreds of chemical processes in a horse’s body. It can help combat nervousness, muscle tremors, and muscle tremors. The quantity of magnesium in a single peanut butter serving is approximately 57 mg.

· Phosphorus: Each serving provides your horse with 107 mg of phosphorus. The fundamental purpose of phosphorus is to repair cells and tissues.

· Vitamin B3: Peanut butter contains about 4.21 mg of Vitamin B3 per serving. Also known as niacin, Vitamin B3 is required in both human and animal bodies for proper nerve function and digestion. It also helps produce energy.

· Vitamin B6: Vitamin B6, also known as pyridoxine, facilitates hundreds of enzyme reactions. Notably, it helps with heart health, as it promotes hemoglobin production. For each serving of peanut butter, your horse consumes 0.17 mg.

· Zinc: Peanut butter contains about 0.85 mg of zinc. This micronutrient supports protein synthesis and bone development. It also helps keep your horse’s hooves and skin healthy.

Homemade Vs Store Bought Peanut Butter: Which is Better for Horses?

If you can, stick to feeding homemade peanut butter to your horses. An organic type is miles better than butter readily available at your local store. The store-bought peanut butter usually has chemicals, preservatives, and additives that can affect the horse’s digestive tract. Manufacturers use these additional elements to improve the taste and make the food paste last longer.

With homemade peanut butter, you can control the ingredients for better equine health. What’s more, it’s not that difficult to prepare it at home as long as you have time. There are plenty of online video tutorials with valuable information on how to prepare a healthy treat for your tall four-legged friend.

In Summary;

Peanut butter can be nutritious and safe for horses when administered in moderate amounts. However, be cautious against feeding it to any of your horses that’s obese, insulin-resistant, and allergic to nuts.

Remember that the GI system of horses was never meant to handle human food stuffs. If you go above the recommended ranges, a tasty treat could turn out to be a source of problems for your horse.